Loving God

I like what Kez says here. I don't agree with every word (does all of "I search for God, yearn for God, long for God, have a deep need for God" really apply to me, for example?) but it still manages to express something of where I feel I am.

In good company

Andy has been kind enough to have added me to his list of Baptist Bloggers. (Well, I did ask him to.) I thought I ought to see what kind of company I find myself in, so I've just spend a short while looking at recent posts by the others. Most seem to be pretty theological - which generally means they go over my head pretty much (Andy himself regularly reviews books whose titles I don't even understand) - but there's also a fair range of stuff of interest to those of us on the "shop-floor", as it were.

Perhaps reading a mixture of thoughts from a variety of bloggers will help me to formulate some ideas. Or at least it might keep me off the streets.

Darwin's Angel: initial thoughts

Any concerns I had about this being "unbearably twee", as I mentioned initially, were most certainly unfounded. It is beautifully written, intelligent, witty and profound prose and I am very glad to have picked it up.

Inevitably there are those who slate it; when I said the online reviews I'd found had been pretty positive I hadn't yet seen those on RichardDawkins.net!

Finished at last

Has it really been nearly three months since I posted here? You must be wondering what on earth I've been up to. Well, you would be if you existed, but I don't suppose anyone actually reads this.

Anyway, I finally finished The God Delusion. Richard Dawkins’ avowed intention is that “religious people who read this book would finish it as atheists”. So, has it worked? Am I a convert?

Not entirely.

There’s no doubt, though, that his book has left me with big questions. I’m not going to lay the blame for my doubts on Dawkins, but I can’t get away from the fact that the part of me that was beginning to question my long-held beliefs has been given plenty of ammunition. If you want a text book of Bad Things That Have Been Done In The Name Of God, read the God Delusion. Actually, I’d recommend it to anyone as a fascinating and intensely thought-provoking read.

It is entirely one-sided, however, and it has had some criticism on the strength of its logic and the gaps in its arguments, so as I mentioned previously I’ve been on the look-out for something to read afterwards to re-balance things. I’ve had a few suggestions; the obvious ones are those that have been written in direct response: Alistair McGrath’s The Dawkins Delusion and Andrew Wilson’s Deluded by Dawkins? but when I’ve looked at reviews online both books have been pretty well slated. I may pick one up at some point, but want something different at the moment. And then, while searching online last week, a title appeared that I did like the look of.

Darwin’s Angel by John Cornwell appears to take a rather different approach, calling itself “An Angelic Riposte” to Dawkins’ book, and written as a series of letters to Dawkins from Charles Darwin’s "guardian angel". Now, I'm prepared for the fact that it could be unbearably twee, but the online reviews are much more promising. I particularly liked this extract from the reviewer in the Times:

This book is a piece of sheer heaven. It kicks Richard Dawkins' self-aggrandising polemic, The God Delusion, into touch with featherlight footwork and is deliciously wise, witty and intellectually sharp into the bargain.

I picked it up from the library today. I’ll let you know.