Why There Almost Certainly is a God by Keith Ward

Why There Almost Certainly Is a God: Doubting Dawkins by Keith Ward

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
Keith Ward is one of my all-time favourite theologians. He is entertaining to listen to - full of wit- and his books generally (with the exception of Pascal's Fire) are pacey and a delight to read.



This book is a direct response to Richard Dawkin's The God Delusion. It is one of several books that have emerged from theologians and other Christian thinkers in what has come to be called the "Oxford God Debate".



The book is structured in chapters directly tackling specific chapters in Dawkin's book. It is a short book(155pp)and not overly technical.



Ward's main approach is to tackle Dawkins on metaphysical grounds. He shows how exceptional Dawkins' materialism is in historical terms; and how contestable it is today; both as a metaphysical position and even in terms of science, especially in light of the most recent thinking in physics and cosmology.



Ward's main focus is the question of the reality of consciousness, value and purpose.



The book shows clearly that belief in God is rationally viable.


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Everything Must Change by Brian D. McClaren

Everything Must Change : Jesus, Global Crises, And A Revolution Of Hope by Brian D. McLaren

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
There is a genre of books - often American - written by Christians who have reacted against the conservative version of Christianity with which they grew up. McClaren's book is of that type. What I find fascinating about this genre is that these books frequently express the authors' new convictions with far greater clarity and power than those who have always seen Christianity in that way. It's a case of converts being more zealous than those who are born into the "faith". This book is uncompromising and unequivocal about the total difference between the dominant culture of "Western" capitalism and the values of God's kingdom as expressed in the teaching of Jesus as the author reads them. And so it lays bare the fuzziness and the weakness that has characterised the message and action of so many churches in consumerist society; even churches and Christians who have always eschewed the individualistic piety of conservative Protestants.



This book, if applied in the right places, could be a powerful antidote for churches and Christians which have been rendered ineffective by the dope of religiosity; who are barely awake to the crying needs of the world and obsessed with internal churchy matters.


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Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq by Thomas Ricks

If there is anyone who still believes that invading Iraq was a good plan then read this book by the senior Washington Post military correspondent. An excellent comprehensive review in the New York Times says:
“Fiasco” is absolutely essential reading for anyone interested in understanding how the United States came to go to war in Iraq, how a bungled occupation fed a ballooning insurgency and how these events will affect the future of the American military. Though other books have depicted aspects of the Iraq war in more intimate and harrowing detail, though other books have broken more news about aspects of the war, this volume gives the reader a lucid, tough-minded overview of this tragic enterprise that stands apart from earlier assessments in terms of simple coherence and scope.

It is a shocking book and all the more so because it is written soberly and based on offical documents and the testimonies of serving personnel.For me it shreds any idea that world leaders and military planners have even half a sense of the long-term consequences of their actions, or even care quite frankly.

Read the editorial and hundreds of customer reviews on the amazon.com page.

See a video of a lecture delivered in August 2007 by the author.

Ciao Asmara by Justin Hill

This is a fascinating, gripping account by a volunteer teacher from York, England who worked in a school in the tiny newly-independent African state of Eritrea during the mid-nineties. He tells the stories of the people he meets, especially those who were fighters in the 30 year long war of independence from Ethiopia.There are harrowing accounts of torture, rape and battle in the period of Ehtiopian occupation and the infamous thirteen-year long Battle of Nakfa. Before Ethiopian plunder Eritrea's capital Asmara was one of the most advanced African cities. Now Eritrea remains a desperately poor country. Intensely proud of their success in winning unaided the war of liberation Hill finds many former fighters struggling to sustain hope in the mundane and grindingly hard life of the peace. Hill notes how badly the natural environment has been ravaged because of the war.
I was attracted to this book because of my own experience as a volunteer teacher in Africa, Kenya in the late 1970s. Hill's descriptions of his classroom experiences rang bells with me. But I was staggered by the intenisty of work expected from teachers in Eritrea where there was a critical shortage of school places. Whereas I had 50 in my classes hill has 75.

Thw Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion

American writer Joan Didion's husband, also a writer, suffered a massive heart attack as he sat down to dinner with her one evening. He was probably dead before he hit the floor.They had just returned from a visit to hospital where their daughter, their only child, married a few weeks earlier, was unconscious in an intensive care unit. This is a finely written, profoundly moving and perceptive book about grief from first-hand experience. Didion explores the anatomy of bereavement. She recounts how her thinking was altered by her this loss - it became other than rational - hence the title. The desire to have the loved one return again is overpowering. A must read for all bereavement counsellors.

The Threat to Reason: how the Enlightenment was hijacked and how we can reclaim it by Dan Hind

Using a philosophical approach this book shows how urgent it is that informed citizens use their expertise and opportunities to find out what is really going on in the world. Hind wants us to focus attention on the real threats to freedom, from the State and the corporation, which are far more powerfully undermining genuine knowledge than the allegedly irrational religious and mystical or traditional approaches to life which many self-styled modern secularist intellectuals like Richard Dawkins or Sam Harris would have us believe are dangerous. The author's own summary of the theme of the book is here

Chasing Francis: a pilgrim's tale by Ian Morgan Cron

In the form of a contemporary novel this book introduces the value of Saint Francis of Assisi for today's world and church. The story revolves around what happens when the successful pastor of a modern middle-American megachurch realises his faith is empty and takes time out in Italy and discovers the life and teachings of Francis.