The Devils' Gospels: Finding God in Four Great Atheist Books

by Christopher Gasson

Can we find religious inspiration in great atheist writing? It is a paradoxical challenge but an urgent one. The gap between secular and religious understandings of the world has become impossibly wide. It is damaging Christianity and cutting young people off from the possibility of faith. Yet if God exists, everything we learn about the world should tell us more about God. The Devils’ Gospels started in a youth discussion group at Oxford’s University Church. Each month the author would introduce a different atheist book to the teenagers to see where the discussion would lead. Four of the best are given the status of 'gospels' Friedrich Nietzsche’s Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Jacques Derrida’s Writing and Difference, Stephen Hawking’s A Brief History of Time, and Richard Dawkins’ The God Delusion. These books each have, in their own way, shaped the world we live in today. The Devils’ Gospels captures the energy of their ideas in language simple enough for a bright 11-year-old to understand, and uses it to shed greater light on the nature of God. But it is not just written for intelligent teenagers trying to find their way towards belief. It is aimed at two other important Christians who feel that they aren’t getting the answers that matter from the Church, and non-believers who want to explore the possibility that there may be more to life than physics and biology.

192 pages, Paperback

Published February 1, 2025

Reviews

[Benjamin Stahl · Rating 4 out of 5]

An entertaining and surprisingly well-engaged book that attempts to respond to, understand and draw more theistic conclusions from four influential atheist works. I had written a much longer review but I lost it before saving the damn thing, and have not the will to write it all over again.

[Justin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Gasson's approach to apologetics is quite different from the mainstream; his is initially an intriguing invitation to read and understand seminal works against Christianity. Gasson argues that there are truths about God which can be mined from four great atheistic works: "Thus Spoke Zarathustra," by Nietzsche; "Writing and Difference" by Derrida, "A Brief History of Time" by Hawking; and "The God Delusion" by Dawkins. Gasson makes a few claims which Christians should definitely consider, for example: "Christians often assume that because someone doesn't believe in God, they can't be a moral person..." He refutes such erroneous reasoning rightfully. Yet his approach to theology is unorthodox, and even the *very few* Church Fathers and theologians he quotes from would likely disagree with such assertions as the argued validity of panentheism, theistic evolution, and the supreme unknowability of God's Word and purposes. Gasson goes so far as writing that "it doesn't really matter how you conceive of God because it is always bound to be wrong."
There's a sense of nihilism and unorthodoxy in Gasson's conclusions, as if his engagement with the texts inform aspects of theology proper, divine revelation, and bibliology more concretely than thousands of years of theology. While I do agree that some aspects of theological liberalism may be entertained while maintaining theological orthodoxy, Gasson does little theological scholarship here outside of making popular and fraught claims with few liberal theologians (or other theologians, for that matter) to support him.
Arguing that "The God Delusion" is a striking reminder that Christians have been, and can be, evil at times, is a new way to make an old claim, but I wonder if the theological claims about interpreting these atheistic works falls under Derrida's criticism which Gasson embraces: "What if we were forced to accept that their [ancient texts] meaning is fluid and indefinite?" Could that undermine Gasson's points and interpretations presented in the rest of his text? I believe so.
While the premise is admirable, the execution lends to theological ground-giving. "I thought about it," Gasson writes toward the end of the book, "and decided that we can never understand the meaning of eternal life...we should love him [God] and his creation without understanding the purpose." In the end, this work was less a theologically orthodox assessment of atheistic works, and more a concession of points and grievances regarding the Church, theology proper, and revelation. It is neither scholarly or theologically rigorous enough, nor engaging enough to compel Christian readers to assess great works well for the growth of the Church.

[Stephen Loat · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this as an E-Book and found it very thought provoking. I partiuclarly liked how it addressed a lot of grievances I think many people would share with The Church and organised religion in general. The book does not go into a huge amount of depth with regards to theological scholarship (although that's not to say it's completely devoid of it) however that also has the plus of making it much easier to read and follow along with.

Indeed, the book is not aiming to redress thousands of years of theology. Instead, it aims to provide a refreshing and modern take on what faith might mean and look like in this age of exceptional scientific development and understanding as well as complex social issues. This is done in a novel way and some of the questions and interruptions espoused in the youth discussion group add some welcome humour as well as head scratching 'stop in your tracks' moments.

I'd highly recommend it to the curious - be you Chrisitan, atheist, or otherwise.