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An Instant New York Times Bestseller
"Truly a Mere Christianity for the 21st century"--World magazine
Do you ever wish you had more faith? Here is a blueprint for thinking your way from doubt to belief.
As a columnist for the New York Times who writes often about spiritual topics for a skeptical audience, Ross Douthat understands that many of us want to have more faith than we do. Douthat argues that in light of what we know today it should be harder to not have faith than to have it.
With empathy, clarity, and rigor, Douthat explores:
- Why nonbelief requires ignoring what our reasoning faculties tell us about the world
- How modern scientific developments make a religious worldview more credible, not less
- Why it's entirely reasonable to believe in mystical and supernatural realities
- How an open-minded religious quest should proceed amid the diversity of religious faiths
- How Douthat's own Christianity is informed by his blueprint for belief
With clear and straightforward arguments,
Believe shows how religious belief makes sense of the order of the cosmos and our place within it, illuminates the mystery of consciousness, and explains the persistent reality of encounters with the supernatural. Highly relevant for our current moment,
Believe offers a pathway for thinking your way from doubt into belief, from uncertainty about our place in the universe into a confidence that we are here for a reason.
About the author
Ross Douthat has been a New York Times Opinion columnist since April 2009. Previously, he was a senior editor at the Atlantic. He is the author of The Deep Places; The Decadent Society; To Change the Church; Bad Religion; Privilege; and, with Reihan Salam, Grand New Party. He is the film critic for National Review. He lives with his wife and five children in New Haven, Connecticut.
Summary
For searchers caught between doubt and belief and for believers struggling to reconcile faith with contemporary assumptions about science and progress, Believe by New York Times columnist Ross Douthat shows how religious faith makes better sense of reality than skepticism or disbelief.
Report
At a time when strange things are happening, a time when even notorious atheists are willing to call themselves cultural Christians, there are some amazing opportunities for unexpected conversations between Christians and those outside the faith. That's where Ross Douthat's book is so useful. Like a modern-day Greek apologist, he makes a gentle and thoughtful case for religion in general and Christianity in particular. Christian readers will be helped both by his style and content to discuss their faith with the curious, and the curious will find much to make them think. And all of this comes with Douthat's customary clarity, wit, and precision. Carl R. Trueman, Grove City College
