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It Makes Sense: The Handbook to Believing
Book by Gaukroger, Stephen
- GenresChristian
Paperback
First published January 1, 2004
About the author
Stephen Gaukroger
70 books27 followersStephen Gaukroger is a British philosopher and intellectual historian. He is Professor of History of Philosophy and History of Science at the University of Sydney. Recently he also took up a position as Professor of Philosophy at the University of Aberdeen.
He received his BA (hons) in philosophy, with congratulatory first class honours, from the University of London in 1974, and his PhD, in history and philosophy of science, from the University of Cambridge in 1977. He was a Research Fellow at Clare Hall Cambridge, and then at the University of Melbourne, before joining the Philosophy Department at Sydney in 1981. In 2011, he moved to the Unit for History and Philosophy of Science. He is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Humanities, a Corresponding Member of l’Académie Internationale d’Histoire des Sciences, and in 2003 was awarded the Australian Centenary Medal for contributions to history of philosophy and history of science. He is presently Professor of History of Philosophy and History of Science, and ARC Professorial Fellow. His work has been translated into Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian and Serbian.
He received his BA (hons) in philosophy, with congratulatory first class honours, from the University of London in 1974, and his PhD, in history and philosophy of science, from the University of Cambridge in 1977. He was a Research Fellow at Clare Hall Cambridge, and then at the University of Melbourne, before joining the Philosophy Department at Sydney in 1981. In 2011, he moved to the Unit for History and Philosophy of Science. He is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Humanities, a Corresponding Member of l’Académie Internationale d’Histoire des Sciences, and in 2003 was awarded the Australian Centenary Medal for contributions to history of philosophy and history of science. He is presently Professor of History of Philosophy and History of Science, and ARC Professorial Fellow. His work has been translated into Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian and Serbian.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
August 25, 2020
Another revisiting of a book that was influential in my youth. This is a book designed to present evidence of evangelical Christian belief as a sensible, rational choice for everyone, so effectively it's a book of basic apologetics, with an evangelistic bent.
All I can say is, I found it pretty obnoxious.
It starts off trying to establish whether God exists or not, and does it by some pretty awful whataboutery - it basically says God must exist, because we can't conclusively prove he doesn't. It sets the tone for the rest of the book - it'll hold atheism to different standards, and rip it to pieces using arguments it won't apply to orthodox Christian belief.
Having established that God exists, the rest of the book deals with the old chestnuts like suffering, other religions, hypocrisy etc., in an attempt to blackmail people into becoming Christians. It's deliberately designed to leave you unsettled and disturbed, and thinking that Christianity is the only solution to a corrupt world, and your own individual failures. This is, of course, what Christians believe, but after 25 years of attempting to make it work, I gave up in despair, and I refuse to recognise this nasty view of what people are like. I also question the solutions the book proposes, and the lack of any decent evidence for anything. Classic circular logic appears - the Bible is defended using what it says about itself - and there's no decent scientific, academic or philosophical referencing or pointing to source material that might really convince you of anything.
Obviously a book with a specific agenda, and very clumsily executed. If you want to try and analyse Christianity's claims for yourself, this is not a good place to start, because it's gruesomely biased.
All I can say is, I found it pretty obnoxious.
It starts off trying to establish whether God exists or not, and does it by some pretty awful whataboutery - it basically says God must exist, because we can't conclusively prove he doesn't. It sets the tone for the rest of the book - it'll hold atheism to different standards, and rip it to pieces using arguments it won't apply to orthodox Christian belief.
Having established that God exists, the rest of the book deals with the old chestnuts like suffering, other religions, hypocrisy etc., in an attempt to blackmail people into becoming Christians. It's deliberately designed to leave you unsettled and disturbed, and thinking that Christianity is the only solution to a corrupt world, and your own individual failures. This is, of course, what Christians believe, but after 25 years of attempting to make it work, I gave up in despair, and I refuse to recognise this nasty view of what people are like. I also question the solutions the book proposes, and the lack of any decent evidence for anything. Classic circular logic appears - the Bible is defended using what it says about itself - and there's no decent scientific, academic or philosophical referencing or pointing to source material that might really convince you of anything.
Obviously a book with a specific agenda, and very clumsily executed. If you want to try and analyse Christianity's claims for yourself, this is not a good place to start, because it's gruesomely biased.
Displaying 1 of 1 review