Product Description

The God Delusion by world-renowned scientist and atheist Richard Dawkins received wide coverage, fueled much passionate debate and caused not a little confusion.

Once an atheist himself, Alister McGrath wonders how two people, who have reflected at length on substantially the same world, could possibly have come to such different conclusions about God. In The Dawkins Delusion? McGrath and his wife, Joanna, subject Dawkins's critique of faith to rigorous scrutiny.

This book will be warmly received by those looking for a reliable assessment of The God Delusion and the many questions it raises including, above all, the relevance of faith and the quest for meaning.

• General readers
• Pastors
• Students
• Culture watchers

"Alister McGrath invariably combines enormous scholarship with an accessible and engaging style." ROWAN WILLIAMS, Archbishop of Canterbury

"Alister McGrath dismantles the argument that science should lead to atheism, and demonstrates instead that Dawkins has abandoned his muchcherished rationality to embrace an embittered manifesto of dogmatic atheist fundamentalism." FRANCIS COLLINS, Director of the Human Genome Project

"The God Delusion makes me embarrassed to be an atheist, and the McGraths show why." MICHAEL RUSE, Lucyle T. Werkmeister Professor of Philosophy, and Director of the Program in the History and Philosophy of Science, Department of Philosophy, Florida State University

• Provides a timely response to the recent bestselling book by Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion
• McGrath, like Dawkins, was an atheist and now, again like Dawkins, teaches at Oxford

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #24267 in Books
• Published on: 2007-06-08
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 118 pages

From Publishers Weekly
When authors write books that criticize other books, they have usually already lost; the original book has set the agenda to which the critics respond, and the outcome is foretold. Not in this case. The McGraths expeditiously plow into the flank of Dawkins's fundamentalist atheism, made famous in The God Delusion, and run him from the battlefield. The book works partly because they are so much more gracious to Dawkins than Dawkins is to believers: Dawkins's The Blind Watchmaker remains the finest critique of William Paley's naturalistic arguments for deism available, for example. The authors can even point to instances in which their interactions with him, both literary and personal, have changed his manner of arguing: he can no longer say that Tertullian praised Christian belief because of its absurdity or that religion necessarily makes one violent. The McGraths are frustrated, then, that Dawkins continues to write on the a priori, nonscientific assumption that religious believers are either deluded or meretricious, never pausing to consider the evidence not in his favor or the complex beliefs and practices of actual Christians. They conclude disquietingly: perhaps Dawkins is aware that demagogic ranting that displays confidence in the face of counterevidence is the way to sway unlearned masses. (July)
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--Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury
"Alister McGrath invariably combines enormous scholarship with an accessible and engaging style."

--Publishers Weekly
"McGrath has distinguished himself . . . as an historical theologian, [and] a generous, . . . witty writer who brings to life topics that would turn to dust in others' hands."

Customer Reviews

Accomplishes what the author set out to do
Alister McGrath's _The Dawkins Delusion_ is a short book with one aim: to introduce readers to the flaws in Dawkins' _The God Delusion_. The book's introduction explains that this is neither a full treatment of philosophy of religion, nor even a point-by-point engagement of everything Dawkins says in his book -- McGrath explains that such an exhaustive refutation would be "unspeakably tedious". Fortunately, for those who truly want more detail there are two extremely good alternatives: read the material suggested in the footnotes and "further reading" sections of this book, or get your hands on some of McGrath's lectures.

What we have here, then, is a short, readable introduction to the flaws of Dawkins' arguments. This book will appeal chiefly to those who think of themselves as ready to change their minds on the basis of actual evidence, and who do not personally shy away from the intellectual work required to examine evidence. This book will not, itself, actually change minds in most cases; what it will do is point out how to think more rigorously about these questions, while inviting readers to consider and seriously study the rich, centuries-long tradition of inquiry about God -- or his absence -- of which Dawkins seems only dimly and superficially aware.

poor effort
I don't know what else to say. This book was terrible. On the bright side, it was short enough that I didn't waste much time reading it.

The Dawkins Delusion ?
Whilst I do not agree with all Dawkins's statements in his book "The God Delusion", his main point is his refutation of the trurh of the Bible which is perfectly valid when you consider that the Bible Genesis is mostly wrong (evolution, cosmology). Whoever believes in Noah's deluge will believe anything !
Macgrath carefully ignores this subject.