Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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14 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Are There Atheists?, March 25, 2004
In this book, Blanchard gives a fascinating tour of his view of the origins and history of atheistic thought in areas of philosophy, science, religion, etc., at the same time exposing their major weaknesses. He then leads the reader to the evangelical Christian view of theism, including major arguments for and against it.I found this book a most refreshing and interesting read, despite the difficulty of many of the subjects covered. It is rare to find philosophical arguments put forth in an easy-to-comprehend manner, and Blanchard did it brilliantly. His excellent coverage of technical and scientific issues were also easily grasped and understood by a layman. The approach of the book requires that the reader read it like a novel -- from start to finish. And the best thing is that it was so engaging that it did read like a novel (for me at least)! It was quite hard to put it down. Since this book is not meant as a pure reference book (IMO) where you jump to a particular topic and draw conclusions from there (unless you've already read the whole book previously), one can safely ignore the reviews from those who haven't read it from start to finish. The only flaw in this diamond is that a number of the author's arguments presented are not watertight or conclusive. Many of the arguments are based on probability and likelihood (which he readily admits), which are not enough convince the dedicated atheist, although enough to sway a sufficiently reasonable and open-minded person. Perhaps I'm being too nitpicky by giving only 4 stars :) That said, I find that this is still an excellent book, made even better by its readability. Any one interested in Christian apologetics MUST read this.
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16 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Better to ask Do Atheists believe in God?, September 22, 2005
Not by definition, but the bigger question is whether there are any true atheists. John Blanchard goes through the entire atheist perspective from ancient Greek philosophers, to European thought leaders like Kant, Hegel, Nietzsche, and then existentialists like Sartre and Camus. He shows that although these people have a basically atheistic worldview, they all have some sort of basic beliefs that cannot be "proven" by the rational thought process that they so deify. Blanchard shows that the atheistic position is basically untenable, and contradictory. If there is no external point of reference, how can anyone make sense of what is real and what is not real with just their observations and cogitations. And of course there is the famous conundrum that to be a true atheist you must be sure and know that nowhere, at no place, at no time, has there ever been, exists, or will be any God. But to know that, he'd have to have infinite knowledge, which would mean he is a god!
Although I don't think this book will appeal to any atheists, I do challenge any openminded atheist to read through this book and convince himself that he could possibly know that there is no God.
For a Christian, this book is excellent in that it introduces you to all of the different thinkings of the world, and how people have tried to philosophize a reality without God. By the time you are done with this book, you will never again think that evolution or creation by random chance (for example) has even one leg to stand on. A long read, but very helpful, especially since we have been exposed to many atheistic philosophies without knowing what they were based on.
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13 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Thought provoking indeed, February 22, 2002
My thirty-something old son gave me this book because he "believes" considerably more enthusiastically than I do. In fact, as a scientist (Fellow of the American Physical Society) I had come to a view very much characterized as "athiest" by Mr. Blanchard. I found the book, while tedius at times, to be the most thoroughly well reasoned arguments I have ever encountered on behalf of theism. His discussion of cosmology, which I know a bit about as a result of my profesion, convinced me that Blanchard does very good homework. His attack on Darwin has me looking for other books to read. Yes it is true that Blanchard is not a pluralist and treats many other religions unsympathetically, but he does it with the basically logical position that "you either have trust in, and a personal relationship with, an omnipotent God or you don't." Although I attend church with my wife, I haven't been provoked into thinking about these profoundly personal issues so thoroughly since I was in college. I am buying the book for a younger friend of mine presently threatened seriously by cancer. One of Blanchard's quotes hit home. He tells of an athiest who was asked by a family member to join in a visit to someone dying. "The athiest had nothing to say." Its a point.
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