Why I am an Atheist Who Believes in God: How to Give Love, Create Beauty and Find Peace - Frank Schaeffer, 2014.
Logical consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds.
- G.K. Chesterton
The title of Frank Schaeffer’s recent book can appear baffling for those who reduce reality to separate and isolated intellectual boxes—a sort of never the twain shall meet way of thinking. How is it possible to be an atheist who believes in God? If we assume the inner journey is either atheism or theism, then we simply ignore the complex nature of the faith pilgrimage. If we assume our quest for God can be restricted to logical, inductive or deductive arguments, we go sorely astray and amiss. The incisive and evocative appeal of Why I am and Atheist Who Believes in God is that Frank Schaeffer honours the complex journey of doubt and faith and, rightly so, refuses to dumb down the spiritual journey to tidy intellectual arguments.
Why I am an Atheist Who Believes in God is a fast paced confessional missive that, delicately and wisely so, threads together imaginative, personal and thoughtful reflections on the atheist-theist tensions and dilemmas--a nimble and subtle mind, indeed, at work----hobgoblins are kept at a needful distance.
The subtitle to the book comes as a teaser and pointer to living in the atheism-theism tension--how to give love, create beauty and find peace. Each chapter in Why I am an Atheist Who Believes in God suggests, from Frank’s journey, a path worthy of the walk that takes the reader to vistas worth many a lingering and meditative sit down and see. There is nuance, inner probes, vulnerability and the complex nature of the inner landscape that must be seen for a mature faith journey---no simple minded hobgoblins dominating the day.
The fact that Frank, in this inviting tapestry of a book, deals with such needful human themes as politics, war and peace, spirituality, theology, arts and culture, family and friendships, church and the complex and often confusing nature of the human journey and does so with rapier and surgical like precision, makes Why I am an Atheist Who Believes in God a must read keeper for 2014 (and beyond)--modernists, postmodernists and those grounded in the classical way will, for different reasons, feed well from such a well laden table.
There can be no doubt that Why I am an Atheist Who Believes in God is a plough to soil breakthrough book--seeds are sown that, if rightly understood, will reap a bountiful harvest of wisdom and insight—indeed the way Frank honours different ways of knowing reveals fuller ways of living the tougher and more responsible faith quest--soul will be nourished, imagination enriched, mind enlarged and zeal enkindled.
Ron Dart