book review: There is a God

I thought I would do something different for this blog, instead of my usual musings and reflections on the current state of affairs in my life. I have recently finished a very insightful and fascinating book by a world renowned former atheist Antony Flew.

For those of you unfamiliar with Antony Flew he was an academic philosopher and professor at various universities including Oxford, Aberdeen, Keele and Reading. He wrote several academic theses and books including, arguably his most famous, 'God and Philosophy'. Flew became an atheist at age 15, while still at school and later went on to study at Oxford. However, after a lifetime of triumphing atheism he renounced his atheism in favour of theism.

In his book 'There is a God' Flew narrates his journey from atheism to theism. As a young boy his father took them on holiday to Germany where he witnessed first hand the cruelty of the Nazi regime. In the face of such evil Flew became disillusioned with the concept of God. In his book Flew admits that even as an atheist in his adult life he came to realise he had become an atheist for the wrong reasons but by then his academic study had strengthed his convictions so fervently that he knew despite the means he arrived at it, atheism was correct. Throughout his book Flew speaks plainly and openly about the integrity of the intellectual and academic principles he lived his life by; namely the Socratic principle to follow the argument wherever it leads. This principle shaped and reshaped many of his atheist beliefs and eventually led him to theism. Reading his journey of transformation I was struck by his honesty and how highly he spoke of the theist philosophers whom challenged his atheism through critques of his work or public academic debates. He speaks very highly of people such as CS Lewis, William Lane Craig, David Conway & Richard Swinburne.

Essentially, as Flew explains, he came to the conclusion that theism is a better explanation for the existence of the universe through the break throughs and groundbreaking new discoveries made in science: the evidence in support of the Big Bang, DNA & RNA sequencing, the laws of nature and the fine tuning argument. As Flew considered this new scientific data about human genes and genetic coding, as well as the properties of the universe, he reached a very theological conclusion based on a reconsideration of classical philosophical arguments for the existence of God such as the argument for design and the cosmological argument. Having followed the Socratic principle to always pursue the argument wherever the evidence led he finally came to believe that atheism could not sufficiently explain the origins of life.

In the second part of his book, where he details his journey to belief and acceptance in theism, Flew gives a wonderful overview of the insights and beliefs of Einstein. He explains how often Einstein is popularly portrayed as an atheist but conversely the opposite was true. Whilst it is true that Einstein did not believe in a personal God, such as has revealed himself to the Abrahamic faiths he nevertheless believed in a transcendent, "superior mind" who had created the universe and was beyond all comprehension. Flew is also critical of some of the more famous modern atheists such as Richard Dawkins for his conclusions and condemnation of theism.

Although at the time of writing Flew did not adhere to any of the major monotheistic religions he concludes his book by saying:

"Where do I go from here? In the first place, I am entirely open to learning more about the divine Reality...second, the question of whether the Divine has revealed itself to human nature remains a valid topic of discussion. You cannot limit the possibilities of omnipotence except to produce the logically impossible."

Despite his faith coming purely from reason, now having come to a faith in an intelligent, creator God Flew cannot deny the possibility that this same being could reveal himself to humanity. I find this conclusion to be incredibly profound, as I have said before to my friends that if God exists you cannot rule out the possibility of His communicating with humanity. To say otherwise would be to try and limit God and in Flew's words "produce the logically impossible". Moreover, Flew concedes:

"As I have said more than once, no other religion enjoys anything like the combination of a charismatic figure like Jesus and a first-class intellectual like St Paul. If you're wanting omnipotence to set up a religion, it seems to me this is the one to beat!"

Whilst not (at the time of writing) a Christian, Flew could see that Christianity is the most likely of all the major monotheistic religions to be true. This is high praise indeed from a former atheist.

While some of the academic language Flew uses in his discussion and summary of the major philosophical and scientific work that led him to theism was slightly over my head, not being as familiar as he with the academic debates, this was a thoroughly fascinating and rewarding read. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is prepared to tackle these issues and topics. Flew speaks honestly and frankly about his journey as well as offering many accessible analogies for the lay readers such as myself. As a Christian my faith was reinforced by the power and persuasion of the classical philosophical arguments for the existence of God as well as how modern science is producing many new theists.