Summer Smackdown: Battle For God Intensifies

Why I Became an Atheist, by John W. Loftus. Loftus is a former Evangelical Minister, Christian Philosopher, and Apologist who chucked it all for atheism. He's first on my list, as I suspect he has the most emotional case to make of the atheists.

God's Problem, by Bart D. Ehrman. I've listened to and read Ehrman in the past, and find him likable, interesting, and persuasive. In this book Ehrman goes after the concept of theodicy -- why God allows evil in the world. We've all seen a small child suffer some agonizing death, or watched another genocide, and concluded that no just God would allow such atrocities to occur. Ehrman gave up his religious beliefs due to this problem (or so the book jacket says) so it should be an interesting read.

Coming in for the Christians is Atheist Delusions, by David Bentley Hart. Hart takes on the "new atheists" as he calls them, supposedly with panache. We'll see. Note that I have not included any of the fashionable atheist books in here by Dawkins, Hitchens, Harris, Dennett, et al. Sorry -- but I find the works I have read to a bit childish. That's just me.

Jesus Interrupted, by Bart Ehrman again. Bart seems to be a favorite, I guess. Ehrman goes down a laundry list of what's wrong with our current version of the New Testament, sending up most of Christianity's dogma in the process.

The Existential Jesus, by John Carroll. Take the book of Mark (the original text and not including the part added on at the end), which is our most authoritative source of Jesus' teachings. Examine this in contrast to what Christianity became. Sounds like an interesting premise, and if nothing else should put a new slant on the term "Christianity", which, last I checked, means somebody who follows Jesus. (Although I know many people who would disagree!)

The Christian Agnostic, by Leslie D. Weatherhead. Supposedly an insightful book by a pastor of a large English church. Comes recommended by a professor of philosophy and epistemology who is also religious. From the back, "Dr. Weatherhead's belief that the theological demands of Christianity are barriers to an honest Christian participation by a great number of people led him to write this book. He affirms the certainties of Christian faith but condemns the 'load of theological lumber which weighs much official teaching'

Not sure about that, but we'll see.

Finally, and I think the heavyweight in the room, is Fear and Trembling, Repetition, by Soren Kierkegaard. Kierkegaard is becoming one of my new heroes, I think. I don't understand his points (hence the reading of the book), but I think he's going to make the case that mankind's relationship to the infinite is a critical part of an authentic existential life. If so, I'd like to come along for the ride for a bit and see where's he's going. It could be very enlightening. This is also probably the hardest book to read, so I saved it for last.

If this reading list bores you, sorry about that. I like big questions, big projects, and big ideas. The more challenging, the better. Since it doesn't get much bigger than God, seemed like a good project for the next month or two while I'm decompressing. After all, if we all die and there is a God and he looks like an octopus, aren't you all going to feel very silly you didn't study up a bit while you were alive? And if there isn't a God and life is just meaningless, then spending a few weeks with really smart people who try to grapple with hard problems with lots of emotional connotations isn't exactly wasting your time either now, is it? I mean, after this, getting a technology team to agree on system specs should be a piece of cake.

Perhaps, after being around really smart people solving really hard problems for so long, I just like hearing smart people argue. It's good to have passion about something in your life, even if you have to borrow it.