Review of "When God Goes To Starbucks", Paul Copan
Books which are written to answer “real” questions with practical, real-life wisdom need to grapple honestly, then, with the kind of authentic issues that cause people concern. Paul Copan’s, “When God Goes To Starbucks” does that admirably.
What are some of those real questions? Well, for example . . .
“Is it okay to lie to Nazis?”
[By the way, according to Copan, the answer is yes, “deception is morally permissible . . . under certain specific conditions.” But you have to read chapter 3 in the book to get the full explanation.]
“Does the Bible condemn loving, committed homosexual relationships?”
“Aren’t the Bible’s ‘Holy Wars’ just like Islamic Jihad?”
“Why are Christians so divided? Why so many denominations?”
[Copan is a very smart and highly educated man, but, he missed the obvious correct answer to these two questions. It’s simple to see that Christians wouldn’t be divided if everyone would just come to see things my way.]
Oh well, he did a pretty good job, other than that.
Copan has written several books along the lines of “When God Goes To Starbucks” and he does a good job of writing in a way that is accessible to regular people and, yet, provides thoughtful answers that are not so lightweight that they lack genuine intellectual substance.
From one of those “regular people” . . .
Dan Marler
Oak Lawn, IL
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Thursday, October 16, 2008
If You Listen Carefully, You Can Hear The Atheists Screaming
What if a highly respected, well-known, Oxford-educated, atheist philosopher changed his mind, late in his career, and decided that he, now, believed in God?
You say, “Well, he would probably write a book with this kind of sub-title: ‘How The World’s Most Notorious Atheist Changed His Mind.’”
You’re right. And that brings us to Antony Flew’s book and this review.
This book is a little bit autobiography and a good bit of philosophy with a little bit of the philosophy of science. (It’s everything I can do to resist some kind of reference to: it’s “a little bit country” and “a little bit rock and roll”.)
Flew provides a good bit of information about his background, and this helps the reader see the larger context of his life. I found this to be interesting.
To those of us who believe in God there is great satisfaction in the fact that Flew stresses, numerous times, that one of his guiding intellectual values has long been to follow the evidence wherever it leads. And “the evidence” has led him to this conclusion: “I now believe there is a God! So there!”
Alright, if you look in the book the “So there!” part isn’t really included in the text. But, in my imagination, it’s a nice little shot.
Flew provides his evidence for belief in God and makes a good argument.
It is also interesting and satisfying to theists that Flew credits recent scientific advances as a significant factor in his opinion regarding the existence of God. This is satisfying to theists because sometimes belief in God is portrayed as an entirely unwarranted; blind leap of faith; embraced by uneducated people—usually wearing no shoes or socks; with no rational basis whatsoever.
Since I’m a Christian, I found another line in the book to be quite pleasing. Flew says about Christianity, “If you’re wanting Omnipotence to set up a religion, this is the one to beat.”
I know, I know, atheists and non-Christians will find that to be ridiculous and aggravating. But, it’s still true that he wrote it. So there!
The book has two interesting appendices, one written by Roy Abraham Varghese, who is the co-writer of the book and one written by Bishop N.T. Wright. Bishop Wright’s essay on “The Self-Revelation of God in Human History” is outstanding.
Dan Marler
Oak Lawn, IL
You say, “Well, he would probably write a book with this kind of sub-title: ‘How The World’s Most Notorious Atheist Changed His Mind.’”
You’re right. And that brings us to Antony Flew’s book and this review.
This book is a little bit autobiography and a good bit of philosophy with a little bit of the philosophy of science. (It’s everything I can do to resist some kind of reference to: it’s “a little bit country” and “a little bit rock and roll”.)
Flew provides a good bit of information about his background, and this helps the reader see the larger context of his life. I found this to be interesting.
To those of us who believe in God there is great satisfaction in the fact that Flew stresses, numerous times, that one of his guiding intellectual values has long been to follow the evidence wherever it leads. And “the evidence” has led him to this conclusion: “I now believe there is a God! So there!”
Alright, if you look in the book the “So there!” part isn’t really included in the text. But, in my imagination, it’s a nice little shot.
Flew provides his evidence for belief in God and makes a good argument.
It is also interesting and satisfying to theists that Flew credits recent scientific advances as a significant factor in his opinion regarding the existence of God. This is satisfying to theists because sometimes belief in God is portrayed as an entirely unwarranted; blind leap of faith; embraced by uneducated people—usually wearing no shoes or socks; with no rational basis whatsoever.
Since I’m a Christian, I found another line in the book to be quite pleasing. Flew says about Christianity, “If you’re wanting Omnipotence to set up a religion, this is the one to beat.”
I know, I know, atheists and non-Christians will find that to be ridiculous and aggravating. But, it’s still true that he wrote it. So there!
The book has two interesting appendices, one written by Roy Abraham Varghese, who is the co-writer of the book and one written by Bishop N.T. Wright. Bishop Wright’s essay on “The Self-Revelation of God in Human History” is outstanding.
Dan Marler
Oak Lawn, IL
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