Theism Books

Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon

Daniel C. Dennett

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 152 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Fills a niche. 5 out of 5 stars.
5 of 5 people found this review helpful.

In the God Delusion, Dawkins makes an argument against religion and articulates what he believes to be scientific theories that prove god does not exist. In God Isn't Great, Hitchens gives what reads more like an indictment of organized religion throughout history and spends less time trying to disprove the existence of god (at least as scientifically as Dawkins).

In Breaking the Spell, Dennett spends most of his time articulating arguments that would explain the existence of religion. He does not really attempt to prove or disprove anything, including the existence of god. Rather he states repeatedly that his purpose is to "break the spell" of holding religion on a different level and keeping it immune from rational, scientific inquiry. As Mr. Woolard states before me, Mr. Dennett's central idea is that religion is a very important topic in the world today and is arguably the topic most in need of a rational, open, scientific discussion. This book is an attempt to make some of those rational arguments and foster discussion. Mr. Dennett concedes quite early in the book that that is his intent--to raise important questions and give possible answers that need research, not to provide definitive answers.

Regardless of the fact that definitive answers aren't going to be found in this book, it is worth the read by anyone interested in the subject. Mr. Dennett does a great job of "breaking the spell" and bringing some illuminating arguments regarding the existence of religion and its continued ability to thrive in human society. I would also recommend doing a search of "Daniel Dennett" on youtube for an introduction to some of the arguments he makes in this book.

Editorial Review:

For all the thousands of books that have been written about religion, few until this one have attempted to examine it scientifically: to ask why—and how—it has shaped so many lives so strongly. Is religion a product of blind evolutionary instinct or rational choice? Is it truly the best way to live a moral life? Ranging through biology, history, and psychology, Daniel C. Dennett charts religion’s evolution from “wild” folk belief to “domesticated” dogma. Not an antireligious screed but an unblinking look beneath the veil of orthodoxy, Breaking the Spell will be read and debated by believers and skeptics alike.

The New Testament and the People of God (Christian Origins and the Question of God)

N. T. Wright

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Total reviews: 22 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

A great beginning to an excellent series 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I have just finished reading this book after coming across Wright's shorter work, The Challenge of Jesus" which I also highly recommend.
This book lays a good foundation for the ambitious project Wright is undertaking to explain Jesus, Paul and the New Testament.

The first section of the book explains the need for History, Theology and Literature to be interlinked. Wright explains that neither positivism nor phenomenalism are good ways of explaining the world. He argues for a new hermeneutic: the hermeneutic of Love. He also uses the term 'critical realism' to explain this.
In part two he goes deeper into the explanations of narrative and worldview with some very useful insights and ideas. Such as the reality of public and private spheres of knowledge, instead of the well worn objective/subjective split. He also discusses the enlightenment and its values and the necessity for different ideas in theology than pantheism and deism.
The third part of the book is a massive account of Judea and its people from the 100's BC to the 100's AD. It includes explanations of Jewish beliefs, hopes and worldviews. How their interpretive framework of the world operated.
The fourth portion of the book does the same for the early 1st century Christian movement. Wright critiques the different strands of Christianity and insists that Christianity of the first century was above all from a Jewish perspective and not, as Crossan and others postulate, a hellenistic movement that later became Jewish.
The final section sums up the entire book and sets the stage for the second book of the series, Jesus and the Victory of God. I promptly ordered that book as soon as I finished this first volume. It is very refreshing to see someone like Wright who is firmly rooted in history but can also sum up theology and narrative so well.

A definite must-read for any student of the bible and christianity. 5 stars all the way around.

God of the Possible: A Biblical Introduction to the Open View of God

Gregory A. Boyd

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Total reviews: 54 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

Unknowable Freewill Future? Impossible for the LORD? 1 out of 5 stars.
7 of 11 people found this review helpful.

1 star for attempting to engage the Bible in determining if God can know freewill futures (author says it's impossible for God). 4 stars deducted for not engaging ALL relevant Bible texts on the subject. As I read the book, it was very selective in which verses it bolstered its case on, omitting others rather embarrassing to its case.

Questions for the author:

1) Gideon is shown a sign by the LORD that he will prevail against the Midianites. He overhears a soldier tell another of his dream about a huge barley loaf that rolls into the Midianite camp destroying all. The other soldier interprets this dream in Gideon's hearing that surely this can be nothing other than Gideon striking the Midianites in a resounding victory. When Gideon hears this, he worships God Who gave him this sign.

How does this unconditional prophecy foretold through pagans to an eavesdropping Gideon in direct fulfillment of God's promise of a sign reconcile with the author's open view that God cannot know freewill futures? Did the LORD stage a 'divine forecast' that fortuitously ended up being true, or is it possible He knew precisely what would freely occur in advance and foretold the predictive prophecy?

2) Elisha the prophet foretells that within 24 hours, the price of foodstuffs during a severe famine will suddenly be exactly 1 shekel - plenty of food for Samaria at precisely this time tomorrow. The king's servant disputes this prophecy. Then Elisha further predicts that this man will see the prophecy realized, but will not taste of it. And that's exactly what occurs. In fact, 3 times at the end of the account it says 'according to the Word of the LORD', 'just as the man of God had foretold'.

How does this unconditional prophecy (declared in advance as settled free market fact) reconcile with open view that God cannot foreknow this sort of detail involving not only the king's servant, but the local economy involving thousands of freewill individual and collective economic trading decisions, supply/demand, the lepers who find the windfall and then willingly decide to share the good news, etc?

3) The LORD through Jeremiah pre-announces to false prophets that they will be punished. God predictively prophesies that 2 in particular named Ahab and Zedekiah will be slain by King Nebuchadnezzar in a specific way: burned alive. Not only that, God foretells that Judah's exiles will take up a public curse, "May you end up just like Ahab and Zedekiah whom the king roasted in the fire!"

How does the author's open theory explain why God claims to know freewill future decisions in advance of their willingly being exercised by the agents involved? These decisions by the false prophets, the king and all Judah's exiles are announced as certain fact unconditionally. Could God possibly pre-know all the intricate details of events involving at- liberty independent agents acting of their own accord AND exactly quote an entire population group in advance verbatim word-for-word how/what they would decide on their own initiative as a new (not yet in use) curse?

Please let the author or any of his followers research these and other (Elijah & Elisha's prophetic foretelling of Hazael's murderous plot to be king) Bible texts and reconcile open view with such fulfilled unconditional predictive free agent prophecies 'according to the Word spoken by the LORD'. What is impossible among mortal minds is quite possible for God.

Thank you for your attention to this critical matter.

Editorial Review:

Through an examination of relevant biblical passages, this theologian-pastor presents an alternative "open view" to the classical doctrine on God's foreknowledge of the future.

Eight Theories of Religion

Daniel L. Pals

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Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Why do human beings believe in divinities? Why do some seek eternal life, while others seek escape from recurring lives? Why do the beliefs and behaviors we typically call "religious" so deeply affect the human personality and so subtly weave their way through human society? Revised and updated in this second edition, Eight Theories of Religion considers how these fundamental questions have engaged the most important thinkers of the modern era. Accessible, systematic, and succinct, the text examines the classic interpretations of religion advanced by theorists who have left a major imprint on the intellectual culture of the twentieth century. The second edition features a new chapter on Max Weber, a revised introduction, and a revised, expanded conclusion that traces the paths of further inquiry and interpretation traveled by theorists in the most recent decades.
Eight Theories of Religion, Second Edition, begins with Edward Burnett Tylor and James Frazer--two Victorian pioneers in anthropology and the comparative study of religion. It then considers the great "reductionist" approaches of Sigmund Freud, Emile Durkheim, and Karl Marx, all of whom have exercised wide influence up to the present day. The discussion goes on to examine the leading challenges to reductionism as articulated by sociologist Max Weber (new to this edition) and Romanian-American comparativist Mircea Eliade. Finally, it explores the newer methods and ideas arising from the African field studies of ethnographer E. E. Evans-Pritchard and the interpretive anthropology of Clifford Geertz. Each chapter offers biographical background, theoretical exposition, conceptual analysis, and critical assessment. This common format allows for close comparison and careful evaluation throughout. Ideal for use as a supplementary text in introductory religion courses or as the central text in sociology of religion and courses centered on the explanation and interpretation of religion, Eight Theories of Religion, Second Edition, offers an illuminating treatment of this controversial and fascinating subject.

How We Believe, 2nd Edition: Science, Skepticism, and the Search for God

Michael Shermer

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Total reviews: 57 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

One hundred years ago social scientists predicted that belief in God would decrease by the year 2000. "In fact ... the opposite is has occurred," Shermer writes in his introduction. "Never in history have so many, and such a high percentage of the population, believed in God. Not only is God not dead as Nietzche proclaimed, but he has never been more alive."

Why do so many believe in the existence of something so inexplicable? That's exactly what Shermer answers in this comprehensive, intelligent, and highly readable discussion about the nature of faith. "People believe in God because the evidence of their senses tell them so," claims Shermer, who is the publisher of Skeptics magazine. Having been a believer and a student of the history of science, Shermer (now an agnostic) is more interested in knowing why and how people believe in God rather than trying to prove who's right or wrong. As a result, this book is not only even-handed and thorough, it is also destined to become a timeless contribution to spirituality as well as science. --Gail Hudson

The Open Secret: A New Vision for Natural Theology

Alister E. McGrath

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Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Natural theology, in the view of many, is in crisis. In this long-awaited book, Alister McGrath sets out a new vision for natural theology, re-establishing its legitimacy and utility.

• A timely and innovative resource on natural theology: the exploration of knowledge of God as it is observed through nature
  
• Written by internationally regarded theologian and author of numerous bestselling books, Alister McGrath
  
• Develops an intellectually rigorous vision of natural theology as a point of convergence between the Christian faith, the arts and literature, and the natural sciences, opening up important possibilities for dialogue and cross-fertilization
  
• Treats natural theology as a cultural phenomenon, broader than Christianity itself yet always possessing a distinctively Christian embodiment
  
• Explores topics including beauty, goodness, truth, and the theological imagination; how investigating nature gives rise to both theological and scientific theories; the idea of a distinctively Christian approach to nature; and how natural theology can function as a bridge between Christianity and other faiths.

The Openness of God: A Biblical Challenge to the Traditional Understanding of God

Richard Rice, John Sanders

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Total reviews: 47 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

A worthy defense of a fascinating position 5 out of 5 stars.
10 of 11 people found this review helpful.

As a college student in his late 30s who is majoring in philosophy, I can testify to the accuracy of this book's historical section. As the authors ably point out, much of the modern Christian conception of God comes not from the Bible but from the writings of Plato and Aristotle. And the God of Greek philosophy is far more remote and inhuman than the one portrayed in both the Old and New Testaments. This has created a tension in the field of theology proper which has left many perplexed and confused.

The Openness of God offers a remedy to this ages-old mixture of divine revelation and pagan thinking. It challenges us to accept God as the Bible portrays Him, emotions, ambivalence and all. Readers will discover a deity who is just as powerful as the one described in classical theism, but who is also far easier for humans to relate to.

This book and ones like it have been unfairly and maliciously attacked by narrow-minded critics, who call it everything from anti-Calvinist to an apologetic for Mormonism. Nonsense. What the open minded seeker will find in these pages is a cogent yet humble case for a view of the Creator which is both refreshingly new and yet millenia old. Very highly recommended for everyone interested in theology, philosophy or apologetics.

Editorial Review:

Written by five scholars whose expertise extends across the disciplines of biblical, historical, systematic, and philosophical theology, this is a careful and full-orbed argument that the God known through Christ desires "responsive relationship" with his creatures.

The Universe Next Door: A Basic Worldview Catalog

James W. Sire

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Total reviews: 60 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

A Christian analysis of other presuppositions 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

There are a number of reviewers who are under the impression that the only way to write a world-view catalog is from an objective position which has no bias at all.
This is unfortunate, because the book tries to show us how everyone has a presuppositional bias: there is no objective middle ground from which to weigh up the others.

This was required reading as a theology student, and I found it useful. His 7 questions are powerful and useful in deconstructing longer texts, but other sets of questions are more useful and easily deployed in analyzing world-views on a regular basis, such
1) what is my relationship to creation in this view
2) what is my relationship to other people in this view
3) what is my relationship to God in this view.

Another useful one is
1) What is the problem
2) What can save us/them from the problem
3) What does the world look like once it is saved?


Personally, I found it helpful to realize that not everyone thinks like me, and to use this book as a very useful quick guide to the way others may think. Of course he generalizes. Of course he is simplistic. But he is also helpful.

I recommend.
To those who criticize this book as validating Christians in their blinkered view, I suggest finding a different book to validate them in theirs. But isn't that rather Sire's point about us all having a world-view based on a series of assumptions which may or may not stack up?

Editorial Review:

In addition to explications of such worldviews as theism, deism, naturalism, nihilism, Marxism, and others, this third edition includes a new chapter on postmodernism and a thoroughly revised chapter on New Age philosophy.

The Origins of Biblical Monotheism: Israel's Polytheistic Background and the Ugaritic Texts

Mark S. Smith

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Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

A Scholarly Tour De Force 5 out of 5 stars.
81 of 84 people found this review helpful.

If you have read Smith's "Early History of God" and been intrigued by his conception of the development of our notion of God during the Biblical period, "The Origins Of Monotheism" delivers a significantly more detailed analysis of the ancient Bronze Age texts from Ugarit and their influence on the culture of ancient Palestine in general, and Biblical texts in particular. Mr. Smith examines conceptions of the divine family and council of the gods, more general notions of ancient aspects of divinity, and the roles of various divinity. Especially insightful is his critique of James Frazier's category of "dying and rising" gods in the Near East. In his analysis of Isaiah, he gives considerable background into Mesopotamian views on the divinity of statues of gods, whithout prejudice. There is a lot more than I can list here in this book, but if you're interested in how the idea of one, all-powerful god came about, this is really essential reading.

Editorial Review:

According to the Bible, ancient Israel's neighbors worshipped a wide variety of gods. In recent years, scholars have sought a better understanding of this early polytheistic milieu and its relation to Yahweh, the God of Israel. Drawing on ancient Ugaritic texts and looking closely at Ugaritic deities, Mark Smith examines the meaning of "divinity" in the ancient near East and considers how this concept applies to Yahweh.

Beyond the Bounds: Open Theism and the Undermining of Biblical Christianity

Justin Taylor, Paul Kjoss Helseth

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Total reviews: 12 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

When is a circle not a circle? 2 out of 5 stars.
17 of 35 people found this review helpful.

John Calvin blazed the trail for most reformed reviewers: if you disagree with what is said, kill the 'sayer'. Ad hominem critique, attempting to discredit an idea by crushing its advocate, is particularly odious in theological discussion but many of the chapters is this book raise it to an art form.

The argument of this book:
the classical description of God = the Biblical description of God: take our word for it, we are the experts, no discussion needed.

anyone who disagrees with us is obviously inspired by satan to destroy Christianity.

God loves only people who think like us - to hell (literally) with the others.

Classical theology presents a picture of God as a disconnected (in His ultimate nature), unfeeling, micro manager who chooses to allow evil when He could stop it. As a recovering Calvinist who finally read the Scriptures and took them seriously (how's that for a back door ad hominem? I've still got it) it appears God has revealed himself in the Bible as something diferent: a loving, involved creator/father who is working with His children to restore a fallen world.

If you are looking for argument by stipulation, Beyond the Bounds is for you. If you want careful analysis of germane scripture passages, look elsewhere.

Editorial Review:

The rise of open theism within evangelicalism has raised a host of questions. Was classical theism decisively tainted by Greek philosophy? How should we understand passages that tell us that God repents? Are essentials of biblical Christianity--like the inerrancy of Scripture, the trustworthiness of God, and the Gospel of Christ--at stake in this debate? Where, when, and why should we draw new boundaries--and is open theism beyond them? Beyond the Bounds brings together a respected team of scholars to examine the latest literature, address these questions, and give guidance to the church in this time of controversy.