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In this provocative book one of the most brilliant scholars of religion today dismantles distorted religious “histories” offered up by Christopher Hitchens, Richard Dawkins, and other contemporary critics of religion and advocates of atheism. David Bentley Hart provides a bold correction of the New Atheists’s misrepresentations of the Christian past, countering their polemics with a brilliant account of Christianity and its message of human charity as the most revolutionary movement in all of Western history.
Hart outlines how Christianity transformed the ancient world in ways we may have forgotten: bringing liberation from fatalism, conferring great dignity on human beings, subverting the cruelest aspects of pagan society, and elevating charity above all virtues. He then argues that what we term the “Age of Reason” was in fact the beginning of the eclipse of reason’s authority as a cultural value. Hart closes the book in the present, delineating the ominous consequences of the decline of Christendom in a culture that is built upon its moral and spiritual values.
- Sales Rank: #243316 in eBooks
- Published on: 2009-04-21
- Released on: 2013-06-07
- Format: Kindle eBook
Review
“With impressive erudition and polemical panache, David Hart smites hip and thigh the peddlers of a ‘new atheism’ that recycles hoary arguments from the past. His grim assessment of our cultural moment challenges the hope that ‘the Christian revolution’ could happen again.”—Richard John Neuhaus, former editor in chief of First Things
(Richard John Neuhaus)
“Provoked by and responding to the standard-bearers of ‘the New Atheism’, this original and intellectually impressive work deftly demolishes their mythical account of ‘the rise of modernity.’ Hart argues instead that the genuinely humane values of modernity have their historic roots in Christianity.”—Geoffrey Wainwright, Duke Divinity School (Geoffrey Wainwright)
"In this learned, provocative, and sophisticated book, Hart presents a frontal challenge to today's myopic caricature of the culture and religion that existed in previous centuries."—Robert Louis Wilken, University of Virginia
(Robert Louis Wilken)
“Surely Dawkins, Hitchens et al would never have dared put pen to paper had they known of the existence of David Bentley Hart. After this demolition-job all that is left for them to do is repent and rejoice at the discreditation of their erstwhile selves.”—John Milbank, author of Radical Orthodoxy: A New Theology
(John Milbank)
“A devastating dissection of the ‘new atheism,’ a timely reminder of the fact that ‘no Christianity’ would have meant ‘no West,’ and a rousing good read. David Hart is one of America's sharpest minds, and this is Hart in full, all guns firing and the band playing on the deck.”—George Weigel, Distinguished Senior Fellow, Ethics and Public Policy Center, Washington (George Weigel)
"Few things are so delightful as watching someone who has taken the time to acquire a lot of learning casually, even effortlessly, dismantle the claims of lazy grandstanders. . . . Hart isn’t making a bid for wealth, fame, or cocktail-party acceptance: He knows whereof he speaks."—Stefan Beck, New Criterion
(Stefan Beck New Criterion 2009-06-01)
"Anyone interested in taking the debate about God to the next level should read and reflect on Hart’s spirited brief on behalf of Christian truth."—Damon Linker, New Republic
(Damon Linker New Republic 2009-04-23)
"Hart writes with elegance. Even his invective has style."—Richmond Times-Dispatch
(Richmond Times-Dispatch 2009-06-08)
"Absolutely brilliant . . . a cultural tour-de-force"—John Linsenmeyer, Greenwich Time
(Greenwich Time 2009-04-08)
“[A] major work by one of the most learned, forceful, and witty Christian theologians currently writing.”—Paul J. Griffiths, First Things (Paul J. Griffiths First Things 2009-08-01)
“Atheist Delusions is a history that serves life . . . Hart argues for a brave thesis . . . . With astonishing success, [he] achieves his objective.”--Christopher Benson, The City
(Christopher Benson The City)
"Indeed, in a culture battle, pitting religion against secularism, Hart may be the best 'corner man' in the business, providing would'be Christian pugilists with a better understanding of both their own strengths and their opponent's weaknesses."—Graham Reside, Interpretation: A Journal of Bible and Theology (Graham Reside Interpretation: A Journal of Bible and Theology)
"Hart aims to provide his readers with a persuasive evocation of historical facts, moral judgments, philosophical principles, and theological musings, which may persuade them of the beauty of Christian truth. . . . Atheist Delusions is an honest book, which doesn't hide the sometimes repulsive truths related to the political or social aspects of historical Christianity."—Mihail Neamtu, Modern Age (Mihail Neamtu Modern Age)
About the Author
David Bentley Hart is the author of several books, including In the Aftermath: Provocations and Laments and The Beauty of the Infinite: The Aesthetics of Christian Truth. He lives in Providence, RI.
Most helpful customer reviews
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful.
A very convincing book for the ill-read
By Ken Freed
This is a book that lures you in, in the same manner as C.S. Lewis’ “Mere Christianity”, only to clobber you with VERY logical yet doubtful assertions and falsehoods towards the middle and end.
The book starts off with brilliant writing about how we view the world based on our culture and surroundings. It then gives concession to the opposition in praising former day atheist writers like Nietzsche, before going on to (rightly) knock the weakest of the current day “Atheist 101” (my term) sensationalist books (Hitchens, Dawkins, et. al.). It totally ignores stronger authors like Clarence Darrow, Bertrand Russell, Robert Ingersoll, Umberto Eco (on medieval history, mid 1800s church attitudes) and Susan Jacoby (on Ingersoll, on religious coercion).
Bentley then goes on to define “freedom” in terms of self discipline (in my view: without the freedom to go to hell in your own way – there is no freedom), and nihilism as not having a formal set of morals that stem from an –ism or an –ity (written or not, there is such a thing as a social contract). Bentley is right about the role of religion in keeping the masses under control – but the humorist PJ O’Rourke makes the case much better when he says that “religion is there to make the white trash behave”. Will and Ariel Durant also point out that Napoleon had to conclude that one good priest was worth 20 policemen. Robert Pirsig also makes the point that even first generation atheists cannot get away from the internalized morals of their religious backgrounds, and that it's the later ones without this background which leads one to question the wisdom of atheism.
If I follow the argument - the book knocks both Newton and Darwinism because they do not start with how materials/beings came from nothingness, which the author considers essential for their explanations – and misses what science is about. I could go on.
Bentley then goes on to knock Gibbon and the Durants in bringing up instances of church history, where (he claims) these historians have falsely emphasized the place of intolerance in the early church. While the specific historical issues described could be argued endlessly, they ignore what the church fathers were up against in expressing their intolerance. Early Christians, for instance, also worshipped the local gods to “hedge their bets”. Historians have trouble differentiating Jewish and Christian graves for the first 300 years. The Church fathers did not like this and strongly sought to combat it. Bart Ehrmann’s “Great Courses” lectures are far more illuminating than this revisionist history, and to sum up various sources, in my view: early Christianity was Roman virtues laid on top of the benefits of Jewish (often taken too literally and thereby missing the point) adherence to a divinely inspired moral law.
Of course, Hart sees the 30 years war more in terms of the competing power at the top, and admits (before minimizing the rubber meets the road) religious convictions at the bottom. Hart also blames modern "total" war on the secular nation state (over a Europe united by Christendom) – as if church inspired “God Mit Uns” were not stamped on the belt buckles and present in the sentiments of all the combatants - encouraged by their national churches. In making his arguments, Mr. Hart totally ignores “The American Heresy”, and the churches’ dislike of liberal democracy as being anathema to a God given hierarchy here on earth (hence siding with Mussolini, Franco Peron, etc. in the 1930s).
Then the author concludes by returning to the “Atheist 101” authors and (rightly) showing their historical inaccuracies and their pandering sensationalism.
I’m reasonably sure that Mr. Bentley would claim that I’m just fashionable and trendy in my readings. In my view, this is a very convincing book for the ill-read. Don’t bother with it.
194 of 225 people found the following review helpful.
A much needed history lesson
By Jordan M. Poss
The only thing I dislike about Atheist Delusions is its title. A few other reviewers have pointed out that it seems to indicate the book will be a rebuttal of atheist writers like Dawkins, Hitchens, Harris, and the rest. It is not. Indeed, David Bentley Hart asserts that men like them are hardly worth attention because of the infantile level on which they argue. What Hart does, instead, is provide a history lesson for the "fashionable enemies" of Christianity.
The delusions in question, Hart says, are mostly historical ones. One will not discuss religion with an atheist long before history comes up. What of the injustice of the Inquisition? The Crusades? The long-running war of religion against science? The Reformation and the subsequent wars of religion? We hear constantly that religion (read: Christianity) is the most destructive force in human history. It is Hart's purpose to debunk the delusions and historical fabrications that characterize historical arguments against Christianity.
The primary focus of Hart's book, hinted at in the subtitle, is the "Christian Revolution," those first, tense centuries AD when Christianity replaced ancient paganism. The pagan era has been eulogized since in the Enlightenment as an era of peace and progress, of scientific advance that was stymied by the bigoted, book-burning Christians of the "Dark Ages." Hart shows that, while we owe much to the ancient world, it was also an irredeemably ugly place of slavery, infanticide, of callousness and hopeless reconciliation to the whims of cruel fate. Christianity, which he calls the only true revolution in history, changed everything from the bottom up--and since Christianity was first accepted among the lower classes and slaves, it changed everything quite literally from the bottom up.
Christians did not, Hart shows, burn the Library of Alexandria, or torture millions during the Inquisition, persecute Galileo, or wreak havoc across Europe during the Reformation in the name of religion. Christianity gave the world hospitals, modern science, and the moral framework to regard all life as worthy of life. In this coup de grace, Hart even points out that it would not even be possible for men like Dawkins and Hitchens to make their arguments of justice and fairness were it not for the "Christian Revolution," that their concepts of justice and fairness are rooted not just in Western Civilization but in Christianity itself.
The only way in which Atheist Delusions left me wanting was in a discussion of the Crusades. I am a military and medieval historian and so this topic is near and dear to my heart, but Hart only gives the Crusades a paragraph or two at the beginning of one chapter. He claims that the Crusades were not rooted in any Christian doctrine of just war--but they were, and were he to investigate further he would see the reasons the Crusades were considered just. (To take up the slack on this topic, I recommend Thomas F. Madden's New Concise History of the Crusades.)
But that one niggling issue aside, Atheist Delusions is one of the best books I have ever read--and I do not say so lightly. I read through it as quickly as I could and have thought about it daily ever since. I've found more food for thought, more intellectual challenge and stimulation here than in any book I've read in years.
Highly recommended.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful.
Fantastic
By Amazon Consumer
What a fantastic, sweeping history of Christianity. I've never seen an author so effortlessly dismantle so many popular myths about the Christian religion.
And brilliant prose.
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