God Is Not Dead Yet
You might think from the recent spate of atheist best-sellers that belief in God has become intellectually indefensible for thinking people today. But a look at these books by Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, and Christopher Hitchens, among others, quickly reveals that the so-called New Atheism lacks intellectual muscle. It is blissfully ignorant of the revolution that has taken place in Anglo-American philosophy. It reflects the scientism of a bygone generation rather than the contemporary intellectual scene.
That generation's cultural high point came on April 8, 1966, when Time magazine carried a lead story for which the cover was completely black except for three words emblazoned in bright red letters: "Is God Dead?" The story described the "death of God" movement, then current in American theology.
But to paraphrase Mark Twain, the news of God's demise was premature. For at the same time theologians were writing God's obituary, a new generation of young philosophers was rediscovering his vitality.
Back in the 1940s and '50s, many philosophers believed that talk about God, since it is not verifiable by the five senses, is meaningless—actual nonsense. This verificationism finally collapsed, in part because philosophers realized that verificationism itself could not be verified! The collapse of verificationism was the most important philosophical event of the 20th century. Its downfall meant that philosophers were free once again to tackle traditional problems of philosophy that verificationism had suppressed. Accompanying this resurgence of interest in traditional philosophical questions came something altogether unanticipated: a renaissance of Christian philosophy.
The turning point probably came in 1967, with the publication ...
This article is currently available to CT subscribers only.
To continue reading:
or
The Latest in Movie News, May 20, 2013
Star Trek Into Darkness
(on articles open to the public, you must at least register for a free account).
RSS
Twitter
Facebook
Newsletters
Google
Comments
Displaying 4–6 of 52 comments
See all comments
Brad Curry
Well done Dr. Craig. I appreciate the brief outline and wish you had a few more pages to flesh out these ideas. For the record, Dr. Craig is not claiming to find "proof" for the existence of God and utilizing philosophical "tricks", he is simply pointing out that there is an abundance of evidence in nature to help us to give a reason for the hope that is in us. The heavens truly do declare the glory of God. This is not to ignore "what I find in my heart and how I act on it..." however if that is all we have, what is to distinguish us from other religions? The mormons typically refer to the burning in their chest and no one can deny their actions. We must, as disciples and followers of Christ, learn to worship Him with a balance of head, heart, and hands. If any of these is missing or is weaker than one of the others, we will struggle to be effective ambassadors.
John
It would be interesting to see an article that actually debunks Hitchens or Dawkins as opposed to a retread of medieval arguments. The problem is you cannot scientifically prove the existance of an omnipotent God that could always manipulate the data either way. Unless you read the Bible literally, it is not a science book and thus the idea that evolution disproves God (the Dawkins theory) falls apart. This only leaves Dawkins with "there's no proof" which again you can never have. Hitchens says not only is God not real but the idea of God does bad things. That's an argument that perhaps can be taken up. I think the focus on Dawkins is misapplied since you're never going to disprove him and he's never going to convince you. Additionally, taking on Hitchens has the added bonus of dealing with another issue raised below, just cause you prove A God does not mean it's the God of the Bible. So take on Hitchens on what following Jesus does to people and society.
comment
Men and women love to argue over the existence of god and pridefully claim to find proof for their beliefs in the tricks of philosophy. I wonder what happened to the Christian message of humility. Here it is claimed that belief in jesus as god will get you into heaven, as if acts don't matter. What I find in my heart and how I act on it is what matters to me.