CultureWatch

Bill Muehlenberg’s commentary on issues of the day…

1. Keith Jarrett 13.7.09 / 2pm

   Thanks Bill, these look worth having for reading and sitting on the bookshelf for reference.
   Keith Jarrett
2. jeremy 13.7.09 / 9pm

   Has anyone read the Douglas Wilson books ‘The Deluded Atheist’ a response to Dawkins, and ‘God IS’ – a response to the Hitchens book ?

   I have read Wilson’s book ‘Letter from a Christian Citizen’ which is a great read but have noticed these 2 above books but haven’t seen much about them on the net – no reviews at Amazon yet…..

   Jeremy Woods
3. Bill Muehlenberg 13.7.09 / 10pm

   Thanks Jeremy

   I have two books by two different Wilsons: Letter from a Christian Citizen by Douglas Wilson (American Vision, 2007), which is a reply to Sam Harris; and Deluded by Dawkins by Andrew Wilson (Kingsway, 2007). Both are quite good, although brief (around 100 pages each). I do not yet have the other two by Douglas Wilson.

   Bill Muehlenberg, CultureWatch
4. John Snowden 13.7.09 / 10pm

   Just how many people have been converted to Christianity by these books? Same question applies to the Koukl you reviewed. Seen any eager testimonials? I am not suggesting of course that conversion is simply an intellectual affair. However, such books might crystallise conversion by satisfactorily answering intellectual doubts that might otherwise obstruct the course of events.

   I have read Christian apologists. Some of the argumentation is nicely crafted, and they come up with useful information such as the contribution of Christianity to the rise of empirical science. On the down side, the arguments can be the standard choreography that has entertained but not convinced atheist philosophers. What you need are Christian philosophers of the first rank to brush away the cobwebs. I came across such a book recently, a demolition of Hume on miracles. Christian critiques of Materialism can also be impressive. Interestingly, even some atheists are not happy with that philosophy.

   You claim all atheists subscribe to Naturalism. I’ve known atheists who wouldn’t know what the word means.

   John Snowden
5. jeremy 13.7.09 / 10pm

   Yeah, it seems these other 2 books by Douglas Wilson are not as known as his ”Letter from a Christian citizen”.
   Jeremy Woods
6. Damien Spillane 13.7.09 / 11pm

   I would also suggest Ed Feser’s The Last Temptation because it is such an insightful trace of the philosophical origins of the thinking that has produced modern secularism and the likes of intolerant athiests like Dawkins.

   Damien Spillane
7. John Thomas 13.7.09 / 11pm

   I’ve just read the (revised) God’s Undertaker; indeed, first class. A pity, though, that Lennox had (presumably had to have) a specifically-Christian publisher for this, when the militant atheists get mainstream publishers. I imagine they black-balled it (refused to have it), being part of the awful materialist MSM we suffer. Lennox did not analyse (you can’t write about everything in your book) exactly why the militant atheists will never take notice of the mountains of hard evidence against their materialism, and the MSM certainly won’t (the recent BBC Darwin-fest was predictably, sickeningly, one-sided).
   John Thomas
8. Bill Muehlenberg 14.7.09 / 12am

   Thanks John Snowden

   Apologetics is admittedly just one part of the equation here. The New Testament makes it clear that the work of the Holy Spirit in conversion is vital. And of course people become Christians for all sorts of reason, and in all manner of ways. Some non-believers have honest questions which deserve honest answers. Some do not have the need for an intellectual rationale for belief prior to conversion.

   And another purpose of apologetics is to demonstrate to believers that their faith is reasonable and built on solid intellectual foundations. So it has a place for both believers and nonbelievers.

   There of course are a number of first rank Christian philosophers. One thinks of Alvin Plantinga, Nicholas Wolterstorff , Richard Swinburne, to name but a few, along with earlier heavyweights such as Augustine, Aquinas, Anselm, and so on.

   One book of interest is God and the Philosophers, edited by Thomas Morris (OUP, 1994). It features short personal testimonies of top philosophers with a strong Christian faith, including Eleonore Stump, Arthur Holmes, Marilyn McCord Adams, Peter van Inwagen, Jerry Walls and others.

   Tell me which books you have highly regarded, eg., the Hume critique and materialism critiques. I can perhaps guess which ones you are referring to, but go ahead and mention them.

   BTW, usually when I do a book review, or a top ten list of books, hardly anyone comments on it. So this is a pleasant surprise.

   Bill Muehlenberg, CultureWatch
9. Bill Muehlenberg 14.7.09 / 12am

   Thanks Damien

   I take it you mean The Last Superstition by Feser (St. Augustine’s Press, 2008). Yes it really is a solid and very well-argued volume, with real substance packed throughout its 300 pages. His approach is to nullify atheism and materialism by utilising the “classical metaphysical picture of the world, which derives from Plato, was greatly modified first by Aristotle and later by Augustine, and was at last perfected by Aquinas and his followers”. For what it is worth, along the way he shows his complete disdain for the Intelligent Design movement.

   Bill Muehlenberg, CultureWatch
10. Damien Spillane 14.7.09 / 3pm

    Bill

    whoops got the title wrong: Yes I meant the The Last Superstition.

    I understand he is very critical of the ID movement because they accept a wrong metaphysical picture of the universe – one based on the old mechanistic picture of Descarte.

    I think he is basically right though I would quibble with his Thomism – prefer more of an emergentist picture of the universe along with William Hasker (though don’t accept his open theism).

    Damien Spillane
11. Bill Muehlenberg 14.7.09 / 4pm

    Thanks Damien

    Yes it is often difficult to find someone whom one fully agrees with. As would be expected, complete agreement is often hard to come by. Most authors I like may have a few areas I quibble with. But hey, I even sometimes quibble with myself!

    Bill Muehlenberg, CultureWatch
12. John Snowden 14.7.09 / 4pm

    I was thinking of Earman’s “Hume’s Abject Failure” and Rea’s “World Without Design”. The latter is a difficult read and has too many ifs and buts to be decisive. There’s also Reppert on the philosophy of mind. Can’t remember the other authors or find the books at present.

    On the other side of the fence there is “Contemporary Materialism: A Reader” edited by Moser and Trout. The contributors are the usual suspects, like David Armstrong, Daniel Dennett, J.J.C Smart, Paul Churchland.

    John Snowden
13. John Snowden 14.7.09 / 5pm

    Damien: “likes of intolerant athiests like Dawkins”.

    I have noticed a trend amongst atheists and Secular Humanists not to be entirely enamoured with Dawkins even if he is a hero to many. I can’t stand him myself yet an atheist who met him told me he was a lovely person. Best criticism of his views that I have seen is David Stove’s. Dawkins seems to me to have a paranoid personality of which his fantasy of memes running the show is a symptomatic effusion.

    John Snowden
14. Bill Muehlenberg 14.7.09 / 5pm

    Thanks John

    Yes, unfortunately one can be a “lovely person” and still have horrendous ideas which results in very unlovely outcomes. As I mentioned in a recent review of a book on Darwin, he too seemed to be a lovely person, but his ideas have resulted in a lot of mischief, to say the least.

    Bill Muehlenberg, CultureWatch
15. Geoffrey Bullock 14.7.09 / 8pm

    Hi Bill,

    There is another book recently published in the USA which has received good reviews. It is “A Case for the Existence of God” by Dean L. Overman. I have his preface if you would like it, but he is easily found on Google.

    Geoffrey Bullock
16. Bill Muehlenberg 14.7.09 / 9pm

    Thanks Geoffrey

    Yes it is a very good book indeed. In its 200 pages he covers a wide range of issues, many from a philosophical angle, but he also utilises such fields as physics, information theory and religious experience. He sums up his book by noting that the existence of God explains a number of important things, such as the existence of the universe, the beginning of the universe, the mathematical nature of the universe, the existence of information, the existence of free will, morality and consciousness, and so on. Atheism, however, “lacks an adequate, coherent explanation for any of these things”.

    Bill Muehlenberg, CultureWatch