Eric Metaxas's Blog, page 2

Celery Green Day, an excerpt from FISH OUT OF WATER

This excerpt is from Chapter 18 in my book FISH OUT OF WATER: A Search for the Meaning of Life.

“Celery Green Day” 

Those I hung out with in the Schroeder Lounge at Yale became such good friends that I tended to accept their views, and through them began to see another way of looking at these things. One of them had even brilliantly invented a holiday that summed up their notions. He called it Celery Green Day.

The idea behind this was that every spring as you looked out over the landscape of ...

Celery Green Day, an excerpt from “Fish Out of Water”

This excerpt is from Chapter 18 in my book FISH OUT OF WATER: A Search for the Meaning of Life.

“Celery Green Day” 

Those I hung out with in the Schroeder Lounge at Yale became such good friends that I tended to accept their views, and through them began to see another way of looking at these things. One of them had even brilliantly invented a holiday that summed up their notions. He called it Celery Green Day.

The idea behind this was that every spring as you looked out over the landscape of tr...

An excerpt from FISH OUT OF WATER

This excerpt is from Chapter 15 in my book FISH OUT OF WATER: A Search for the Meaning of Life.

Because I hadn’t been raised in a culturally sophisticated atmosphere, college was for me much more than academics. For example, for the first time in my life I saw certain movies like Martin Scorsese’s Raging Bull and David Lynch’s The Elephant Man, both of which I still revere, the latter being almost shockingly Christian in its message. I also saw A Clockwork Orange, which I despised for the viole...

An excerpt from “Fish out of Water”

This excerpt is from Chapter 15 in my book FISH OUT OF WATER: A Search for the Meaning of Life.

Because I hadn’t been raised in a culturally sophisticated atmosphere, college was for me much more than academics. For example, for the first time in my life I saw certain movies like Martin Scorsese’s Raging Bull and David Lynch’s The Elephant Man, both of which I still revere, the latter being almost shockingly Christian in its message. I also saw A Clockwork Orange, which I despised for the violen...

Everything Means Everything, an excerpt from IS ATHEISM DEAD?

This excerpt is from Chapter 30, “Everything Means Everything” from my book IS ATHEISM DEAD?

Does not the idea that we long for meaning tell us something—or everything—about who we are and how we are made and by whom? Does not our deep longing for meaning in our own lives and for the meaning of life itself not tell us that we were created for meaning, and that without it we can hardly live

In his incomparably beautiful book Chance or the Dance?, author Thomas Howard talks about these things. The...

Everything Means Everything, an excerpt from “Is Atheism Dead”

This excerpt is from Chapter 30, “Everything Means Everything” from my book IS ATHEISM DEAD?

Does not the idea that we long for meaning tell us something—or everything—about who we are and how we are made and by whom? Does not our deep longing for meaning in our own lives and for the meaning of life itself not tell us that we were created for meaning, and that without it we can hardly live

In his incomparably beautiful book Chance or the Dance?, author Thomas Howard talks about these things. The...

Atheists Who Found God, a chapter from “Is Atheism Dead?”

This excerpt is from Chapter 21, “Atheists Who Found God: Sartre, Flew, and Camus” from my book IS ATHEISM DEAD?

Antony Flew
Antony Flew was one of the foremost atheists of the twentieth century. He declared himself an atheist at fifteen and went on to a brilliant career in philosophy. While at Oxford in the academic year 1949–50, Flew often attended C. S. Lewis’s Socratic Club, and although he thought Lewis “eminently reasonable,” was nonetheless unconvinced by his arguments for God. In fact, i...

Atheists Who Found God, a chapter from IS ATHEISM DEAD?

This excerpt is from Chapter 21, “Atheists Who Found God: Sartre, Flew, and Camus” from my book IS ATHEISM DEAD?

Antony Flew
Antony Flew was one of the foremost atheists of the twentieth century. He declared himself an atheist at fifteen and went on to a brilliant career in philosophy. While at Oxford in the academic year 1949–50, Flew often attended C. S. Lewis’s Socratic Club, and although he thought Lewis “eminently reasonable,” was nonetheless unconvinced by his arguments for God. In fact, i...

Atheism Unhinged, a chapter from IS ATHEISM DEAD?

This is Chapter 28, “Atheism Unhinged” from my book IS ATHEISM DEAD?

There are those who take on the moniker “atheist,” but wear it lightly, principally because they are unaware of the absurdity such a philosophy expresses, or because they don’t have the courage to say otherwise and gingerly accept the label. Such souls are usually more accurately described as agnostics but are often afraid that calling themselves agnostics might show too much sympathy for those they think of as religious fanati...

The Brain is Not a Mind; the Mind Is Not a Brain, an excerpt from “Is Atheism Dead?”

This excerpt is from Chapter 27, “The Brain Is Not a Mind; the Mind Is Not a Brain” from my book IS ATHEISM DEAD?

We said that atheist materialists assert—with no evidence—that matter is all there is. Since this is not true or certainly cannot be proven to be true, it would lead like all other semi-demi-hemi-truths to cul-de-sacs and trouble. For example, if matter is all that exists anywhere, then although human beings have brains, they do not have minds. This is a crucial distinction. Material...