The Twilight of Atheism
The Rise and Fall of Disbelief in the Modern World
by Alister McGrath
Paperback
Price: £7.99
Publisher:Rider, imprint of Random House from Gardners Books
Published:2005
ISBN:978-1-844-13155-6
GoodBookStall Review:
This book is mostly a historical account of the fortunes of a particular strand of human thought from the 18th century (in Europe) to the present day (in the West).McGrath reveals that this is in many ways the account of a personal journey – from atheism, to becoming the Professor of Historical Theology in the University of Oxford, and a Protestant/Evangelical Christian. The book has many fascinating by-ways, e.g. the theory that it was Protestantism that actually made atheism possible, and the strange story of Madalyn Murray O’Hare, and modern American atheism. McGrath shows traditional atheism to be a necessary part of Modernism, one left high and dry by the ebbing of the Modernist tide, and the rise of Postmodernism. Now, however, Christianity is faced, not with atheism, but Anti-Theism - a concept that is the key to understanding such as Richard Dawkins; and that particular tide is in full flood.
Reviewer: John Thomas (24/09/08)
This book is mostly a historical account of the fortunes of a particular strand of human thought from the 18th century (in Europe) to the present day (in the West).McGrath reveals that this is in many ways the account of a personal journey – from atheism, to becoming the Professor of Historical Theology in the University of Oxford, and a Protestant/Evangelical Christian. The book has many fascinating by-ways, e.g. the theory that it was Protestantism that actually made atheism possible, and the strange story of Madalyn Murray O’Hare, and modern American atheism. McGrath shows traditional atheism to be a necessary part of Modernism, one left high and dry by the ebbing of the Modernist tide, and the rise of Postmodernism. Now, however, Christianity is faced, not with atheism, but Anti-Theism - a concept that is the key to understanding such as Richard Dawkins; and that particular tide is in full flood.
Reviewer: John Thomas (24/09/08)
