Coming to Faith Through Dawkins: 12 Essays on the Pathway from New Atheism to Christianity

by Alister E. McGrath, Denis Alexander (Contributor)

Richard Dawkins = Christian evangelist?

Editors Denis Alexander and Alister McGrath gather other intelligent minds from around the world to share their startling Richard Dawkins and his fellow New Atheists were instrumental in their conversions to Christianity.

Despite a wide range of backgrounds and cultures, all are united in the fact that they were first enthusiasts for the claims and writings of the New Atheists. But each became disillusioned by the arguments and conclusions of Dawkins, causing them to look deeper and with more objectivity at religious faith. The fallacies of Christianity Dawkins warns of simply don't exist.

Spending time in this fascinating and powerful book is like being invited to the most interesting dinner party you've ever attended. Listen as twelve men and women from five different countries across a variety of professions--philosophers, artists, historians, engineers, scientists, and more--explain their journeys from atheism to faith. In the end, you may come away having reached the same authentic Christian faith is in fact more intellectually convincing and rational than New Atheism.

"Lucid as well as exhilarating and wide-ranging."
--Rupert Shortt, Von Hügel Institute, University of Cambridge, and author of God Is No Thing

"Many people, including nonbelievers like me, have found Dawkins's strident atheism upsetting to the point of offensive. I would never have thought that--as Coming to Faith Through Dawkins shows in wonderful detail--for some, Dawkins's rantings were the spur to Christian faith."
--Michael Ruse, Professor of Philosophy Emeritus, University of Guelph, Ontario

"This is a novel real-life stories of people who have actually come to faith, not in spite of but through Richard Dawkins. It must be his own worst nightmare!"
--William Lane Craig, Houston Christian University

Genres: Christian

294 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 29, 2023

About the author

Alister Edgar McGrath is a Northern Irish theologian, priest, intellectual historian, scientist, and Christian apologist. He currently holds the Andreas Idreos Professorship in Science and Religion in the Faculty of Theology and Religion at the University of Oxford, and is Professor of Divinity at Gresham College. He was previously Professor of Theology, Ministry, and Education at King's College London and Head of the Centre for Theology, Religion and Culture, Professor of Historical Theology at the University of Oxford, and was principal of Wycliffe Hall, Oxford, until 2005. He is an Anglican priest and is ordained within the Church of England.

Aside from being a faculty member at Oxford, McGrath has also taught at Cambridge University and is a Teaching Fellow at Regent College. McGrath holds three doctorates from the University of Oxford, a DPhil in Molecular Biophysics, a Doctor of Divinity in Theology and a Doctor of Letters in Intellectual History.

McGrath is noted for his work in historical theology, systematic theology, and the relationship between science and religion, as well as his writings on apologetics. He is also known for his opposition to New Atheism and antireligionism and his advocacy of theological critical realism. Among his best-known books are The Twilight of Atheism, The Dawkins Delusion?: Atheist Fundamentalism and the Denial of the Divine, Dawkins' God: Genes, Memes, and the Meaning of Life, and A Scientific Theology. He is also the author of a number of popular textbooks on theology.

Reviews

[NinaB · Rating 4 out of 5]

Conversion stories of intellectuals to Christianity deeply interest me. Their spiritual journeys highlight the truth of irresistible grace. Each of the converts whose essays are featured in the book tried their mightiest to resist the call of God unto salvation, but, thankfully, lost.

Ironically, the Lord seemed to have used the foolishness of Richard Dawkins' atheistic arguments to open these intellectuals' minds to the gospel truth. Though I don't hold to some of these converts' convictions (one is a devout Catholic, which doesn't teach the same gospel as the Bible), I still find their stories fascinating that compelled me to give thanks for the electing grace and mercy of Christ.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of twelve essays sharing how the claims and writings of the New Atheist movement, including Richard Dawkins, lead twelve different people to convert or rediscover their Christian faith. An interesting look into how these different interactions with the New Atheist movement were critical to each of the authors faith journeys resulting in a stronger Christian faith. The stories of the personalities, writings, and debates for and against the New Atheist movement were also discussed in many of these essays. I found this book a thought provoking read. I received a free kindle edition of this book from the Publisher.

[John]

Great stories of how the overzeal of anti-Christian scientism pointed people to the Truth in Christ!