The New Atheists by Tina Beattie

The New Atheists by Tina Beattie

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
Even though I agree with almost all the substantial points this author makes,I'm still left feeling irritated by it! According to the presuppositions of the book this is probably because I am a white male European! This book is more polemic than debate and some great points are scored. I'm suspicious however of an argument which criticises most responses to new atheism for being too singularly masculine in the rationality of their approach whilst adopting aggressively one-sided denunciations of opponents views in support. This is an author who uses 'all' when she means 'many' and 'many' when she means 'some', and I feel would defend that style as appropriate as indicating the passion involved.

There is a very good book inside this book but for me it loses its ability to influence the readers it needs and presumably seeks to because of its failure to recognise the value of elegance as a form of beauty.


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God's Undertaker: has science buried God by John Lennox

God's Undertaker: Has Science Buried God? by John Lennox

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
This book is an impressive attempt to show that there is enough scientific evidence to support the belief that the universe has been designed by an intelligent mind. It goes further than some similar books by seeking to demonstrate not only that theism and science are compatible but also that the atheism of many contemporary evolutionary biologists notably represented by Dawkins is not warranted by the arguments they present in support of purely materialistic explanations of the origin of life.


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The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief by Francis S. Collins

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
Francis Collins was the head of the Human Genome Project. He is also a practicing Christian.This book is part biographical and part philosophy. It describes how he came to faith from an atheist background and how he does not see this in any way contrary to his work as a scientist.He defends evolutionary biology as compatible with Christian belief and critiques both special creationism and Intelligent Design approaches. He makes a plea for theistic evolution as the way to end the war between science and religion. There is also a helpful appendix on bioethics.


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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.