April 15, 2008

Forthcoming book about Atheism

Fortress Press is coming out with the third volume in their series of books to accompany the Greer-Heard Point Counterpoint Forum at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. The new book, which is scheduled to release in October, is The Future of Atheism, and is a debate between Alister McGrath and Daniel Dennett. I haven't had a chance to seek out a recording of the debate (I know you can buy one from NOBTS), nor have I looked over the list of respondents, but this promises to be an interesting book, even if this ground has been pretty well tread in the past year or two. McGrath is a very erudite respondent to the new influx of Atheist writing, as a former atheist himself, as a credentialed scientist, and as a historical theologian. I've enjoyed listening to him talk, especially about Dawkins' new book, and look forward to delving into this discussion.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Samuel Skinner
I'm sorry, but could you be so kind as to list the arguments he has? I keep on hearing how there is some sort of "killer blow"... heck "rational reason"... heck, good, irrational reason and I have yet to hear it. And when ever theists say they have something definate- well, they never say what it is. So could you be kind enough to list the main thrust? Yo don't have to summarize the whole book- just the arguments he uses.

James K. said...

Samuel,

As I mentioned in the post, I haven't yet heard the Greer-Heard debate, nor have I seen the text, which doesn't release for another six months. But I have heard McGrath speak on what I assume will be related topics. Here is a link to a very interesting talk he gave about Dawkins' book, The God Delusion: http://www.citychurchsf.org/openforum/Audio/OF_Alister_McGrath.mp3

I have also heard him debate Dawkins, and the conversation produced some interesting points for both sides. Veritas Forum also has another talk by McGrath dealing more specifically with Dennett and his books, which may more closely relate to the topic of this book. So my short answer is to point you to these resources. McGrath essentially defends "religion" from Dawkins' claims about its fundamental evils, and conversely makes a case for belief in God in a scientific age.