Religion is a universal human phenomenon. Can it survive the epistemological onslaught of the scientific method? If Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris are to be believed, the answer is definitely not. If Chet Raymo is to be believed, the answer is yes, but…. When God Is Gone Everything Is Holy outlines "the making of a religious naturalist," as the subtitle puts it. In addition to "religious naturalist," Raymo describes himself as a "Catholic agnostic." A cradle Catholic, Raymo left behind his faith gradually as the result of his scientific education, but he did not leave behind his appreciation of Catholic … Continue reading “When God Is Gone Everything Is Holy” by Chet Raymo

J.P. Moreland and Klaus Issler, In Search of a Confident Faith: Overcoming Barriers to Trusting in God (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2008).   “Faith has a public relations problem.”   With that sentence, J.P. Moreland and Klaus Issler launch In Search of a Confident Faith. The authors are professors of philosophy and Christian education, respectively, at Talbot School of Theology in La Mirada, California, and evangelical Christians. Their book is not an apologetic for the Christian faith directed at unbelievers. Rather, it is an exercise in spiritual formation for believers, aimed at “overcoming barriers to trusting in God,” as … Continue reading Faith’s PR Problem

  Greg Forster, The Contested Public Square: The Crisis of Christianity and Politics (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2008).   The Contested Public Square by Greg Forster is “an introduction to Christian political thought,” with a special focus on “the political effects of the Reformation and the Enlightenment in Western Europe [and America].” It traces the evolution of that theory through eight critical junctures in church history.   Chapter 1 examines “how persecution permanently shaped Christian political ideas” by forcing the early church to develop “an apolitical sense of its own identity.” As was true of Jesus, the church neither possessed … Continue reading The Contested Public Square by Greg Forster