Review of D. Bruce Lockerbie, Dismissing God: Modern Writers' Struggle against Religion

Dismissing God: Modern Writers' Struggle Against Religion by D. Bruce Lockerbie

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


D. Bruce Lockerbie is a long-time writer of Christian non-fiction and was one of the editors of the Macmillan English Series books for grades 10 and 12. Dismissing God is a fascinating account of the rejection and outright rebellion against the Judeo-Christian God by modern writers. The book traces the history of that rebellion to its roots in the nineteenth century, arguing that it was spurred on by the publication of Charles Darwin's Origin of Species in 1859 and the rise of modern critical Biblical scholarship. Thomas Hardy's reluctant loss of faith was replaced by Swinburne's outright rebellion against God, saying that if Christ came and everyone bowed, he would remain standing. The Decadents revived the Romantic vision of the artist as rebel against conventional moral values, especially the values of orthodox Christian faith. Some may be offended by his discussion of the decadents, especially regarding sexual ethics, but Lockerbie is simply reiterating the standards the Christian Church has held from the beginning.

Lockerbie's discussion of Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) is valuable for the insight into his rejection and ultimate hatred of Christianity. Later, nihilist writers denied any meaning to life at all. Of course Sartre and Camus are discussed, and there is also a fine chapter on post-Holocaust Jewish writers who find a God who could or would not help them in the death camps to be irrelevant. I would add that since this book was written over twenty years ago, things have not changed -- postmodern writers are just as hostile to traditional Christianity today, if not more so, than in the past. There is much anger at God among writers -- and my question to them is, "Why be angry at a being that you do not believe exists?" There seems to be, as Lockerbie himself points out, a residual belief in God that remains in these writers. Lockerbie's analysis of eight types of atheism in contemporary writers is valuable.

The book has excellent style throughout and flows well. Even though it is an older work, I highly recommend it as a text in Christian colleges and universities as well as in seminaries. It is valuable reading for anyone interested in modern and contemporary writers' rejection and hostility to God.





View all my reviews