arconimaging

Judging from recent best-seller lists, this book (published in 2004) might seem to have been premature in its farewell to atheism. Or not. "The Twilight of Atheism" is more about history than arguments, and the history is fascinating. McGrath sees the golden age of atheism as beginning with the fall of the Bastille in 1789 and ending with the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. McGrath's bottom line, as I understand it, is that atheism isn't doing very well these days because it's not compatible with the postmodern world view that's prevalent. (The postmodern world view isn't particularly friendly toward Christianity, either.) So perhaps the current outbreak of atheism at the bookstores is a case of being brightest before the dusk. Or perhaps its a reaction to another theme of McGrath's: that Christianity and other deistic religions are often their own worst enemies. My favorite quote from the book on that topic: "The English experience suggested that nobody really doubted the existence of God until theologians tried to prove it."

2023-02-09 01:16