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A review by skylarh
هناك إله by Antony Flew
Did not finish book.
I'm half way through now, and, to be honest, I don't think I'll be finishing this one before its due date. I'd recommend this to a fundamentalist atheist, a philosopher, or a scientist; for the rest of the reading world, however, I think it's going to be a bit of a chore to plow through. That said, it might be a chore for anyone.
Anthony Flew "converted" from atheism to deism in 2004, and this caused quite a sensation. The "conversion" was the result of many years of intellectual refinement of his philosophical opinions through the process of open debate. He is not a believer in revelation, in the Judeo-Christian God, but he has come to the conclusion that there is, in fact, a God. His book does include a chapter by N.T. Wright, arguing on behalf of the Christian God, which Flew describes as the most convincing argument in favor of revelation he has ever encountered. I would not go so far as that, but it is an interesting Q&A, and probably the best written part of the book. (I skipped ahead to the Appendix, which also contains an article on the "New Atheism.")
In addition to some technical detail (academic terminology), some of the biographical detail makes the book slow going at first: do I really need to know ever academic honor Flew has ever earned? I felt like I wanted him to get more to the point about why, in clear terms, he was an atheist and why, in plain language, he changed his mind.
I would have liked to have known more about what led him to his atheistic conclusions in the first place from a personal (rather than a purely philosophical standpoint). As I read, I wondered if it had anything to do with his incomplete exposure to the wide range of religious thought. I was surprised when he said, "Quite recently I found out that John Wesley...had led a great controversy against predestination and in favor of the Arminian alternative…" Quite recently? He's an educated thinker, a philosopher, and the son of a METHODIST minister nonetheless, and he only "found out" that fact "quite recently"? I'm still reeling from that line and haven't been able to process much since then.
Anthony Flew "converted" from atheism to deism in 2004, and this caused quite a sensation. The "conversion" was the result of many years of intellectual refinement of his philosophical opinions through the process of open debate. He is not a believer in revelation, in the Judeo-Christian God, but he has come to the conclusion that there is, in fact, a God. His book does include a chapter by N.T. Wright, arguing on behalf of the Christian God, which Flew describes as the most convincing argument in favor of revelation he has ever encountered. I would not go so far as that, but it is an interesting Q&A, and probably the best written part of the book. (I skipped ahead to the Appendix, which also contains an article on the "New Atheism.")
In addition to some technical detail (academic terminology), some of the biographical detail makes the book slow going at first: do I really need to know ever academic honor Flew has ever earned? I felt like I wanted him to get more to the point about why, in clear terms, he was an atheist and why, in plain language, he changed his mind.
I would have liked to have known more about what led him to his atheistic conclusions in the first place from a personal (rather than a purely philosophical standpoint). As I read, I wondered if it had anything to do with his incomplete exposure to the wide range of religious thought. I was surprised when he said, "Quite recently I found out that John Wesley...had led a great controversy against predestination and in favor of the Arminian alternative…" Quite recently? He's an educated thinker, a philosopher, and the son of a METHODIST minister nonetheless, and he only "found out" that fact "quite recently"? I'm still reeling from that line and haven't been able to process much since then.