God and the New Atheism: A Critical Response to Dawkins, Harris, and Hitchens

Features

• Cover Type: Paperback with 156 pages
• Published by: Westminster John Knox Press December 31, 2007
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 066423304X
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-0664233044
• Book Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.2 inches
• Weighs: 6.4 ounces

From Publishers Weekly
The recent spate of books from atheists such as Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris and (most stridently) Christopher Hitchens has prompted many pundits and scholars to label the trend the New Atheism. Haught uses the term, but argues that there is nothing really new about the New Atheism; it is instead a rehashing of antireligious arguments that are as old as the Enlightenment. In fact, Haught criticizes the New Atheism as being theologically unchallenging, its all-or-nothing thinking representing about the same level of reflection on faith that one can find in contemporary creationist and fundamentalist literature. Haught draws upon theologians such as Tillich, Bultmann, Ricoeur, McFague and Pannenberg to refute some of the New Atheists' most common contentions. Through most of Haught's book, his approach is straight theism, with the exclusively or specifically Christian arguments coming near the end. Although this book is more accessible than some of Haught's earlier theological work (e.g., Is Nature Enough?), it is still challenging and serious; readers will need to follow scientific, theological, philosophical and logical threads to keep up. The reward is worth it, however, as Haught lays out the fundamental issues clearly and without the vitriol that has characterized Hitchens et al. as well as many of their interlocutors. (Feb.)
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Product Description
In God and the New Atheism a world expert on science and theology gives clear, concise, and compelling answers to the charges against religion laid out in recent bestselling books by Richard Dawkins (The God Delusion), Sam Harris (The End of Faith), and Christopher Hitchens (God Is not Great). For some, these new atheists appear to say extremely well what they believe to be wrong with religion. But, as John Haught shows, the treatment of religion in these books is riddled with logical inconsistencies, shallow misconceptions, and crude generalizations. Can God really be dismissed as a mere delusion? Is faith really the enemy of reason? And does religion really poison everything? God and the New Atheism offers a much-needed antidote to the extremist claims of scientific fundamentalism. This provocative and accessible little book will enable readers to see through the rhetorical fog of this recent phenomenon and come to a clearer understanding of the issues at stake in this crucial debate.

Reader Reviews
There are some cultural debates that break new ground and shed badly needed light on old issues. There are others, though, that generate much more heat than illumination. I fear that the current (New) atheism/theism controversy more often than not falls into the second category. Angry and belligerent New Atheists lining up against angry and belligerent Intelligent Designers and fundamentalists: in this context, the debate too frequently reduces to name-calling. That's why books like John Haught's are novel but refreshing contributions. Haught, who has reflected on science and religion for a couple of decades now, writes soberly and judiciously. He argues that the New Atheism, defended by the Dawkins/Harris/Hitchens troika, suffers from (1) irrelevancy (disdains familiarity with theology and side-steps serious debate by going after fringe theists); (2) inconsistency (first because it never questions the foundation of its scientific naturalism, second because it never pauses to ask how reason, if it's nothing but an evolutionary product, can be trusted--a point similar to one defended by C.S. Lewis in his book Miracles); and (3) scientistic reductionism--or what Haught calls "epistemic and ethical puritanism"--which "shrinks" both knowledge and morality into the too-confining language of naturalism. More positively, Haught argues that faith, contrary to the reductionistic definition adopted and easily demolished by the New Atheists, is better thought of as an openness to experiences which point beyond themselves to depth, beauty, and truth, qualities Haught associates with divine Being. In making this argument, he draws heavily upon an earlier and excellent book of his, What Is God? His final two chapters, in which he examines the "personal" nature of the theistic God and the inevitability of ambiguity and messiness in any examination of reality, are really quite fascinating. Haught's book isn't perfect. It tends to be repetitious, especially in the first two chapters, and at times his arguments could've been more detailed than they are (especially, it seems to me, in his claim that Dawkins is wrong to think of God as a hypothesis). But despite this, his God and the New Atheism is a much-welcomed exercise in reason and civility. It's to be hoped that everyone attracted to the on-going cultural debate between atheism and theism, regardless of their allegiance, will profit by Haught's example.