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The Rage Against God: How Atheism Led Me to Faith
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The Rage Against God: How Atheism Led Me to Faith

3.64 of 5 stars 3.64  ·  rating details  ·  182 ratings  ·  67 reviews
Here, for the first time, in his new book The Rage Against God, Peter Hitchens, brother of prominent atheist Christopher Hitchens, chronicles his personal journey through disbelief into a committed Christian faith. With unflinching openness and intellectual honesty, Hitchens describes the personal loss and philosophical curiosity that led him to burn his Bible at prep scho...more
Hardcover, 224 pages
Published by Zondervan (first published October 24th 2009)
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Community Reviews

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Dinochunks01
Paid twenty five cents at the employee book sale last autumn. I thought it would be a recommendation for my son who is living a faith based life while finding and growing his talents. I ended up reading it myself as my life appears to be undergoing some crises.
I appreciate Mr. Hitchen's background and can relate to his early beliefs and values. I was aspiring to atheism, going only so far as a sincere agnosticism. Everyone knows the joke about Agnostics being too cowardly to be Atheists. I...more
Anna
Anna added it
With grace and urgency, Peter Hitchens tells of his journey from atheism to faith in God. The first part chronicles his Bible-burning days in prep school through to his time spent in Soviet Russia, while the second and third parts are more analytical, refuting the three main arguments of atheism, and challenging the notion that Soviet Russia was in fact a religious state. He illustrates through the facts of history as well as his personal experience living in Soviet Russia the results that arise...more
Mary
Mary rated it 5 of 5 stars
This book provides a first-hand, eye-opening perspective on how the elimination of religion from the public sphere, and especially the forcible attempt to remove religion from society altogether has been detrimental, if not devastating, to society. Whereas religious persecution by the Church can be and has been tempered over time by conscience and a calling to account of the fundamental call for love of neighbor, attempts to create an atheistic utopia have proven several times over to be a much...more
David Pascoe
I got this book because of a podcast I listened to where Sheridan Voysey interviewed the author of this book - Peter Hitchens. I wasn't really aware who he or indeed who his famous brother was.

http://downloads.fm1032.com.au/oh/OH_Pet...

Christopher Hitchens is a well known atheist, kind of a right hand man to the venomous Richard Dawkins.

Christopher and Peter have had a public outing of their differing views on the existence of God. So I was hoping for some mor...more
Jesse Broussard
Peter Hitchens can write. His prose in this autobiographical journey from atheism to faith is at times elegant, precise, poignant, poetic, mystical and melancholy, and is almost universally exquisite. This book was like candy. Yes, "Anything worth doing is worth doing badly," but it's so refreshing to encounter someone that does it well. Here are a few samples of what I mean.


"It is my belief that passions as strong as his are more likely to be countered by the u...more
Rod
Rod rated it 4 of 5 stars
Thank you Peter for writing a book like this. I doubt it will open many peoples eyes to the danger of a society without the morality and love of Jesus. But maybe a few will stop and think for a moment.

I think this book will be confusing for many people who lump all of religion as a goodness on humanity. Sorry, but all religions are not the same. All sects of Christianity are not the same. Even Christians who go to the same church and listen to the same Bible and Pastor are not the sa...more
Kevin Greenlee
Peter Hitchens, the brother of famed atheist polemicist Christopher Hitchens, tells the story of his personal journey to faith in the pages of The Rage Against God: How atheism led me to faith. This story is a fascinating and brilliantly written one, and well worth reading.

That is not to say it is a perfect book. Far from it. It strikes me that Peter is definitely of the same seed as his brother, and at times The Rage Against God can certainly descend into polemic mirroring his broth...more
Aeisele
Aeisele rated it 3 of 5 stars
Shelves: religion
This is a strange book. I liked it in some ways, but in other ways it's not very good.

First, the good things: he puts the secularization of Europe in a very good context. He basically argues that the melding of religion and the state in Britain, the cult of leaders like Churchill, and the disillusionment of Europeans after the two world wars are the reasons why Christianity has been in such decline. The fact that numerous church leaders pushed England, France, and Germany into WWI, and...more
Alex
Alex rated it 4 of 5 stars
Part autobiography, part socio-historical commentary, part polemic, Peter Hitchen's The Rage Against God isn't quite what I was expecting. In some ways it was better. I enjoyed the first third of the book, being a take on British society I haven't read before (not difficult because I haven't read much about it, anyway) - that was a 3 star read. However, about half way through I started wondering where it was going and was inclined to give it only 2 stars. The ending more than made up for tha...more
Phil
Phil rated it 5 of 5 stars
Shelves: other
I found so much to like about this book. Hitchens certainly knows how to craft a sentence, and he organizes his thoughts well. So much resonated in me, the difference in age, religion, and national background notwithstanding.

Is there not an old saw about today's heresies being tomorrow's orthodoxies? Yesterday's radical nihilists somehow with age become today's proclaimers of All Things Bright and Beautiful.

But I wonder if someone, say, in her/his 30s reading this book today ...more
Steve
Steve rated it 5 of 5 stars
Shelves: books-of-2010
Peter Hitchens: The Rage Against God
Part response to his brother, Christopher Hitchens, atheism book, this is also Hitchens testimony, an spiritual autobiography, if you like.
Hitchens meshes his own story from childhood "christian" formality, through atheism and Trotskyism, to his regained faith and return to Christianity, to a social commentary on the spiritual decline of Britain. Numerous insights on the spiritual degradation of our nation and culture abound, as well as a...more
David
David rated it 4 of 5 stars
I recommend Peter's book, along with his brother's "god is not Great" to generate more personal thought than the general psycho-social that Christopher seems focused on. Personally, I liked both men's styles. Basically, I liked Christopher's over Peter's but not because of flaws in his style. All this comes down to is personal preferences.

By not whole heartedly agreeing with either, I am revealing my take on both works. Peter puts forward, not as precisely as I would like...more
Sarah
Sarah rated it 5 of 5 stars
I had a chance to hear Peter Hitchens on the radio a few months back and finally picked up the book.

I appreciated how deeply personal it was. I wasn't interested in reading something about how to discuss anti-theism with your anti-theist family/friends. And I liked that P.H. didn't presume to speak for all anti-theists. He speaks for himself, clearly outlining the changes in post-WWII Europe society that he felt influenced his development.

The last portion of the book...more
Greg Perciak
Hitchens has an impressive command of the English language. With economy of words, he can convey effortlessly a sense of place and time. There are times when I had to put the book down to savor a passage I'd just read, then pick it up and re-read it. The author grounds his argument in history, which is unapologetically English and Protestant. After delivering a compelling anti-war essay, he addresses some of his brother Christopher's (non)beliefs, then spends some time documenting Soviet Communi...more
David Shane
Excellent book. Rather hard to summarize, especially because some of his best comments are made parenthetically. So I won't really try, but I will say that two excerpts from this book are available online, published by the Daily Mail. If you like these excerpts, you will probably like the book. They are:

"How I found God and peace with my atheist brother"

"In the Soviet suburbs of Hell and the blasted avenues of Mogadishu, I saw what our society could bec...more
Brian
Brian rated it 4 of 5 stars
One of the best books I've read in a long time. It made reading three whiny atheist books worth it. In a sentence, it is Christopher Hitchens style with the content of a C.S. Lewis. Peter Hitchens often has the same melancholy style of looking at the world's troubles, but he sees what those are with intense clarity and insight. I felt, after I read him, that I had not only heard arguments that hit the heart of atheism, but also like I now knew Britain's history since World War II. It makes me sa...more
Tony
Tony rated it 3 of 5 stars
Some reasonably original arguments against his brother Christopher's position, namely debunking the notion that most "religious" wars are in fact about religion, and pinning the millions of deaths under communist regimes on a militant atheism seeking to create heaven on earth. Offers an interesting critique as well of the Cult of Churchill in Britain, and connects this to the willingness of too many Christians to blindly support a war-seeking president in the U.S. simply because he cla...more
Trevor
Trevor rated it 1 of 5 stars
I wish I hadn't wasted my money on this nasty little right wing polemic. Hitching his wagon to his glitzier brother's star Hitchens describes his reactionary journey back to prayer book Anglicanism. He looks at the failures of Marxist regimes as evidence that we need God, and if we are British what we need is some return to the mea culpa of Cranmer's style of prayers. Arrogant, homophobic, dishonest and strangely bereft of spirituality it would not convert me to anything least of all to becoming...more
Chris Davis
Peter is riding his brother's coat tails and not very well at that. I wanted to like it but it was a bit droll. I was entertained but not enough to like it much. He never made any logical augments to support his position. I know this is the point since his is a position of faith not logic but I was just expecting more. Christopher Hitchens' opponent, Douglas Wilson, in Collision was much more engaging (great movie). Wilson made very good augments and I can see why people would take this position...more
Doug
Doug rated it 2 of 5 stars
From the title (and author), I expected this book to be based around some sort of life-changing insight which gets to the very heart of the argument between atheists and Christians. Instead, it is a strange mixture of personal memories and philosophical/historical arguments. He dwells very much on the social value of Christianity, and this tends to obscure the clarity of the Gospel. I was disappointed that he spent virtually no time discussing the importance and controversial nature of Christ ...more
Mark
Mark rated it 3 of 5 stars
A personal journey from atheism to faith in Christ by the brother of one of the most noted "New Atheists" - a very British take on politics, world affairs & life, strongly influenced by his years as a news correspondent in the U.S.S.R./Russia.

Lots of thoughtful things here, but doesn't add up to a completely satisfying read. The sections on Russia & the Communist destruction of religion are fascinating, though.

Finally, this is not a "bash my brother" book ...more
Lisa
Lisa rated it 4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for: those concerned about religious freedoms, all anglophiles
This was an eye-opening book. I "really liked it" for a couple of reasons. I have become aware of a recent surge in numbers of self-proclaimed (and angry and demanding) atheists, and concerned about the reasons behind it - this book gives logical and solid reasons for this political/philosophical shift. It is a candid look at religiosity in contemporary England, and therefore a vision of what could/will happen soon in America (political attempts to negate religious rights). It is a ...more
Jack
Hitchens’ book is an intensely personal account of his journey from the Anglican religious training of his youth, through an early adulthood in which he embraced communist atheism, to his return to a mature faith as he matured. His turn away from faith as a young man seems more a political than a religious statement. He seems to have rejected religion as the central part of a British society that he perceived as bankrupt and hypocritical.
His embrace of communism and experience of living...more
Darla
I try to be very stingy with my 5 star reviews, and I could knock Hitchens a star for not spending as much time as I expected on his conversion to Christianity after 2+ decades of Trotsky adulation and hard-edged atheism, however, the depth of his exploration into the development and spread of anti-theism, as well as the denigration and disintegration of Christianity in Western culture made up for the lack of details.

I was drawn in by Hitchens' historical analysis of the USSR and the...more
Jennifer Buck
I really enjoyed parts of this book, but other parts are difficult reading. There is a lot about history and politics. It was very interesting to learn about how communist/socialist nations went about stamping out Christianity and how those countries are doing now. I wish the author had put more about the difference in his own life that being a Christian has made. He doesn't say much about his spiritual life--more about the reasons for his decision to believe and the results of having a nati...more
Dan Walker
I read this book in less than 24 hours. I couldn't put it down. Peter Hitchens spares neither atheists nor Christians. He shows how the "New Atheism" is in lockstep with the atheism/Communism of the last century. He shows how Christianity in England has lost its vitality and why his generation rejected it. Both Christianity, unhinged from Biblical truths, and atheism will destroy Western Civilization. Read this book to understand why.
John Caneday
John Caneday rated it 5 of 5 stars
Shelves: 2010
Hitchens counters the arguments of 'the new atheists,' including his brother, in this compelling book. Hitchens writes how he moved from being an outspoken Trotskyite Atheist to an orthodox Christian. He spends most of his time arguing how we all got to these state of affairs and then demonstrating the logical conclusions of the new atheists and their argument that raising children to be religious is 'child abuse.'

I highly recommend this book!
Christian
Christian rated it 4 of 5 stars
Shelves: religion
I read this book under the impression that it was a response to Christopher's Hitchens' book "God is not Great" when it is more 3 different books combined. First its an autobiography where Hitchens talks about his atheist days and his eventual conversion back to Christianity. Its also an analysis of English history from the perspective of the abandonment of Christianity and secularization of the country. The third subject in the book is his response to his brother where he addresses Ch...more
Poeticweaver
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Natalie S.
This is one of the best books I've read this year. Peter Hitchens powerfully combines personal testimony and cultural analysis into a compelling story chronicling the dwindling of Western Civilization. It's a sad and moving story of a culture trading its heritage in for a mess of potage and church that (at worst) helped negotiate the exchange.
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Peter Jonathan Hitchens is a British journalist, author and broadcaster. He was educated at The Leys School Cambridge, Oxford College of Further Education and the University of York.
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