THERE IS A GOD: HOW THE WORLD’S MOST NOTORIOUS ATHEIST CHANGED HIS MIND, by Antony Flew

A Brief Book Summary from Books At a Glance 

About the Author:

Antony Flew was the world’s leading philosophical proponent of atheism during the second half of the 20^th Century. He lectured around the world and wrote many seminal works about atheism and the existence of God. After six decades of defending atheism, Flew came to believe that reality pointed to the existence of a Creator God. Flew passed away in 2010.
 

Introduction

Antony Flew was a giant in academic philosophy during the 20^th Century, and his most famous and original philosophical contributions involved a trenchant defense of atheism. Flew not only critiqued theistic arguments, he analyzed the concept of God and the methodology of theism in ways that had never been done before. His original thought set the agenda for much of philosophy of religion during his career.

Always striving to be Socratic and to follow the evidence where it leads, over his six decades of defending atheism, Flew continued to study and analyze evidence for the existence of God. In 2004 he acknowledged that he had come to believe in the existence of God: the evidence for a Creative Mind behind the universe was too strong to be rejected. This book traces Flew’s personal journey from being the world’s leading atheist philosopher to a believer in a divine being. He describes the pathway of his life and then details the evidence and arguments that led him to change his mind about the existence of God.
 

Table of Contents

Preface
Introduction
Chapter 1  The Creation of an Atheist
Chapter 2  Where the Evidence Leads
Chapter 3  Atheism Calmly Considered
Chapter 4  A Pilgrimage of Reason
Chapter 5  Who Wrote the Laws of Nature?
Chapter 6  Did the Universe Know We Were Coming?
Chapter 7  How Did Life Go Live?
Chapter 8  Did Something Come from Nothing?
Chapter 9  Findling Space for God
Chapter 10  Open to Omnipotence
Appendix A  The “New Atheism”: A Critical Appraisal of Dawkins, Dennett, Wolpert, Harris, and Stenger – By Roy Abraham Varghese
Appendix B  The Self-Revelation of God in Human History: A Dialogue on Jesus with N. T. Wright
Notes
 

Summary
 

Chapter 1
The Creation of an Atheist

Antony Flew’s father was a Methodist preacher and tutor at a Methodist theological college. From his father he learned the importance of gathering evidence, careful analysis, and drawing logical conclusions. Ironically, this method of critical intellectual investigation led Antony to abandon his father’s faith. Travelling in Germany with his family during the years leading up to WWII, Flew was exposed to anti-Semitism and totalitarianism. Being exposed to this evil made believing in an all-loving God very difficult for him. At boarding school….

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