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What's So Great About Christianity
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Average Rating:  out of 137 Reviews
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Price: $27.95
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Sale: $13.99
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Manufacturer: Regnery Publishing
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EAN (European Article Number): 9781596985179
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Number of Items: 1
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Binding: Hardcover
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Author: Dinesh D'Souza
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Publisher: Regnery Publishing
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Dewey Decimal Number: 230
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Publication Date: 2007-10-16
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Reading Level: 348
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Description: Today, more than ever, Christianity is under attack. In his new book, bestselling author Dinesh D'Souza takes on the leading critics of Christianity, from E. O. Wilson to Richard Dawkins. D'Souza shows that, against all expectations, Christianity is the fastest-growing religion in the world and that secularism and atheism are on the decline. This, D'Souza contends, explains the panicky efforts by atheists to discredit Christianity, exclude it from the public sphere, and indoctrinate schoolchildren in atheist doctrine masquerading as science.
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Customer Reviews
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Review Summary: Good Argument for the Greatness of Christianity! |
Date: 2009-01-06 |
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Details: In the confusing society in which we live, where academic and intellectual circles are predominately committed to materialism at the same time that a majority of the citizenry of the United States apparently believe in God, how should Christianity be presented apologetically? Where the press, TV media, movies, public schools and universities, simply assume Darwinian evolution and materialistic origins for the universe, what arguments can be made? Where Darwinism, even after 150 years of looking for objective evidence to support it and seemingly very little found so far is nonetheless tenaciously held, what can one say? Where absurd theories of multiple universes are seriously put forward by cosmologists as though it was science, where does one begin? Yet, on the other hand, in a society where Christianity is so experientially based that serious intellectual arguments can be thought suspicious by Christians themselves, what approach should be taken by serious thinkers who wish to challenge society with Christianity? Nevertheless, there are those who make the attempt. One such person is Dinesh D'Souza. Note that the title of this book does not end with a question mark. It is a declaration. This book is D'Souza's attempt to intellectually present Christianity as great and provide arguments as to why it should be embraced. It is a perfect example of where someone who has made his mark as a thinker and author in secular society has decided to use his God-given talents in the cause of Christianity. The result is a book that is a main selection of the Conservative Book Club and is also a New York Times bestseller. D'Souza is a former White House domestic policy analyst, and is currently the Rishwain Research Scholar at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University.
The book is somewhat encyclopedic and covers a lot of ground. However, details may be followed up by using his end-notes, which are, for the most part, nothing more than references. The book has eight parts and twenty-six chapters.
In Part I, D'Souza presents his arguments that Christianity is growing and expanding rapidly worldwide while atheism is declining. While atheists, thinking they have science on their side, assumed and predicted that "science" would soon spell the demise of religion, were wrong on both counts: science is not on their side and religion, especially Christianity, is rapidly expanding.
In Part II, D'Souza argues that Christianity is what has made the West free and prosperous. D'Souza writes that "Christianity is the very root and foundation of Western civilization. . . . Christianity is responsible for many of the values and institutions secular people cherish most." He also writes that "Nowhere has human aspiration reached so high or more deeply touched the heart and spirit than in the works of Christian art, architecture, literature, and music."
In Part III, D'Souza writes that Christianity is largely to be credited for the rise of science. He writes that "science as an organized, sustained enterprise arose only once in human history. And where did it arise? In Europe, in the civilization then called Christendom." "So where did Western man get this faith in a unified, ordered, and accessible universe? How did we go from chaos to cosmos? My answer, in a word, is Christianity."
In Part IV, D'Souza argues that design is apparent in nature, and that that conviction holds up to very thorough, detailed scientific enquiry. While it does not prove the existence of God or the truth of Christianity, it is certainly consistent with it whereas atheism is not. D'Souza writes that "Naturalism and materialism are not scientific conclusions; rather, they are scientific premises. They are not discovered in nature but imposed upon nature. In short, they are articles of faith."
In Part V the argument is made that sense perception and even the powers of reason have limitations. At least some philosophies and religions, and specifically Christianity, is open to things beyond the physical. Those who are not open to anything beyond the empirical get caught by their own principles. For example, Hume's principle of empirical verifiability is not, itself, empirically verifiable.
In Part VI, D'Souza argues that while it is true that great wrongs have been done in the name of Christianity, this has been the exception rather than the rule and it is always inconsistent with Christian teachings. He also points out that by far and away much greater wrongs have been done in the name of atheism.
In Part VII it is argued that man is inherently moral and those who think otherwise are frequently referred to as psychopaths. The philosophical study of the details of this phenomenon is frequently referred to as natural law. D'Souza suggests that "people's objections to Christianity seem to derive mainly from their resistance to Christian morality." He also suggests that "the existence of a universal, absolute morality is also a powerful argument for the existence of God." Nevertheless, our acquired concepts of morality can be very wrong, especially if guided by wrong philosophy or wrong religious beliefs. Often, a significant philosophical difficulty that Christians address is the problem of evil: reconciling an all-powerful, loving God with evil in the world. However, D'Souza puts an interesting twist on it by writing that it is at least equally a difficulty for atheists: if there is no God how can anything be evil? "Here we see the underlying horror of materialism: everything becomes dark and meaningless."
In Part VIII, D'Souza makes it personal and evangelical. He makes a direct appeal to the reader to believe in Jesus Christ.
While D'Souza does not cover certain topics that could also be used as an apologetic for the Christian faith, such as the historical accuracy of the Bible, the historicity of the resurrection, etc., what he does cover is quite broad, and in my opinion is well presented.
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Review Summary: Somewhat adequate |
Date: 2009-01-06 |
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Details: The title of this work is somewhat misleading, obviously chosen to follow up Dinesh D'Souza's previous work, What's So Great about America [2003]. The book, classified as "Current Events" rather than "Apologetics," is really a response to the New Atheism associated especially with Richard Dawkins, author of The God Delusion [2008] and The Blind Watchmaker: Why the Evidence of Evolution Reveals a Universe without Design [1996], Christopher Hitchens, author of God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything [2007] and The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice [1997], Daniel Dennett, author of Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon [2007] and Darwin's Dangerous Idea: Evolution and the Meanings of Life [1996], and Sam Harris, author of Letter to a Christian Nation [2006] and The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason [2005].
D'Souza himself is not a philosopher or theologian (among the New Atheists, only Dennett is an actual philosopher, though Harris is now pursuing a doctorate in philosophy; Dawkins is a vitriolic biologist), but rather a conservative political analyst who worked in the Regan White House. Apparently, long ago, he dated Ann Coulter and Laura Ingraham, two arch-conservative "culture warriors" who could match foolishness with Bill O'Reilly any day. D'Souza himself has received severe criticism for his book The Enemy at Home: The Cultural Left and Its Responsibility for 9/11 [2008], so perhaps he is himself one of those despicable arch-conservative "culture warriors." In any case, I read his book before I knew who he was, so it didn't color my reading.
As a response to the basic claims of the New Atheists, namely that matter exists and nothing more and that religion is evil and a delusion, the book works well enough. From what I have seen (granted, I have never read their books), Dawkins and his colleagues do little more than simply assert their materialistic doctrine, and it only takes a little bit of philosophical thinking to show that materialism is impossible (or, rather, if it were true, we would have no way of knowing since our minds themselves would be material and therefore irrational). Likewise, a little bit of history debunks the exaggerated claims made against Christianity because of the Crusades and Spanish Inquisition, etc. I was sad to see that Carl Sagan, who wrote my beloved Contact, made a particularly egregious claim regarding the "millions" of witches burned, when in fact only 20-something witches were burned. (I didn't even know that he was an atheist, a fact that seems hard to square with what happens in Contact, especially the original book.) As for the Spanish Inquisition, I was happy to see that D'Souza quoted from Henry Kamen's monumental tome The Spanish Inquisition: A Historical Revision [1997].
Beyond that, though, the book is not all that good. About a third of the time reading the book, I would think, "Yeah, that was a solid point." Another third of the time I would think, "Hmm, that requires more thought and more discussion." And another third of the time I would think, "No, that is probably wrong or at least grossly misleading." The author covers a whirlwind of topics, each of which no doubt has many expert volumes written on it, in about 200 pages and so it's impossible for him to go into depth on any one topic. This is of course because the book is intended for a popular, non-scholarly audience, so I guess that's well enough, but if you are looking for something a little more intellectually probing and thoughtful, you'll have to look elsewhere, such as John Haught's book Deeper than Darwin: The Prospect for Religion in the Age of Evolution [2004], which I read for a class at Gonzaga. Alister McGrath and Joanna Collicutt McGrath's The Dawkins Delusion?: Atheist Fundamentalism and the Denial of the Divine [2007] also looks promising. McGrath had a debate with one Hitchens at Georgetown in October 2007. You can watch it online, though, at http://fora.tv/2007/10/11/Christopher_Hitchens_Debates_Alister_McGrath. This book is at best a first response to the ill informed rantings of some atheists, but it won't hold up against a well informed philosophically minded atheist. I will say that D'Souza is a good author, though the excerpt on the back of the paperback edition that says his book would be enjoyed by C.S. Lewis, G.K. Chesterton, Billy Graham, and Pope Benedict XVI is over the top. I've only read Graham's autobiography, but I feel confident saying that he is not on par with Lewis, Chesterton, or His Holiness/Ratzinger. |
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Review Summary: Very Good |
Date: 2009-01-04 |
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Details: The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism by Timothy Keller is a great book. I liked how Keller presented his evidence on the existence of a God. This book along with the Bible would be a good start for non-believers.
There is a beautiful new book about God and faith entitled "The Enlightenment, What God Told Me After One Million Prayers: A Message for Everyone," by John H. Eagan. I just finished it. It's really great and deals with God, the creator, Jesus' teachings, and His Passion. It brought me to tears. I think the readers of Keller's book will really enjoy The Enlightenment.
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Review Summary: Proving Once and for All that Christianity is Intellectually Viable |
Date: 2008-12-23 |
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Details: For over a century, Christians have been depicted as brainless, hate-filled peddlers of fairy tales. In this book, D'Souza destroys this archetype with authoritative force. There are several scholars out there who give Christianity the intellectual treatment, but many come off sounding pompous and arrogant. D'Souza is what I consider the perfect blend of intellectual and profound believer and this book was a tremendous resource for several episodes of my podcast, Christian With a Brain.
In one of their debates (I believe it is available to watch for free on Dinesh's site) D'Souza and Christopher Hitchens square off. At the beginning of the debate, Hitchens says something to the effect of: "I respect Dinesh because unlike many of the others I debate, he thoroughly believes what he is debating." At first I thought this was a snide remark. But after reading "What's So Great..." I actually understand Hitchens (I know, that's scary). But D'Souza's genuine faith seeps through every page of this book. You realize quickly that he is living what he is sharing.
The arguments in the book are clear and powerful. He takes some of the most difficult ideas in the God debate and communicates them effectively. If you are new to Christian apologetics, this is the book to buy first. Partly because it is so approachable, but also because he covers every major skirmish on the apolgetics battlefield. Clear, powerful arguments abound.
Finally, the most powerful aspect of this book is that it quotes secular and even atheistic sources far more than the Bible or any Christian sources. In other words, D'Souza makes his arguments work without the help of "in-house" experts. He uses the words of Dawkins, Dennett, Provine, Ruse, Hitchens, Harris and others against them. The awesome part is that he doesn't take them out of context. He simply pulls out their arguments and exposes them to the same level of skepticism they use to blind others. The results are impossible to dismiss.
Since the conversion of Paul, Christianity has withstood the intellectual, cultural, scientific and political onslaught. New Atheism has attempted to rehash old arguments and sell them as new. But authors like D'Souza are exposing the truth by not only reminding us of the powerful beauty of the Christian faith, but revealing the true face of atheism. Not by thumping on a Bible, but by using the very words of the atheists themselves to help weave the true story of Christianity. |
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Review Summary: Unimpressive, doesn't live up to promises |
Date: 2008-12-01 |
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Details: I purchased this book because I was tantalized by its promise to be a rational argument for Christianity and a bold response to the arguments of New Atheism. Unfortunately, D'Souza never delivers.
Instead of strong arguments for Christianity and belief in God, this book delivers only chains of fallacious argument that evaporate under any kind of critical examination. D'Souza has a bad habit of beginning to construct an argument, but never finishing it. Instead, he makes leaps to unsupported conclusions, and delivers each weak assault with an undeserved smugness. Ceci n'est pas une bon mot, M. D'Souza.
Even as an affirmation of faith, this book fails, as one gets the distinct impression that D'Souza is much more interested in attacking New Atheism (which he does not successfully do) than in defending the modern Christian faith.
Overall, I regret my purchase; it's best checked out from your local library. |
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