Customer Reviews

From Atheism to Catholicism: How Scientists and Philosophers Led Me to the Truth

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is a tour de force. I came to it wanting to learn more about modern philosophy's critique of theism; and that is here - Nietzsche, Darwinism, Bertrand Russell, Ayn Rand, etc. Vost's voice throughout is honestly appreciative of, and sympathetic toward, the atheist philosophers who shaped his earlier life. (With a subtitle like "How Scientists and Philosophers Led Me to Truth," I was correct in my suspicion that it would have a completely unique take on the matter.) An atheist well into his forties, when Vost points out the shortcomings in that position he does so with keen insight. His discussion of scientist turned amateur philosopher, Richard Dawkins, was very informative and his explanation of Dawkins' theory regarding "memes" the most down to earth I've seen. Vost introduces us to the works of other converts from atheism to theism as well - Antony Flew and Mortimer Adler two who jump to mind. In short, this book gives quite an education and from the pen of a man who knows both atheism and theism from the inside. He writes as one comfortable in his own skin (unlike so many within the "new atheism").

This is the latest book by Dr. Kevin Vost that I have read. With each of the previous I have felt I came to know the author by his self-revelation in and through his writings. In this latest book it is even far more so. For Dr. Vost takes us with him through a journey of philosophy and through the humanities that once lead him away from God and the Church but then became tools that helped him to return to the church.

The Sections in the book Are:

Foreword: God Bless the Atheists
Introduction: Neither Bird, nor Plane, but Superman!

PART I: GOD IS DEAD?
1. Friedrich Nietzsche's Superman
2. The Lord and Lord Bertrand Russell
3. Albert Ellis: Reason, Emotion, Psychotherapy, and Jehovah
4. Aristotle Shrugged: Ayn Rand and the Intellectual Soul
5. Darwin and Dawkins: Genes, Memes, and "Me's"

PART II: SIGNS OF LIFE
6. Alfred Adler and the Fictive Goal of God
7. Stoic Strivings: The Slave, The Lawyer, The Emperor, and God
8. Mortimer Adler and the God of the Philosophers

PART III: CHRIST HAS RISEN FROM HIS TOMB!
9. St. Thomas Aquinas: The Angelic Doctor Effects a Cure
10. C. S Lewis: God Save the Queen
11. G. K. Chesterton: What Could Be Right With the World
12. Pope John Paul II: Faith and Reason, Body and Soul

Conclusion: The Real Super Man
Afterword: An Ode to the Real Super Man

By taking us on a whirlwind tour through those topics, Vost helps us to experience his own spiritual journey and some of it may mirror our own or people we know. Then by using him as an example, we will also develop the tools to argue and refute the claims of the secular humanist, and those we know who have slid away from the church and its teachings. This was not an easy book to read; philosophy is not my strong suit. But Vost presents it in such a way that almost any layman can approach the topics with confidence and faith in their interpretation. The book is well written and easily engages the reader. The personal nature of the writing makes topics that would normally be inaccessible to some readers much more accessible. It is very well written. Thank you Dr. Vost for another great tool to help us in our spiritual development. His other books also help to strengthen us in either Body, Mind or Spirit.

Mr. Vost addresses the problematic arguments of atheists without reverting to ad hominem attacks and mean spirited commentary. Vost is always respectful and professional. Vost gives us insight into atheism from the perspective of one who had embraced it for twenty years. He gives us background on the influential atheists, both past and present, and respectfully refutes their conclusions. He clearly respects many of these people, and gives them credit for their contribution to science and philosophy, even as he disagrees with their conclusions in regard to God. Unlike many atheists and fundamentalist Christians, Vost sees no conflict between faith and reason. In fact, this book demonstrates that reason can ultimately lead to faith, as it did for him.

I enjoyed the book, but I think I really enjoyed it because I have already read many of the works Yost talks about in his book. So I'm not sure if I would have liked it as much had I not already been familiar with many of the personalities, because the chapters can sometimes seem kinda short. This isn't the refutation of atheism I was expecting, but rather a well written faith journey from atheism to Catholicism.

The author grew up (and now lives) about forty miles from where I grew up, in Springfield, Illinois, and I feel some affinity for his view of the world. I can see how he became an atheist: I never went that far, but for about ten years in my teens and early twenties I called myself a Catholic but never went to church until a sort of re-conversion early in graduate school. I know Chesterton much better than he does, but he gets the essence of Chesterton quite well. The book is a pleasant read, congenial to me, but it has a lot of little errors that irk me and make the author seem less informed and, well, wise than he actually is. "Dalai Llama"? Confusion of Orwell's 1984 with Huxley's Brave New World? Those two really stand out for me, but there are at least half a dozen more. I think that the Our Sunday Visitor book-publishing people need better editors.

Very interesting subject matter, very well presented by the author. I found the book easy to read and the arguments easy to follow. The book documents a personal journey and its authenticity is enhanced by the author having studied philosophy in some detail before returning to the Church.

Normally I LOVE conversion stories, especially deeply intellectual ones. But although this book IS that, it is technically defective; it lacks flow. The author devotes a great deal of time describing writers who influenced him as an atheist but without conveying any sense of the flow of his beliefs over the course of his life. He also CONTINUOUSLY inserts comments like, "I'll go more into that later" or "we'll cover that topic more in chap x" - such comments serve no useful purpose in the narrative and break the flow of the story. A first-time reader operates in the moment; he has no sense of the book as a whole, but only of the immediate NOW and of the story up to the point where he's at. Making constant references to "later" or "before" is very disruptive to the flow and does NOT help the reader understand the story-line any better. This book would have been WAY better if someone other than the author had organized it, helped with the chronology and coherence, and taken out every single reference to what is coming later or what has come before!!!

I enjoyed the author's enthusiasm for his favorite philosophers, psychologists, and theologians, but the recommendations for reading and viewing on evolution are quite poor, particularly "Expelled" which is just propaganda for the intelligent design movement and the kinds of people that make it seem as if you need to check your brain at the door to be a theist when that couldn't be further from the truth.