by Alister McGrath with Joanna Collicutt McGrath
About the book
The God Delusion makes me embarrassed to be an atheist, and the McGraths show why.
Michael Ruse, Professor of Philosophy, Florida State University.
World-renowned scientist Richard Dawkins writes in The God Delusion: 'If this book works as I intend, religious readers who open it will be atheists when they put it down.' The volume has received wide coverage, fuelled much passionate debate and caused not a little confusion. Alister McGrath is ideally placed to evaluate Dawkins' ideas. Once an atheist himself, he gained a doctorate in molecular biophysics before going on to become a leading Christian theologian. He wonders how two people, who have reflected at length on substantially the same world, could possibly have come to such different conclusions about God. McGrath subjects Dawkins' critique of faith to rigorous scrutiny. His exhilarating, meticulously argued response deals with questions such as:
Is faith intellectual nonsense?
Are science and religion locked in a battle to the death?
Can the roots of Christianity be explained away scientifically?
Is Christianity simply a force for evil?
This book will be warmly received by those looking for a reliable assessment of The God Delusion and the many questions it raises - including, above all, the relevance of faith and the quest for meaning.
'Addressing the conclusions of The God Delusion point by point with the devastating insight of a molecular biologist turned theologian, Alister McGrath dismantles the argument that science should lead to atheism, and demonstrates instead that Dawkins has abandoned his much-cherished rationality to embrace an embittered manifesto of dogmatic atheist fundamentalism.'
Francis Collins, Director of the Human Genome Project
'Richard Dawkins' utopian vision of a world without religion is here deftly punctured by McGrath's informed discourse. His fellow Oxonian clearly demonstrates the gaps, inconsistencies, and surprising lack of depth in Dawkins' arguments.'
Owen Gingerich, Professor of Astronomy, Harvard University
You can buy The Dawkins Delusion? here.
About the author
Alister McGrath is Professor of Historical Theology at Oxford University.
Joanna Collicutt McGrath is Lecturer in Psychology of Religion at Heythrop College, University of London.
Alistair's critically acclaimed books include:
Beyond the Quiet Time, Creation, and The Renewal of Anglicanism.
Joanna studied experimental psychology at Oxford then specialised in clinical neuropsychological before studying Christian theology. She is currently lecturer in the Psychology of Religion at Heythrop College, University of London. She is co-author, with Jeremy Duff, of Meeting Jesus: Human Responses to a yearning God.
You can find a full listing of the authors' SPCK titles here
(search for author='mcgrath').
Questions about The Dawkins Delusion?
Note: Since this book is a direct response to The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins, it will greatly aid discussion if at least one member of the group has read the original book.
This would also be an ideal opportunity for atheists, agnostics and religious believers to join together in discussing both books.
- In the introduction the writers say of Stephen Jay Gould (Richard Dawkins' sometime co-author) that, 'though an atheist, he was absolutely clear that the natural sciences - including evolutionary theory - were consistent with both atheism and conventional religious belief'. See also Chapter 2: Has Science disproved God?
What is your understanding of the natural sciences and do you agree with this statement? Does your view of science affect your view of faith and religious belief?
- On page 3 the authors explore the idea that religious faith is 'infantile' belonging to the same category of belief systems as Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy. Can you track your own beliefs over time? Do you believe different things now to when you were a child? Do you still hold to beliefs which, with more rigorous examination, you would consider 'childish'?
How many in the group came to a religious or non-religious belief system as an adult as Alister McGrath did?
- What do you make of the authors' repeated criticisms of Richard Dawkins' research? They suggest that he has simply repeated earlier inaccurate atheist writings (they quote his 'Tertullian' error on page 5 for example), and thrown 'the conventions of academic scholarship to the winds' (page 6), he is 'clearly out of his depth' and 'superficial' about the philosophy of religion (Page 7). Do you share this analysis of The God Delusion?
- Richard Dawkins asks a fundamental question: Who designed the designer? If God is the complex being who created a very complex world, who made God? What do you make of the authors' response to this question in 'The extreme improbability of God' (page 8).
What do you understand by the statement that the vital issues 'is not whether God is probable, but whether God is actual'
- Chapter 2 reports on surveys of scientists relating to their belief or otherwise in God. The results seem to be fairly evenly split with the latest quoted survey, in 1997 showing 40% did believe, 45% did not, 15% not sure. The authors make some important points about these results on page 21. Do these results surprise you? Do you consider such surveys to be relevant to your views about faith, God and religion?
- 'The point is simple: nature is open to many legitimate interpretations. It can be interpreted in atheist, deist, theist and many other ways – but it does not demand to be interpreted in any of these.' (page 23)
Do you agree? What is the spectrum of 'interpretations' of nature within the group?
- What do you understand by Richard Dawkins' notion of the 'meme' as explored on page 42? Do you find it a helpful notion in understanding religion?
- What do you think of the often quoted idea that religion is the basis for much of the evil in the world as explored in chapter 4? Do you agree with the author's assertion that if religion were to disappear this would not end the divisions within humanity? (page 51)
- How do you view the bible and criticism of it? Within the group is there a range of views about how to approach reading the old and new testaments? See page 53 onwards.
- The authors suggest the The God Delusion might 'backfire, and end up persuading people that atheism is just as intolerant, doctrinaire and disagreeable as the worst that religion can offer'.
Do you agree?
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