An Atheist and a Christian Dialogue Review of An Atheist and a Christian Walk into a Bar

Now this is a clever idea for a book review. Dan Wilkinson at Unfundamentalist Christians just published a review for An Atheist and a Christian Walk into a Bar. But he did so in a dialogue format with his friend, atheist Nick Bradford. Both gentlemen read the book and then they talked about it. They even got their pets (a Christian cat and an atheistic dog) in on the conversation. Nice!

Dan and Nick both make some interesting points so be sure to read the review. But I want to deal with one minor point here. Nick asserts that “the title is a bit deceptive: I didn’t see a defense of Christianity. What’s the point of an atheist and Christian walking into a bar if the Christian part is never really dealt with?”

That’s certainly a fair point. In the book we debate classical theism, but not Christianity per se.

My rejoinder is threefold. First, we didn’t choose the title, the publisher did. (That’s typical: most publishers choose the titles of the books they publish.) Second, while the title An Atheist and a Theist Walk into a Bar may capture the focus of the book more effectively, it definitely lacks the panache of An Atheist and a Christian. Third, subtitles typically serve the purpose of informing the reader as to the content of the book and I think our subtitle does that. We do talk about God, the Universe, and Everything. Just so long as we’re clear that the Trinity, atonement, and resurrection are not included in “Everything”.