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Post by sandwiches on Apr 2, 2009 21:00:28 GMT
www.newstatesman.com/religion/2009/04/returning-to-religionAN Wilson on his return to faith after a period of atheism "I think on the whole that's right, that clever as the professional atheists are, they are missing out on some very basic experiences of life. The worst thing about being faithless? When I thought I was an atheist I would listen to the music of Bach and realize that his perception of life was deeper, wiser, more rounded than my own. Ditto when I read the lives of great men and women who were religious." Wilson has written on Jesus and Paul. His book on Jesus was indebted to the views of Geza Vermes but Wilson seemed to lose faith in Vermes recently: www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/anwilson/3556252/Jesus-is-ill-served-by-this-literary-detective.html By A.N. Wilson Geza Vermes and his writings on the historical Jesus cast a spell on students of the New Testament a generation ago. I was seduced by his book Jesus the Jew (1973) and by the charm of Vermes himself, but now I am ashamed of the book about Jesus which I wrote when under the influence. Last Updated: 3:34AM GMT 31 Dec 2008 Interesting (to me anyway). And useful for teasing atheists with.
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Post by humphreyclarke on Apr 2, 2009 21:20:39 GMT
Wow!
Very interesting. That is quite the turn-around A.N Wilson has made.
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Post by James Hannam on Apr 3, 2009 16:00:10 GMT
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Post by sandwiches on Apr 3, 2009 20:19:52 GMT
Roger Scruton
God is the self-created Creator of all things, who is a person like you and me, the fount of love, the judge of human action and the refuge of all who suffer.
Which bit is fishy?
Though "self-created Creator" is slightly puzzling.
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Post by turoldus on Apr 4, 2009 10:01:52 GMT
Toynbee and Monbiot on the other hand are equal to themselves.
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Post by James Hannam on Apr 4, 2009 12:15:10 GMT
Scruton is a philosopher and he gave a theologian's answer.
It just seemed like a stock phrase, like what God ought to be rather than what he is.
But the evidence for Scruton's theism is piling up so I think I'll just accept it and stop being difficult.
Best wishes
James
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Post by humphreyclarke on Apr 15, 2009 17:37:54 GMT
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Post by sandwiches on Apr 15, 2009 21:02:52 GMT
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Post by hawkinthesnow on Apr 16, 2009 19:01:40 GMT
I have read a number of Roger Scruton's books, and if he is not a theist, he gived a good impression of being one! Not to mention that he plays the organ at his local parish church (not that that tells you much given the state of the Church of England!). I think the best indicator of his position is that he was a panel member of a debate held in London some time ago, in which he was on the theist side.
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Post by knowingthomas on Apr 21, 2009 3:56:16 GMT
I feel strange now.
On the one hand, the study on CNN talking about people in America are loosing their faith gives me a sense of despair at the impending balkanization of personal moralities and secular european brand anti-theism in the public sphere, something that nearly drove me off the edge a few months ago after dealing with too much of it on the internet.
Yet the fact that the staunchest of New Atheism's apostles are defecting leaves some strange sense of hope in me.
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Post by hawkinthesnow on Apr 21, 2009 18:42:15 GMT
I feel strange now. On the one hand, the study on CNN talking about people in America are loosing their faith gives me a sense of despair at the impending balkanization of personal moralities and secular european brand anti-theism in the public sphere, something that nearly drove me off the edge a few months ago after dealing with too much of it on the internet. Yet the fact that the staunchest of New Atheism's apostles are defecting leaves some strange sense of hope in me. I don't think A N Wilson can really be described as a New Atheist. He began as a eleiver, and has had his fun in the wilderness, but he's back now. I do wonder if he was ever really a convinced atheist. I suspect not. |
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Post by James Hannam on Apr 21, 2009 21:06:41 GMT
Well, his biographies of Jesus and Paul were pretty unChristian while his hatchet job on C.S. Lewis is notorious.
He wasn't a a neo-atheist but he was certainly an atheist.
Best wishes
James
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Post by noons on May 7, 2009 22:36:24 GMT
This isn't A.N. Wilson, but something else I just read about. Apparently Ted Turner made some obnoxious atheistic comments in the past, but has recently become at least a theist, and is working with the Lutheran Church to combat Malaria.
At least in America, when someone famous turns to Christianity or faith, it is almost always (at least reported) to the Born-Again variety and then supporting causes like abstinence, creationism, etc.
Nice to see someone becoming involved with a Mainline Protestant denomination for a change. Then again, its not a very big jump for someone coming from a WASP background.
In A.N. Wilson's case, one would probably not expect a left wing columnist to get involved with an established church even after returning to faith.
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