Archive for the ‘Book Review’ Category
David Berlinski – The Devil’s Delusion, in Review
First, a little bit about the author: David Berlinski was born in 1942 (in the U.S.) to German-born refugees. He received his PhD. in philosophy from Princeton University and has since held teaching positions at Columbia, Rutgers and Stanford. He is currently a senior fellow with the Discovery Institute – the leading think-tank of the Intelligent Design movement. And this is where things get interesting – most fellows at the Discovery Institute are committed theists. Berlinski is not. He was raised in a Jewish home and trained in that system of belief. He no longer holds to that faith and now describes himself as a “Secular Jew.”
A known ciritic of Darwinian Evolution, David Berlinski has been criticized by many of his academic peers for not toeing the line, so to speak. Having no intellectual residence with the atheist wing of the science department, and yet not embracing the main tenet of his fellows at Discovery (namely, a particulary Detiy), Berlinski is, to my mind, quintessentially objective, so much as anyone can be objective, in this field. To sum it all up, he seems to have no irons in the fire and no axe to grind.
So what of his new(ish) book, The Devil’s Delusion??? Well, the book is not specifically an attack on Darwinism, or even a direct assault on atheism (keep in mind he himself is an agnostic). The main contention of his book seems rather what the subtitle suggests – that scientific inquiry while posited as in some way underlying a conclusion of atheism, is not warranted. Really this book is a response to a movement, rather than a system of thought. It’s almost religious in nature…and that’s the irony. Those with whom Berlinski is contending (Dawkins, Hitchens, Harris and Dennet) would no doubt claim to be the most irreligious men on the planet. But their passion for religious denial is simply none other than…well…religious.
Writing in a constant stream of quotable quotes, I’ve quipped to others that this book is one of those which, if you were prone to underlining or highlighting, you’d be better off finding a vat of highlighter ink and dipping the whole book in – it’s really THAT good. At times the language gets pretty technical, and, to be honest, I would have had to take much longer to read it if I were to understand everything in it. But the basic concepts were understandable and that is what systems of thinking are built on – basic foundations that give rise to eventual conclusions. What I most liked about Berlinski’s style was that he was clearly a logical thinker. But often a logical thinker is not always a very articulate person and hence, while they may be thinking and speaking the truth, are unable to be very convincing when relaying that truth to someone else. Berlinski has achieved both ends. He thinks with air-tight logic that just seems to flow effortlessly into articulate prose. On page after page, he dismantles the scientific pretensions that are supposed to under-gird the new atheist movement and show the men that espouse those pretensions for what they are – grumpy men with a bone to pick.
If for no other reason than objectivity, I would recommend this book to anyone and everyone – Christians, non-Christians, Atheists, Agnostics. If our fundamental pursuit is truth (and really is truth, not just evidence-picking to promote our presuppositions) then what better type of author than one who stands firmly in the middle ground – unconvinced by either side of the debate? I’ve told people before that I believe David Berlinski is the man the new atheist movement wishes did not exist. It’s easy to pick on a devout Jew or Christian and say “you’re spiritual goggles don’t allow you to see clearly.” But when the man is wearing no goggles at all, that mode of attack is not left open to them. So, I say again, if for no other reason than to gain a mediating view of these issues, please read the book. I’m sure you’ll be stretched, challenged, impressed and enriched from having done so.
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Book Review: Pocket History of Theology
I just finished reading Roger Olson‘s Pocket History of Theology pretty much as a filler book between larger volumes I was looking to tackle. I’ve read a few popular surveys of church history to date and am often bogged down by the myriad of numbers, dates, and names thrown at me in even a relatively short book. I’m often left wondering whether the numbers, dates, and names I do remember from a particular church history were even crucial to the overall study. If you’re anything like me, you may just want to know what was really important in the grand scheme of things and how each of those important events helped to shape Christendom as we know it today.
Roger Olson, in his Pocket History of Theology boils off the dross to give you the pure gold of historical theology and paints a seamless picture of only the most influential bits and pieces. Of course, the whole story cannot be told in just over a hundred pages, but if you can identify with the difficulty of keeping it all straight, this book would be a refreshing place to get a new start at attempting to do just that.
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Book Review: Arminian Theology: Myths and Realities
Growing up, I always viewed Arminianism as some sort of “faith plus works” model of salvation. That idea was further established by those friends of mine who came from supposed Arminian circles that very much did believe that their salvation was in part dependent on the salvific work of Christ on the cross and in part due to their constant striving in good works. Though I knew not what label to affix to their theology at the time, I grew to be certain in later years, that they practiced what is known as Arminian theology. In all reality, however, what my friends were guilty of embracing was more of a folk-theology digression from true, Classical Arminianism.
In his book, Arminian Theology: Myths and Realities, Roger E. Olson makes a strong defense of Classical Arminian theology against many of the commonly-held, yet thoroughly unwarranted caricatures of Arminian Theology. He does this in ten chapters, each tackling a separate Myth projected onto Arminianism by those outside (and, unfortunately by some supposedly inside) the Arminian camp. The 10 myths are as follows:
- Arminian Theology is the Opposite of Calvinist/Reformed Theology
- A Hybrid of Calvinism and Arminianism is Possible
- Arminianism is not an Orthodox Evangelical Option
- The Heart of Arminianism is Belief in Free Will
- Arminian Theology Denies the Sovereignty of God
- Arminianism is a Human-Centered Theology
- Arminianism is Not a Theology of Grace
- Arminians Do Not Believe in Predestination
- Arminian Theology Denies Justification by Grace Alone Through Faith Alone
- All Arminians Believe in the Governmental Theory of the Atonement
I believe this book would be beneficial for both Calvinist and Arminian alike. It has always been my conviction (though sadly not always my practice) that to be fair we ought to get our description of a particular theological persuasion from the best, most able proponents of that persuasion. All too often, we are satsified in obtaining our description of a theological camp we differ with from the detractors of that view, rather than “the horse’s mouth.” Let us all be gracious enough to read the perspective of those we think we disagree with before deriding them as sub-Christian or heretical. Those are strong terms that ought not be used flippantly.
If you are interested in purchasing this book, it is available at the following links:
