The Unknown God

What is the so-called New Atheism? The first decade of the twenty-first century has witnessed a cluster of authors who have attained public notoriety through their mockery of religion and their popularizing of atheism. How should Christians and other believers understand and respond to this aggressive attack on their faith? In this collection of sermons, leading academic theologians and philosophers who have written about the New Atheists seek to sum up their thinking and help us make sense of this contemporary phenomenon--and offer a richer and more sophisticated account of what belief in God is really about.

""New Atheists often appeal to reason, as if it were a divine name. The irony is their attempts to pit reason against religion are often charged with irrational vitriol, as well as philosophical and theological naivete. What is the best Christian response? These nine intellectually dazzling sermons speak clearly and charitably to all those who say in their heart 'God does not exist.' A stellar collection!""
--C. C. Pecknold, The Catholic University of America

""The New Atheists applaud science and berate religion, but the science they uphold is unrecognizable to most scientists and the religion they berate is unrecognizable to most Christians. In this absorbing and measured collection some leading contemporary Christian voices take the New Atheist challenge as a stimulus to the renewal of theology and the church. One is almost grateful to the New Atheists for provoking such lively thought as this.""
--Samuel Wells, King's College, London

""We enter the pub and there in the backroom are loud conversation and conviviality. Relaxing around a beer-stained table are all nine [contributors], faces wreathed with smiles. . . . John Hughes quickly observes, 'The thing that particularly characterizes the New Atheists is what we might call their Anglo-Saxon temperament.' David Bentley Hart comments, 'Nietzsche's aphoristic lightning bolts have been replaced by the insipid bromides of Richard Dawkins, who sells atheism as one might a line of Tupperware.' The room rocks with laughter and we sit down, anxious to hear much more.""
--Simon Conway Morris, Cambridge University


John Hughes is the Dean of Chapel and Fellow at Jesus College, Cambridge and teaches for the Faculty of Divinity. He is the author of The End of Work (2007).