What's So Great About Christianity [Hardcover]

Dinesh D'Souza (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 25, 2007

Is it reasonable to have faith in God? Can intelligent, educated people really believe what the Bible says? Or do the atheists have it right—has Christianity been disproven by science and discredited as a guide to morality? Best-selling author Dinesh D'Souza (The Enemy at Home; What's So Great about America) responds head-on to the anti-God arguments of prominent atheists such as Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, and Christopher Hitchens and defeats them on their own terms. What's So Great about Christianity provides believers with a straightforward tool kit for meeting the challenge of modern atheism and secularism; for nonbelievers, it offers a compelling apologetic that will challenge their assumptions and affirm that there really is something great about Christianity.

Editorial Reviews

Review

D'Souza offers "sharp and poignant observations on...freedom and opportunity." --Wall Street Journal --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.

From the Inside Flap

Is Christianity obsolete? Can an intelligent, educated person really believe the Bible? Or do the atheists have it right? Has Christianity been disproven by science, debunked as a force for good, and discredited as a guide to morality?

Bestselling author Dinesh D'Souza (What's So Great About America) looks at Christianity with a questioning eye, but treats atheists with equal skepticism. The result is a book that will challenge the assumptions of both believers and doubters and affirm that there really is, indeed, something great about Christianity. D'Souza reveals:

*Why Christianity explains what modern science tells us about the universe and our origins--that matter was created out of nothing, that light preceded the sun--better than atheism does
*How Christianity created the framework for modern science, so that Christianity and science are not irreconcilable, but science and atheism might be
*Why the alleged sins of Christianity--the Crusades, the Inquisition, the Galileo affair ("an atheist's fable")--are vastly overblown
*Why atheist regimes are responsible for the greatest mass murders of history
*Why evolution does not threaten Christian belief, but actually supports the "argument from design"
*Why atheists fear the Big Bang theory and the "anthropic principle" of the universe, which are keystones of modern astronomy and physics
*How Christianity explains consciousness and free will, which atheists have to deny
*Why ultimately you can't have Western civilization--and all we value from it--without the Christianity that gave it birth.

Provocative, enlightening, a twenty-first-century successor to C. S. Lewis' Mere Christianity, Dinesh D'Souza's What's So Great About Christianity is the perfect book for the seeker, the skeptic, and the believer who wants to defend his faith.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 348 pages
• Publisher: Regnery Publishing; 2nd prt. edition (September 25, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1596985178
• ISBN-13: 978-1596985179
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.3 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (220 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #106,421 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #24 in Books > Religion & Spirituality > Spirituality > Agnosticism
  • #81 in Books > Religion & Spirituality > Spirituality > Atheism

More About the Author

In the fall of 2010 Dinesh D'Souza was named the President of The King's College, a Christian College located in the Empire State Building in New York City. The mission of The King's College is to transform society by educating students so that they are prepared to shape and lead the strategic institutions.

D'Souza brings to King's a distinguished 25 year career as a writer, scholar and intellectual. A former policy analyst in the Reagan White House, D'Souza also served as an Olin Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute as well as a Rishwain Scholar at the Hoover Institution at Stanford.

Called one of the "top young public-policy makers in the country" by Investor's Business Daily, D'Souza quickly became a major influence on public policy through his writings. Illiberal Education, his first book publicized the phenomenon of political correctness in America's colleges and universities and was on the best seller list for 15 weeks. Subsequent best sellers, include Ronald Reagan: How an Ordinary Man Became an Extraordinary Leader, The Virtue of Prosperity, Finding Values in an Age of Techno Affluence, What's So Great About America, Letters to a Young Conservative and What's So Great About Christianity, and The Roots of Obama's Rage. His latest work, Godforsaken, responds to the problem of evil and will be available March 1, 2012.

A prolific, writer, persuasive debater, and sought after speaker on college campuses as well as many other venues, D'Souza has been named one of America's most influential conservative thinkers by the New York Times.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

176 of 200 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A passionate presentation of the strengths and historical truths about Christianity, December 2, 2008

By 

Craig Matteson (Saline, MI) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: What's So Great about Christianity (Paperback)

I found this book to be wonderfully refreshing. We live in a time when books promoting atheism and attacking religion (especially Christianity) are best sellers and promoted nearly everywhere. This book stands up for Christianity, but in an intellectual and systematic way. D'Souza has not provided a book of testimony or a scriptural defense of faith. He spends twenty-four chapters examining the arguments made against religion and answers them using history, philosophy, and careful reasoning. Chapters 25 & 26 are the closest the author comes to promoting Christianity and inviting you to examine its benefits. However, it is hardly an aggressive missionary approach.

D'Souza presents the basic material examining Christianity in seven parts (the eight being the last two chapters). The first is "The Future of Christianity". The author lays out the current bump in popularity in militant atheism, but why it is really a long term loser. Despite atheism's best efforts, outside narrow intellectual circles religion is growing in most places in the world. In particular, Christianity is growing the fastest of all and in its future is bright. The second part looks at the historical rise and contributions of Christianity to Western Civilization and again demonstrates that many popular notions are simply wrong or fabrications.

The third part looks at science as a wonderful tool and a very poor faith. I particularly loved the chapter correcting the popular notion that Galileo was imprisoned by the Church because the Church was trying to suppress scientific truth. In fact, he was put under house arrest because he published a book he had promised not to publish and insulted the pope in a very egregious way. However, Galileo's scientific truths were being examined by the leading intellects of the day, who were in the Church, and while much was accepted, it did turn out that Galileo was wrong about some details.

The fourth part examines the various arguments against the Church because of evolution and natural selection. D'Souza shows the evidence for creation, that evolution per se says nothing against religion or faith, and how what is understood in the natural record comfortably corresponds to religious teaching over the millennia. Yes, all human knowledge has expanded, but the core religious truths have not been overthrown.

Part five is an interesting examination of the limits of the reason that the atheists say overthrows faith. D'Souza makes an interesting use of Kant to demonstrate a problem in Hume's thought. We also get treated to an interesting discussion of why miracles are reasonable and the skeptic's wager. That is, if there really is nothing, one hasn't lost much by believing in God and yet if there is a God not believing in him presents a great cost.

Part six looks at the notion of suffering as an argument against God and Christianity. The author corrects the notion that religion is responsible for the great mass murders in history and exposes the lame attempts by atheists to try and keep their skirts clean by pushing Hitler, Stalin, Lenin, and Mao in the camp of believers.

Part seven spends several chapters examining the problem of morality for atheists, despite their great efforts to construct their own morality, the notion of spirit, why so many find unbelief (even a passive unbelief) so appealing, and the problem that evil in the world presents to those who believe in God. I think D'Souza does a good job with each topic.

I recommend this book to any Christian of any sect to get great information about the history, power, and strength of your history and faith. No, it is not a replacement for your communion with the Spirit or the nourishment of your faith in the scriptures. However, it will help you deal with the nagging frustrations you feel when you see Dawkins, Harris, Hitchens, and others on TV or read their words in articles and books. While they are very confident in their faith (and that is exactly what atheism is at its core), most of what they are presenting is testimony rather than fact and sound reasoning.

If you are in doubt about choosing between a search for faith or giving up and accepting materialism, I also urge you to read this book, but to also seek to join yourself with a community of believers who can help you on your journey. My faith is strengthened by worshiping and living in faith with others and you probably will, too.

If you are an atheist, I also think you should read this book. No, I don't expect that it will open a mind already committed to an opposite point of view, but it will give you a good look at the strength of argument on the other side. If you simply dismiss them out of hand or disdainfully push them away, you haven't won anything because you haven't actually participated in an exchange of ideas. Sure, you have every right to do so, but I don't find such pride and contempt of others to be very becoming.

Reviewed by Craig Matteson, Ann Arbor, MI

33 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful Book, November 29, 2007

By 

Ralph N. Eldridge (Connersville, Indiana USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: What's So Great About Christianity (Hardcover)

I recently finished Dinesh D'Souza's book. The book is a very easy and fun read.

I would call it a good modern summary on Christian apologetics. He does not attempt to defend the verbal inspiration of scripture, it is not an apologetics book in that sense. His approach is an attempt to use the scientific method to argue for faith, especially the Christian faith.

Some might call the arguments for in the book lightweight; they are not. Being an easy read does not make the arguments in the book lightweight. Mr. D'Souza is a good writer, that is what makes it an easy read.

If you are a Christian (especially conservative and fundamentalist) you will enjoy this book.

224 of 306 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars the right book at the right time, October 1, 2007

By 

Douglas Schmitz (Minneapolis, MN USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: What's So Great About Christianity (Hardcover)

I had the chance to read a review copy of this book, and it is excellent. D'Souza engages the arguments of Dawkins, Dennett, Hitchens and other atheists with arguments for the existence of God in general, and the Christian God in particular by arguing on their turf--through an examination of scientific evidence. It is fascinating, detailed, and convincing. It is an important book written at a critical time.