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There Is a God: How the World's Most Notorious Atheist Changed His Mind | 
| Authors: Antony Flew, Roy Abraham Varghese
Publisher: HarperOne
Category: Book
List Price: $14.95
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Rating:  70 reviews
Sales Rank: 2527
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 256
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5.4 x 0.8
ISBN: 0061335304
Dewey Decimal Number: 210
EAN: 9780061335303
ASIN: 0061335304
Publication Date: November 4, 2008
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Product Description
In There Is a God, one of the world's preeminent atheists discloses how his commitment to "follow the argument wherever it leads" led him to a belief in God as Creator. This is a compelling and refreshingly open-minded argument that will forever change the atheism debate.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 65 more reviews...
Less fuel for the fire January 6, 2009
I am not deeply involved in the debate of God's existence. I, like most people I suppose, have just accepted it on common sense. I have been a little disturbed by books on both sides of the debat that make claims that cannot be supported by facts. I enjoyed this book because the unknowns that exist are presented and the reader is invited to draw his own conclusions about what to have "faith" in.
 The Truth will set you free January 4, 2009
There Is a God: How the World's Most Notorious Atheist Changed His Mind by Antony Flew is an interesting read. Flew used to debate both theologians and pastors on the existence of God and out of the blue one day decided he was on the wrong side. He is now a staunch supporter of the existence of a God. It may have taken him twenty years but he there now and that what counts.
There is a beautiful new book about God and faith entitled "The Enlightenment, What God Told Me After One Million Prayers: A Message for Everyone," by John H. Eagan. I just finished it. It's really great and deals with God, the creator, Jesus' teachings, and His Passion. It brought me to tears. I think the readers of Flew's book will really enjoy The Enlightenment.
God of the Philosopher January 1, 2009
This book was quite different than I expected. I thought it would be arguments for the existence of God, and its notoriety due to the fact that they were being posed by someone who once made arguments against. But no, it's not really that. Then I thought it would be a sort of conversion story, with the bells and whistles toned down since the author was a philosopher-- a sort of muted, boring conversion story. But no, wrong again. And there was the question if it was going to be on the philosophical level of "If P then Q" or "The unexamined life is not worth living" sort of philosophy. But it's not really on either.
All these disclaimers are necessary because this book really didn't fit my general reading list, nor any of my preconceptions about it. Anyone who wants arguments for the existence of God, generally known as "apologetics" can certainly find easier to read books. Anyone who wants involved philosophical proofs won't find those either. This is a sort of middle-ground book which is not really casual reading, but at the same time, anyone interested in the topic or with background in the subject will find it a significant contribution to the discussion.
The subtitle is "How the world's most notorious atheist changed his mind". It sounds like more "New Atheist" hype, but it's actually the case that since the 1950s, beginning with a widely reprinted article, "Theology and Falsification", Antony Flew has been a leading atheist philosopher. The irony is that the above mentioned article was first read at the Socratic Club at Oxford, a debating society chaired by C.S. Lewis, known for writing works of Christian apologetics, although he also converted from atheism, largely through the influence of J.R. R. Tolkien.
Part one of this book, titled "My Denial of the Dvine", gives a brief biographical sketch of Flew's embrace of atheism and the climate of philosophy in the '50s, then dominated by logical positivism. Part two is entitled "My Discovery of the Divine", and reconsiders many of the questions and ideas of part one. Along the way Flew provides answers to Richard Dawkins, author of The God Delusion, as well as Daniel Dennet and other atheist scientists. He also shows how Dawkins incorrectly bills Einstein as an atheist, and considers the views of many scientists who would call themselves theists.
That takes up about 150 pages. The book is introduced by Roy Abraham Varghese, who also provides, in Appendix One, a critical appraisal of the "New Atheism". Appendix Two is by New Testament scholar, N.T. Wright, who challenged some of Flew's views in the past, and whose own calm consideration of the case for "The Self- Revelation of God in Human History" forms the topic for this dialogue with the author.
Those expecting a dumbed-down popular approach to the big questions will not find it here. Especially in considering the origin of the universe, what is generally called the Anthropic or fine-tuning principle, and the Cosmological Argument, Flew's determination to "follow the evidence wherever it leads" leads him to find evidences of design in recent scientific discoveries, and philosophical arguments for the existence of a Designer. Anyone with more than a passing interest in these arguments will find in Flew's pilgrimage of the last sixty years, points to ponder and food for thought-- and irresistable reading.
There is a Flew December 31, 2008
Anthony Flew is not a household name, but in the academic community it's hard to name anyone more widely respected among living philosophers. As a youngster, he hobnobbed with some of the greatest British intellectuals of the twentieth century, including C. S. Lewis. Later he would write some of the best-known philosophical articles of his generation, including several defenses of atheism. All in all, he was a towering figure in modern philosophy, not least for helping to demonstrate that religion was an antiquated system that no intelligent person could possibly support in the modern age.
Then a funny thing happened. Flew found God. At least it would appear funny to many, but not to Flew himself. He offers the explanation in his last book, co-authored by Roy Abrahan Varghese. Early in his career, Flew vowed to follow the evidence wherever it leads. Now the evidence is streaming in from fields as varied as astrophysics, microbiology, and neuroscience, and it all points to one conclusion: there is an intelligent being who is responsible for the creation of the universe, the beginning of life, thought, consciousness, and self-awareness.
"There is a God" is a philosophical book, not a detailed scientific treatise. Flew is most interested in documenting his thought processes as he moved towards acceptance of the truth of God, not in filling in every detail. For those who are interested, he does provide pointers towards the evidence, and the references tell you where to look for books by real scientists explaining the evidence for intelligent design. Flew himself is content with a brief run through the results. Certain scientific materialists have vowed that they would explain everything as a product of particles acting under the influence of mindless laws. Such efforts, however, have turned into what internet denizens would label "Epic fail". There is no scientific explanation for how the laws of physics originated, nor how the first life form in the universe came into being, nor where consciousness comes from or even what consciousness is.
When Flew was young, atheism was on the rise and religion was on the wane. Many surprising things have happened since then, but few are more surprising than the worldwide resurgence of religious belief. Along with the rising numbers of believers have come a surprisingly strong religious tide in the academic world. Brave intellectuals have stood up to defend God in fields as diverse as science, history, art, sociology, and philosophy. Anthony Flew's book makes a worthy contribution to this project, and for that reason alone makes good reading for anyone, be they Christian, deist, athesist, or miscellaneous other.
A gifted thinker changes his mind December 23, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I became a fan of Antony Flew when I read his book Introduction to Western Philosophy. I saw in reading his book how much the philosophy of outlook of life or world view of Europe and America had been shaped by protestant and catholic theology. Even though he was an atheist his thinking and reasoning followed a straight line and I found him honest in his approach toward any subject he discussed. I can't say the same for Dawkins, who ultimately ends up proposing that an intelligent designer may be the answer to the box canyon of reasoning which he always reaches in his dogmatic approach to the question of the existence of God. Flew points out, according to Dawkins own reasoning, he, nor any person has any right to make conclusions about anything in the universe, even scientific theory, if you follow their reasoning in a straight line. Flew has "followed the evidence" and come to believe in a God. He struggles with the God of the Old Testament, as any thinking christian would struggle at some of the portrayals of God in its contents. He is at least looking at the God of the New, which is shown in is discussions with N.T. Wright. I found it humorous that he obviously didn't read too much C.S. Lewis material, even though he attended the Socratic Club, chaired by him. Flew says that his childhood explanations for the rejection of God centered on the "problem of pain", or evil in the world. A good God would not have created the world the way it is. Flew changed his mind about counting our world conditions as "against" God in is reasoning. He credits Basil Mitchell, not Lewis, for his change in thought.
Norman Geisler said in his book Making God in the Image of Man, that philosophy is necessary in discussing and understanding the subject of God. Flew broaches an area where philosophical mind sets play an important part in explaining the kind of God they believe exists. I refer to the subjects on which Flew wrote extensively--predestination, determinism, and free will. Not only has Flew changed his mind about how the earth and our universe got here, he says that he considers one of the most significant changes of mind to be his position or thoughts concerning these subjects: "In the light of my defection from full compatibilism, much of the material I have published about free will or choice, both in religious and secular contexts, requires revision and correction."
Flew's defection from atheism will disturb Dawkins and other atheists and his defection from belief in compatibilism (he claims he coined the word) would disturb John Edwards and Aquinas, and will disturb Geisler, Sproul and a host of theologians whose explanations for evil in the world rests with God being the master puppet operator, pulling the strings of life for humanity. Flew's explanations add a strong voice to the philosophical approach for a theodicy of God of Pinnock, Boyd, Sanders, Frethheim, and others who don't use compatibilism as an answer to how God works in the universe with his subjects. Being a christian, I find myself exuberant in spirit an honest soul has admitted he believes he was wrong after 50 years of publishing, and was willing to admit it. Humility is a rare quality in the egotistical discussions I have heard on whether God exists.
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