I know Professor McGrath's fans may find my rating unacceptable low, but please know that I added a star to my initial rating of this book because a) I genuinely like McGrath.Both in his writings and recorded debates, he comes across as very knowledgeable, friendly, and caring to those seeking to learn more about Christianity. His writing style strikes me like C.S. Lewis for elementary school kids (this book is supposed to be modelled on talks he had given to Oxford students. If so, the kids at Hogwarts would decimate the budding Oxfordian theologians at critical thinking and logic). He seems like a wonderful, joyous professor with whom most students would want to examine the faith despite attempts to avoid hard questions which plague the average prospective Christian. However, since he did not b) threaten sceptics and nonbelievers with hell at the end of his book (D'souza had no problem issuing that exact threat at the end of "What's Great About Christianity" as a last attempt to frighten readers who had not been blown away by his logical fallacies into accepting the faith on pain of eternal torment. "An offer you can't refuse, huh?"). To his immense credit, McGrath shies away from both Classical proofs and Classical threats, so he receives a point above the quality of the argument.
Okay, down to the meat. I am a secular humanist/atheist whose very devout family often recommends pop-religious books in an attempt to bring me "back into the flock." Being a rather sensible goat who loves a well-crafted and thought provoking discussion, I read as many as I can as long as the authors respect science and don't ask me to leave my brains at the door. In this spirit, I picked up "Doubting." I feel it's imperative to say what this book is not: this is not a standard apologetic book in the vein of "Mere Christianity" in which a curious seeker or lukewarm Christian is shown rational reasons to believe the faith. This book assumes that the reader already is a Christian and he/she is simply struggling with how to better implement his/her Christianity in his/her life. It's not trying to convince the nonbeliever with the "Watchmaker" or "First Cause" arguments because, as McGrath notes, "It is interesting to notice that no biblical writer ever feels the need to prove the existence of God . . . He was experienced and encountered . . . It is very difficult for someone who has experienced the power and presence of God to doubt that God exists" (p.106). On the surface, that sounds very convincing, doesn't it? This "doubt in God" is a symptom of our modern age because we simply do not humble ourselves to experience God's presence. But look at it another way: according to the OT, God chatted up the Hebrews on a regular basis. With his favourites (Abraham, Moses, David, and Solomon), He spent a great deal of time developing physical relationships with them. One would think that hanging out with the Living God might create iron-clad faith, but clearly that's far from guaranteed. Solomon, the builder of God's most sacred temple, also fell into idol worship and built temples for the gods of his wives. It's pretty difficult to believe that modern Christians who have not crossed the Red or Reed Sea with God's help, were not fed by Him in the desert, did not witness the presence of the 10 Commandments, etc. should be expected to foster a deeper faith than those who had experienced these things, but this is what McGrath commands.
As stated above, McGrath does not present Classic Apologetic arguments. Instead, he tackles what he feels are the most pressing issues facing doubting Christians. I'll break down a few since it's late and I don't want to make this review too long.
1) First he covers the nature of doubt. He states that it is not scepticism (McGraph loosely defines as "the decision to doubt everything deliberately"), and doubt is not unbelief, which McGrath defines as "the decision not to have faith in God. Unbelief is an act of will" (13). Okay, as a nonbeliever, I take issue with this. Most of us do not believe in unicorns and fairies. Did we consciously, as an act of will, set our minds against unicorns and fay? No, we simply were not presented with convincing evidence of their existence. Faced with such lack of evidence, it would have take an act of will to disregard our critical thinking skills and accept the proposition based on nothing more than the believer's enthusiasm and our desire to please our friend. Throughout this book and his one of the "New Atheists," McGrath presents this very odd argument that atheism is a form of faith and that atheists who don't believe in God operate on the same level of evidence and rationality as those who believe in the Bible. McGrath doesn't seem to understand that the burden of proof is upon the one making the claim. You as the prosecutor must prove that I robbed the store beyond a shadow of a doubt; I am under no obligation to prove my innocence. That is the same with God claims. The early Christians did not disprove the pagan gods; the pagans simply had seen that their gods' powers stood no match to the war machines of the Christianized Roman Empire and converted (or died) accordingly.
I write this as someone who was raised Catholic and knows that may Catholics may read this book: man, this is much more Protestant than what you're probably used to. Just about every chapter has Luther quotes and stories and much of the theology is presented from a Lutheran prospective. Perhaps worst for Catholics, the sacrament of Eucharist is presented in a manner which would make the Sisters's heads spin like the "Exorcist." McGrath views the bread and wine of Communion as "tokens" and "reminders" (115), but in no way does he speak of them transforming into the body and blood of Christ. Even for a lapse Catholic, this glaring omission was blinding. Clearly, McGrath has not taken the needs and theology of any Catholic readers into account for an instant.
"Doubts about the Gospels." What are yours? You know you have them. Some of mine include why the resurrection accounts differ so significantly in all four Gospels. Why are there historical events recorded in the Bible which cannot be found outside of Biblical text (Herod's Massacre of the Innocents, Caesar's demand that all citizens return to their ancestor's hometowns for the census, why the Romans did not record the opening of tombs throughout Jerusalem upon Christ's death, etc)? What truly happens to nonbelievers upon death: do they burn in hell for eternity as Jesus states, or do they simply die and remain dead as Paul claims? All of these are important questions.
Instead of answering historical and theological matters, McGrath turns to two questions which I can't imagine troubling any but the most vapid: 1) Will Christianity still be popular and en vogue a few years/decades from now? I guess the inquirer may feel that investing in the popularity of the New Atheists might be the more fashionable choice. First, who is even this shallow to ask this question? Christianity was far less popular in the 1st-3rd centuries and men were willing to give their lives to the faith because they believed. Christianity has existed in some form for the past 2,000 years and will survive (barring nuclear annihilation) at least until the end of the next century. Your faith shows little chance of going the way of the puggle. But this question does reveal a bit about McGrath himself. He states that he became an atheist at university during the 1960s when bell bottoms, Marxism, and atheism were all in style. From this portrayal, it sounds as though McGrath became an atheist simply because "all the cool kids were doing it" and not because of philosophical or historical arguments. This helps to explain why he has such a shallow view of atheists and twists their claims in presentation.
2) Second problem with the Gospels: I've preached but not all of my friends and family have dropped everything and run to the nearest church seeking admission. Seriously, this is something you have to seek help to answer? Maybe your friends and family (f&f) are happy in their current faith or nonfaith. Maybe they are religious but choose to be normal and not shove it in everyone's face. Perhaps they have studied various faiths and see no empirical evidence (which to his credit, McGrath admits does not exist to confirm the claims of Christianity) to support their faith claims. Maybe they just would rather sleep in on Sundays. Who knows? Don't go suffering from the Luther Protestant-Prophet complex and condemn your f&f because they heard the "true Gospel" from you and did not convert en masse. Grow up.
There's much more that I can dissect from McGrath's book (and will if you leave a comment), but those are the most glaring criticisms. The good points about this book is that is easily readable and relate-able. McGrath assumes no advance knowledge of theology or Christian history which will appeal to many readers but to others such as myself, it feels as if we're being spoken down to. This is very much feel-good, God loves you pop-Christianity. No one will be driven to convert after reading, but it also won't insult nonbelievers too much. This is a rather innocuous tome which serves to do little more than to preach to the choir and act as a cheerleader/life coach for Christians seeking to create a more active spiritual life. If that describes you, then give this book 4 or 5 stars because you'll love it. For those seeking to explore the meaning of God and man's place in creation, the problem of good and evil, the Outsider Test of Faith dilemma, this book will leave you rolling you eyes and feeling like you had read a transcript of Sunday school. The response really depends on the audience.
After note: One good Christian book I have read concerning doubt and unbelief has been Father William O'Malley's "Help My Unbelief." I have read several of Father O'Malley's books and all go deep into theological rigour and truly cause the reader to ponder the topic at hand. Perhaps some Proddies may find his presentation too Catholic in manner (as I found McGrath's too Protestant), but if you're looking for a deeper Christian text on doubt and apologetics, this may be the book for you. Cheers!
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