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Enduring Divine Absence: The Challenge of Modern Atheism
Today, millions of people in the modern West identify as atheists. And even for believers, the intellectual and spiritual temptations to deny the existence of God seem greater than ever. Too often we respond to this pressure by seeking more and more rational proofs of God's existence, but what if a lack of reason to believe is not our main problem? In this volume, Joseph Minich argues that our real challenge is existential and imaginative—a felt absence of God that is more visceral in our modern world than for most generations past, and the sense that if God cannot be sensed, He cannot be there. Why are we so haunted and disoriented today by this sense of God's absence? And how can we learn to sustain and strengthen our faith in the face of it? In these pages, Minich charts a way back to a renewal of our hearts and imaginations that can enable us to embrace the challenge of finding and being found by the hidden God.
112 pages, Paperback
Published June 1, 2018
14 people are currently reading
210 people want to read
About the author
Joseph Minich
21 books19 followersJoseph Minich is a Ph.D candidate in Humanities at the University of Texas at Dallas, and the Editor-in-Chief of The Davenent Press. His research interests include modern atheism, the nature of modernity, and the role of late modern technology in the formation of religious beliefs. Some of his writings can be found at The Calvinist International, Mere Orthodoxy, and in several edited volumes published by Davenant.
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December 27, 2021
New review:
I re-read this book and it really is worth the re-read.
I know I may just be defending my tribe, but I think that Minich really accomplished something in this book. The short stupid man’s summary of this book is that atheism became emotionally compelling because we now experience the world as something we can manipulate, when in previous times people experienced the world as forces they could not control.
I want to admit that even I cannot understand the Thomistic metaphysics still, but even then explaining it to my Dad was helpful in understanding some of the basic Thomistic proofs for God and understanding how flaky materialism really is.
What's also really great is that, though Minich definitely understands the problems of the modern world, he does not adopt a posture of lament but of opportunity. Minich knows that we have successfully made the world appear predictable when it really isn't and that this is an opportunity for deeper trust in God. It makes me wonder, though, whether we could reattune ourselves to the world's unpredictability. I know it's hard when I do things such as type this sentence, replay videos on YouTube, and even relate to people in the world as though they were predictable, but surely we can change this through some lifestyle changes. Will give this more thought.
Phenomenal. In many senses of the word.
This book goes beyond the usual boilerplate arguments about the problem of evil and gets at the background issue: why is it that atheism seems so natural to us? The cultural analysis in the first few chapters is absolutely riveting.
I would warn readers that there is a highly metaphysical chapter right smack dab in the center. You will probably not understand his argument unless you have taken philosophy, and even then you still might not understand it. Still, it is an absolutely genius chapter that goes straight to the root of the problems with naturalistic materialism, which C.S. Lewis sounded the clarion call on ages ago.
The last chapters, though, are amazing again. Minich gives a compelling explanation of the daily reality that makes us tend to think He is there and He is silent. And without being nostalgic about the problems of modernity and benefits of the Middle Ages and before. Furthermore, his practical applications, though not unique (except perhaps that we are to think about God as pure act) are great if you're like me and you like to think about all the trouble in the world all the time.
In short, this book is great, definitely the most practical of the Davenant Publications and it scratches itches I didn't even know I had. If you ever have looked at the sky and wondered why God seems so absent, pick this book up now and read it several times.
I re-read this book and it really is worth the re-read.
I know I may just be defending my tribe, but I think that Minich really accomplished something in this book. The short stupid man’s summary of this book is that atheism became emotionally compelling because we now experience the world as something we can manipulate, when in previous times people experienced the world as forces they could not control.
I want to admit that even I cannot understand the Thomistic metaphysics still, but even then explaining it to my Dad was helpful in understanding some of the basic Thomistic proofs for God and understanding how flaky materialism really is.
What's also really great is that, though Minich definitely understands the problems of the modern world, he does not adopt a posture of lament but of opportunity. Minich knows that we have successfully made the world appear predictable when it really isn't and that this is an opportunity for deeper trust in God. It makes me wonder, though, whether we could reattune ourselves to the world's unpredictability. I know it's hard when I do things such as type this sentence, replay videos on YouTube, and even relate to people in the world as though they were predictable, but surely we can change this through some lifestyle changes. Will give this more thought.
Phenomenal. In many senses of the word.
This book goes beyond the usual boilerplate arguments about the problem of evil and gets at the background issue: why is it that atheism seems so natural to us? The cultural analysis in the first few chapters is absolutely riveting.
I would warn readers that there is a highly metaphysical chapter right smack dab in the center. You will probably not understand his argument unless you have taken philosophy, and even then you still might not understand it. Still, it is an absolutely genius chapter that goes straight to the root of the problems with naturalistic materialism, which C.S. Lewis sounded the clarion call on ages ago.
The last chapters, though, are amazing again. Minich gives a compelling explanation of the daily reality that makes us tend to think He is there and He is silent. And without being nostalgic about the problems of modernity and benefits of the Middle Ages and before. Furthermore, his practical applications, though not unique (except perhaps that we are to think about God as pure act) are great if you're like me and you like to think about all the trouble in the world all the time.
In short, this book is great, definitely the most practical of the Davenant Publications and it scratches itches I didn't even know I had. If you ever have looked at the sky and wondered why God seems so absent, pick this book up now and read it several times.
July 4, 2023
Joe discusses the book here, suggesting that our technological culture gives rise to the idea that truly real things are material and manipulable; he also tries to deflate the idea that atheism is the most natural default position; toward the end of the book, he asks how it would help if God were more "obvious" (neither his dwelling in a cloud with Israel nor the the Holy Spirit's ministry to the NT church seemed to make those cultures super devout); a big goal of the book is to push back against a tendency to valorize doubt (while recognizing that doubt is understandable). More info here.
Positive review here (compares it to A Secular Age and says it's better than The Benedict Option). Horton calls it a "must-read."
Check out these related videos on a plausible faith:
Part 1: "I'm Having a Crisis of Faith"
Part 2: "Mortality & Doubt"
Part 3: "The Problem of Divine Absence"
Part 4: "Interpreting Divine Absence"
Part 5: "Responding to Divine Absence"
Chapter 1: Introductory Reflections
Joe explores the psychological pull of atheism, which happens even for Christians at times. With Taylor, Joe distinguishes the "Where are you, God?" of the psalmist (for whom the question of God's existence was not serious), from today's Christians, who feel a real defensiveness in the face of secular society, where belief in God is not assumed but merely one option among many (p. 4). As William James might put it, atheism is a "live option" these days in a way that belief in Superman is not (p. 5).
Chapter 2: Modernity and Divine Absence
Belief in God actually is a unique problem in modern times, requiring effort instead of being obvious or a default position. One proof is the number of anxious-seeming apologetics works that feel the need to defend the belief in God because His presence is no longer taken for granted. Such works sometimes also speak of recovering what has been lost, as if so much ground has been given away that we barely are allowed even to speak of our subjective, personal experience of belief. There is a sense of defensiveness and fragility to the Christian faith. Joe mentions several films in which the universe seems indifferent to humanity (pp. 12–14).
Some people say that the belief-in-God-is-difficult phenomenon is plausible because atheism is true. [Why is it plausible to think that the sky is blue? Because it is.] This explanation omits the reality that many initially plausible explanations are not ultimately true (pp. 19–21).
Two other ways of dealing with the belief-in-God-is-difficult phenomenon are to say that atheists have intellectual problems (bad ideas) or will problems (rebellion, having reasons to want atheism to be true). While this may be true, we cannot say that Christian belief is merely a matter of the mind or will, because the faith of many Christians includes thoughts and desires that are not strictly connected to clear thinking and desiring; for example, the belief of some Christians (who are true Christians) may be based on using God as a crutch [an intellectual problem?], or being afraid of the alternative [a will problem?]. Additionally, these two explanations (intellectual problems and will problems) don't account for the facts that 1) people who intellectually assent to theism still struggle with the suspicion that atheism might be true, and 2) being in ethical tension with God (being a rebel) doesn't necessarily correspond to disbelieving in Him (demons—James 2:19) (pp. 21–22).
Joe is nervous about those who insist that Christian belief depends on conversion, because he feels that this reduces the truth claims of Christianity to subjective experience (a "retreat to commitment," to use Bartley's book title), making persuasion depend on reality glasses that are not publicly accessible (pp. 22–23). [This sounds like a rejection of presuppositional apologetics.] Joe is similarly nervous about those who insist that we need an objective basis for morality, as if moral experience is subjective without such a ground (pp. 23–24). [I don't understand this concern.]
Chapter 3: The Silencing of God
The point of this chapter is to show the intellectual plausibility of atheism, even if one ultimately rejects it. The first part discusses the issue of causality, showing that throughout history, there's at least a plausible narrative of materialist/naturalist explanations overtaking religious explanations (e.g., geocentric vs. heliocentric theories). On pp. 33–34, he seems to agree that ID commits the "god of the gaps" fallacy [although Meyer disagrees]. The second part of the chapter discusses philosophical and historical retorts to modern materialism, and Joe later provides problems with those retorts.
The philosophical retort to materialism uses Aristotle's four causes and ultimately argues that nothing in our universe can be reduced to purely material causes. Anything that exists is contingent and must rely on something else (which is itself the ground of existence) for existence. To say otherwise is incoherent. The historical retort is basically that there has never been (historically) a truly critical evaluation of Aristotle. These retorts, while helpful, are inadequate and unpersuasive to many. The philosophical retort has a hard time standing up to Enlightenment criticism (ignore philosophical speculation and believe only what you can observe), and the historical retort doesn't account for why people eventually abandoned Aristotelian philosophy (if there was no critique, then what happened?). Joe briefly gets into medieval enchantment (the universe as a chorus), in contrast to a modern mechanistic view (p. 51).
Shifts in how we perceived reality occurred when we became more able to control nature as we control tools. Disease and threats of nature (e.g., droughts) became more distant because of medicine and infrastructures, rendering "agentic" aspects of the cosmos more invisible. Correlations between technological advances and the plausibility of materialism include the parallel increase in the use of the scientific method and what appeared to be its payoff (technological control over nature); for example, the Enlightenment occurred roughly around the same time as the Industrial Revolution (18c/19c), and a comfortable lifestyle is often synonymous with materialist assumptions. Of course, correlation does not imply causation. But Joe argues that viewing nature as a tool to manipulate for personal gain is a cause with an effect: it renders the cosmos into something passive which humanity shapes. Technology mediates our sense of reality and our imagination (placing us in a kind of bubble)—it becomes easier to view ourselves as the ones in control (see Ellul, Postman, etc.). The need for God seems less imminent. Dystopian fiction messes with the bubble somewhat, introducing a natural crisis that destroys humanity's sense of technological control.
Chapter 4: Seeking, Finding, and Being Found
Joe warns against romanticizing the allegedly enchanted past, which was often filled with superstition. After all, neither New Testament folks nor medieval folks were less prone to error, despite being "closer" to the enchanted time when the god-man walked among us. Any attempt to recover the past, which could be fine [think of adults recovering a childlike wonder at our world], should be done with maturity and with thanksgiving for legitimate advances we've made. He uses "second naiveté" (p. 64) positively.
Joe recommends three spheres of activity as we move forward: remembering why we believe what we do, participating in the life of the local church, and practicing spiritual disciplines that reorient our desires.
In particular, three things to remember are that God is pure act, he is for us in Christ, and we are guilty before him. In discussing the first point, Joe gets into the problem of evil. It's not punting to recognize that finite creatures will experience mystery in a world created by an infinite Creator. In discussing the second point, Joe uses Keller to show that we know a bad argument for the existence of evil: God doesn't care. Christ's death shows us this. We are guilty, but many of the world's sages cannot acknowledge this fundamental problem, as they nevertheless offer solutions. No world literature acknowledges human guilt and shows a God willing to take the punishment himself. Honestly, such a story is almost too implausible to believe. The last few pages of this chapter are powerful.
Chapter 5: Concluding Reflections
The Bible shows God to be a God who comes and goes. But his absence is a way for us to develop trust. God made us to be contingent, developing, maturing creatures who grow in endurance. Presence can't be a given, taken for granted. We seek, ultimately realizing that we are being sought (middle voice).
--
On a personal level, one of the benefits of thinking about why atheism seems more plausible these days is that it can reframe one's evangelistic attitude. Westboro Baptists (or whoever) may be right in using Romans 1 to think of atheists as rebels, but is that attitude going to be persuasive? An attitude that looks at the situation and acknowledges that "it may be more difficult to be a Christian in an age filled with technologies that make us feel self-sufficient" could come across to an unbeliever as a genuine attempt to be understanding and sympathetic, and it could have a softening effect. This doesn't excuse the rebellion that atheism certainly is, but a change in posture could be used by the Holy Spirit to persuade someone who may otherwise be resistant to "you rebel" language. Perhaps an analogy could be a crime of passion. A man shouldn't murder another man, but if a husband comes home to find his wife with another man, the murder is—to some narrow extent—understandable, if only in the sense that the husband had unique factors working hard against him. Similarly, it's possible that living in an age filled with technology contributes to factors that make belief in God more of an effort, and conceding this fact could lead to a more compassionate evangelism.
Another benefit of thinking about the plausibility of atheism is that it's helpful even as a Christian to consider how reality is mediated, for example, through technology. I don't wake up every morning and fervently thank God for keeping me safe during the night, providing my food and water for the day, etc. This is largely because I often don't feel my need for God. I intellectually assent to the reality that God protects and provides, but I often take that protection and provision for granted, because in a wealthy and technologically advanced culture, it's easy to do so; technology makes them feel like givens. Surely the magic box that is the iPhone has some effect in orienting us to our world, and it's probably more often than not a device that contributes to a condition of being incurvatus in se. Being aware of this tendency is perhaps half the battle, and the solution need not be to abandon technological tools.
Positive review here (compares it to A Secular Age and says it's better than The Benedict Option). Horton calls it a "must-read."
Check out these related videos on a plausible faith:
Part 1: "I'm Having a Crisis of Faith"
Part 2: "Mortality & Doubt"
Part 3: "The Problem of Divine Absence"
Part 4: "Interpreting Divine Absence"
Part 5: "Responding to Divine Absence"
Chapter 1: Introductory Reflections
Joe explores the psychological pull of atheism, which happens even for Christians at times. With Taylor, Joe distinguishes the "Where are you, God?" of the psalmist (for whom the question of God's existence was not serious), from today's Christians, who feel a real defensiveness in the face of secular society, where belief in God is not assumed but merely one option among many (p. 4). As William James might put it, atheism is a "live option" these days in a way that belief in Superman is not (p. 5).
Chapter 2: Modernity and Divine Absence
Belief in God actually is a unique problem in modern times, requiring effort instead of being obvious or a default position. One proof is the number of anxious-seeming apologetics works that feel the need to defend the belief in God because His presence is no longer taken for granted. Such works sometimes also speak of recovering what has been lost, as if so much ground has been given away that we barely are allowed even to speak of our subjective, personal experience of belief. There is a sense of defensiveness and fragility to the Christian faith. Joe mentions several films in which the universe seems indifferent to humanity (pp. 12–14).
Some people say that the belief-in-God-is-difficult phenomenon is plausible because atheism is true. [Why is it plausible to think that the sky is blue? Because it is.] This explanation omits the reality that many initially plausible explanations are not ultimately true (pp. 19–21).
Two other ways of dealing with the belief-in-God-is-difficult phenomenon are to say that atheists have intellectual problems (bad ideas) or will problems (rebellion, having reasons to want atheism to be true). While this may be true, we cannot say that Christian belief is merely a matter of the mind or will, because the faith of many Christians includes thoughts and desires that are not strictly connected to clear thinking and desiring; for example, the belief of some Christians (who are true Christians) may be based on using God as a crutch [an intellectual problem?], or being afraid of the alternative [a will problem?]. Additionally, these two explanations (intellectual problems and will problems) don't account for the facts that 1) people who intellectually assent to theism still struggle with the suspicion that atheism might be true, and 2) being in ethical tension with God (being a rebel) doesn't necessarily correspond to disbelieving in Him (demons—James 2:19) (pp. 21–22).
Joe is nervous about those who insist that Christian belief depends on conversion, because he feels that this reduces the truth claims of Christianity to subjective experience (a "retreat to commitment," to use Bartley's book title), making persuasion depend on reality glasses that are not publicly accessible (pp. 22–23). [This sounds like a rejection of presuppositional apologetics.] Joe is similarly nervous about those who insist that we need an objective basis for morality, as if moral experience is subjective without such a ground (pp. 23–24). [I don't understand this concern.]
Chapter 3: The Silencing of God
The point of this chapter is to show the intellectual plausibility of atheism, even if one ultimately rejects it. The first part discusses the issue of causality, showing that throughout history, there's at least a plausible narrative of materialist/naturalist explanations overtaking religious explanations (e.g., geocentric vs. heliocentric theories). On pp. 33–34, he seems to agree that ID commits the "god of the gaps" fallacy [although Meyer disagrees]. The second part of the chapter discusses philosophical and historical retorts to modern materialism, and Joe later provides problems with those retorts.
The philosophical retort to materialism uses Aristotle's four causes and ultimately argues that nothing in our universe can be reduced to purely material causes. Anything that exists is contingent and must rely on something else (which is itself the ground of existence) for existence. To say otherwise is incoherent. The historical retort is basically that there has never been (historically) a truly critical evaluation of Aristotle. These retorts, while helpful, are inadequate and unpersuasive to many. The philosophical retort has a hard time standing up to Enlightenment criticism (ignore philosophical speculation and believe only what you can observe), and the historical retort doesn't account for why people eventually abandoned Aristotelian philosophy (if there was no critique, then what happened?). Joe briefly gets into medieval enchantment (the universe as a chorus), in contrast to a modern mechanistic view (p. 51).
Shifts in how we perceived reality occurred when we became more able to control nature as we control tools. Disease and threats of nature (e.g., droughts) became more distant because of medicine and infrastructures, rendering "agentic" aspects of the cosmos more invisible. Correlations between technological advances and the plausibility of materialism include the parallel increase in the use of the scientific method and what appeared to be its payoff (technological control over nature); for example, the Enlightenment occurred roughly around the same time as the Industrial Revolution (18c/19c), and a comfortable lifestyle is often synonymous with materialist assumptions. Of course, correlation does not imply causation. But Joe argues that viewing nature as a tool to manipulate for personal gain is a cause with an effect: it renders the cosmos into something passive which humanity shapes. Technology mediates our sense of reality and our imagination (placing us in a kind of bubble)—it becomes easier to view ourselves as the ones in control (see Ellul, Postman, etc.). The need for God seems less imminent. Dystopian fiction messes with the bubble somewhat, introducing a natural crisis that destroys humanity's sense of technological control.
Chapter 4: Seeking, Finding, and Being Found
Joe warns against romanticizing the allegedly enchanted past, which was often filled with superstition. After all, neither New Testament folks nor medieval folks were less prone to error, despite being "closer" to the enchanted time when the god-man walked among us. Any attempt to recover the past, which could be fine [think of adults recovering a childlike wonder at our world], should be done with maturity and with thanksgiving for legitimate advances we've made. He uses "second naiveté" (p. 64) positively.
Joe recommends three spheres of activity as we move forward: remembering why we believe what we do, participating in the life of the local church, and practicing spiritual disciplines that reorient our desires.
In particular, three things to remember are that God is pure act, he is for us in Christ, and we are guilty before him. In discussing the first point, Joe gets into the problem of evil. It's not punting to recognize that finite creatures will experience mystery in a world created by an infinite Creator. In discussing the second point, Joe uses Keller to show that we know a bad argument for the existence of evil: God doesn't care. Christ's death shows us this. We are guilty, but many of the world's sages cannot acknowledge this fundamental problem, as they nevertheless offer solutions. No world literature acknowledges human guilt and shows a God willing to take the punishment himself. Honestly, such a story is almost too implausible to believe. The last few pages of this chapter are powerful.
Chapter 5: Concluding Reflections
The Bible shows God to be a God who comes and goes. But his absence is a way for us to develop trust. God made us to be contingent, developing, maturing creatures who grow in endurance. Presence can't be a given, taken for granted. We seek, ultimately realizing that we are being sought (middle voice).
--
On a personal level, one of the benefits of thinking about why atheism seems more plausible these days is that it can reframe one's evangelistic attitude. Westboro Baptists (or whoever) may be right in using Romans 1 to think of atheists as rebels, but is that attitude going to be persuasive? An attitude that looks at the situation and acknowledges that "it may be more difficult to be a Christian in an age filled with technologies that make us feel self-sufficient" could come across to an unbeliever as a genuine attempt to be understanding and sympathetic, and it could have a softening effect. This doesn't excuse the rebellion that atheism certainly is, but a change in posture could be used by the Holy Spirit to persuade someone who may otherwise be resistant to "you rebel" language. Perhaps an analogy could be a crime of passion. A man shouldn't murder another man, but if a husband comes home to find his wife with another man, the murder is—to some narrow extent—understandable, if only in the sense that the husband had unique factors working hard against him. Similarly, it's possible that living in an age filled with technology contributes to factors that make belief in God more of an effort, and conceding this fact could lead to a more compassionate evangelism.
Another benefit of thinking about the plausibility of atheism is that it's helpful even as a Christian to consider how reality is mediated, for example, through technology. I don't wake up every morning and fervently thank God for keeping me safe during the night, providing my food and water for the day, etc. This is largely because I often don't feel my need for God. I intellectually assent to the reality that God protects and provides, but I often take that protection and provision for granted, because in a wealthy and technologically advanced culture, it's easy to do so; technology makes them feel like givens. Surely the magic box that is the iPhone has some effect in orienting us to our world, and it's probably more often than not a device that contributes to a condition of being incurvatus in se. Being aware of this tendency is perhaps half the battle, and the solution need not be to abandon technological tools.
February 4, 2025
This is an earlier and shorter version of Minich’s “Bulwarks of Unbelief.” It was interesting to see how his thoughts developed between the two publications — in breadth and depth, not in any significant substance. This is a much more accessible and concise read if anyone wants his main ideas without wanting to wade into his dissertation. This book is also one of the few works that has both stretched my mind and made me shed tears (Chapter 4 is excellent; it caused me to change my review from 4 to 5 stars).
One minor note: Minich seems to love the phrase “to wit” and tends to use it quite frequently. I do not like that phrase at all and would cringe every time he used it, which - again - was a lot.
One minor note: Minich seems to love the phrase “to wit” and tends to use it quite frequently. I do not like that phrase at all and would cringe every time he used it, which - again - was a lot.
June 22, 2018
This is great little book that takes a different tack on the "atheist turn". Rather than resort to the usual suite of intellectual arguments (not to delay their place), the author asks what is "in the air" that is making atheism easier to adopt? Combining a defense of Thomism, a call for a revival of metaphysical inquiry and an insightful diagnosis of the technological age with it's impact on how we relate to questions of belief, Minich call us to a deeper engagement with reality under God, and the place of remembrance, the church community and worship.
January 16, 2020
I really, really liked this book and plan to read it again.
August 9, 2023
Phenomenal. Can’t wait for Minich’s new book.
January 3, 2023
An incredibly helpful look at why it is that a Christian who truly believes his theology, and who knows that atheism simply does not work, can, at times, yet be haunted by the psychological pull of the atheist’s idea of cosmic indifference, and continue to fight against it throughout his life—the sinking feeling that your prayers are hitting the ceiling; the asking, the seeking, the waiting…and the silence, the seeming cosmic indifference. This ‘phenomenon’ is Minich’s subject.
And Minich is a great guide for these deep waters—he helpfully assesses this ‘phenomenon,’ providing a robust (and sometimes very philosophically dense) explanation for it, as well as very clear, practical, biblical, and satisfying solutions to it.
Perhaps the most intriguing piece to Minich’s argument is the correlation that he observes between humanity’s ability/attempt to control their world and the rise of materialism/ontological naturalism.
A great read!
And Minich is a great guide for these deep waters—he helpfully assesses this ‘phenomenon,’ providing a robust (and sometimes very philosophically dense) explanation for it, as well as very clear, practical, biblical, and satisfying solutions to it.
Perhaps the most intriguing piece to Minich’s argument is the correlation that he observes between humanity’s ability/attempt to control their world and the rise of materialism/ontological naturalism.
A great read!
December 21, 2022
Minich takes up the question, "where is God?" A basic and incomplete outline:
Addresses causality noting agreement with the starting point of the naturalist, but the necessity of the immaterial cause. In other words, metaphysics is necessarily included in materialism.
Technology creating a worldview where nature is subject to us rather than us being subject to nature. Where this is reversed, humans naturally look to God.
Conclusion, if we are contingent beings we should naturally remember from where we came. This happens through rational thought, the local church, and spiritual disciplines. Three main truths to be remembered is that (1) God is pure act, (2) God is for me in Christ, (3) Image bearers of God are guilty of sin against God. Either God pursues us (which he has in Christ) or there is no hope.
A very short and dense book. A great aid to the philosophical conversation involved in atheism. Thankful to Dr. Rigney who assigned it for class.
Addresses causality noting agreement with the starting point of the naturalist, but the necessity of the immaterial cause. In other words, metaphysics is necessarily included in materialism.
Technology creating a worldview where nature is subject to us rather than us being subject to nature. Where this is reversed, humans naturally look to God.
Conclusion, if we are contingent beings we should naturally remember from where we came. This happens through rational thought, the local church, and spiritual disciplines. Three main truths to be remembered is that (1) God is pure act, (2) God is for me in Christ, (3) Image bearers of God are guilty of sin against God. Either God pursues us (which he has in Christ) or there is no hope.
A very short and dense book. A great aid to the philosophical conversation involved in atheism. Thankful to Dr. Rigney who assigned it for class.
February 3, 2022
*Read this in 2019 and again in 2022*
Charles Taylor applied to the “felt” coherence of contemporary atheism. Just outstanding. I’m convinced you can’t be equipped for contemporary engagement with atheism without reading this book. I also think it’s pastorally significant for reasons made clear on the first page.
Charles Taylor applied to the “felt” coherence of contemporary atheism. Just outstanding. I’m convinced you can’t be equipped for contemporary engagement with atheism without reading this book. I also think it’s pastorally significant for reasons made clear on the first page.
December 16, 2019
4.5 stars. Brilliant thesis and angle. This is a question that I don't think many people are explicitly asking, but it's the question we need to be asking. Fantastic framing of the situation. He lost me a bit on some of the Aristotelian stuff. I tried to follow, but definitely got a bit too technical and abstract there for me.
January 7, 2023
Interesting take on the de-enchantment thesis.
I personally found the tone distasteful, it was a bit too respectful of atheism, and also a bit too quick to dismiss intelligent design. It felt like a dunking on folks on our side to win the atheists.
Other than that, I did find the book overall helpful, and would recommend it to someone struggling with these questions.
I personally found the tone distasteful, it was a bit too respectful of atheism, and also a bit too quick to dismiss intelligent design. It felt like a dunking on folks on our side to win the atheists.
Other than that, I did find the book overall helpful, and would recommend it to someone struggling with these questions.
March 27, 2019
Thanking the Lord for this book. Incredible. 6 stars
January 27, 2020
Some good apologetic material. Minich explores the appeal of materialistic explanations of the world, and offers some helpful responses. The book is short but not an easy read, as Minich expects a certain comfort level with philosophical language. But his arguments are well-taken.
March 17, 2023
2023 Re-read: still very helpful, half tempted to bump to 5 stars
Original comments from 2020:
Why is atheism tempting in the west?
Why is atheism still wrong?
Why is christian theism the answer to life's deepest questions even in the 21st century western world AND even when it doesn't feel like it is?
Joseph Minich tackles these questions really helpfully, and I would rate the material 5/5.
The writing style is awkward in places which makes it a little harder to read than it should be (hence the 4 star rating).
Original comments from 2020:
Why is atheism tempting in the west?
Why is atheism still wrong?
Why is christian theism the answer to life's deepest questions even in the 21st century western world AND even when it doesn't feel like it is?
Joseph Minich tackles these questions really helpfully, and I would rate the material 5/5.
The writing style is awkward in places which makes it a little harder to read than it should be (hence the 4 star rating).
July 28, 2018
Five starts for the last chapter alone.
December 31, 2021
While a short book (under 100 pages!), Joseph Minich's Enduring Divine Absence: The Challenge of Modern Atheism is a serious work which requires careful attention and slow reading. But it is well worth the investment of time and energy, which is why it proved to be the best book that I read this year!
Why do I give this book such high praise? It addresses an often neglected issue: why is atheism attractive? Or as Minich says: "why does it sometimes feel like it takes great effort to believe things about reality that are supposed to be obvious—as though we're holding onto it by an act of will rather than by a passive sense of its obviousness?" (6) In other words, how can we explain atheism as the default standard in our society which tempts us to believe it when we don't see God's activity or involvement in our world? Through five chapters, he seeks to answer this question and show why atheism is plausible to us, yet its plausibility does not mean that it is warranted or true.
I won't try to summarize Minich's argument, which admittedly becomes quite philosophical and challenging to follow at times. But he situates where we are in the Western world through the intellectual developments and technological advancements which shape our sense of reality. As Minich writes: "To put it bluntly, the world is a 'world for me.' I do not find myself in a big mysterious world suffused with agencies to which I am subject and around which I must learn to navigate. I find myself in a world almost entirely tool-i-fied, a world of my own subjective agency before an increasingly silent cosmos. And a silent cosmos echoes no ultimate Speaker" (59).
How then should we respond to this understanding of our world? The author explains what faith looks like as we live with the temptation of atheism. I found his response incredibly thought-provoking and very insightful. While I hesitate to boil down his treatment of these issues to his core conclusion, Minich summarizes a strategy for us to remember three propositions:
"First, God is actus purus or pure act.
Second, God is pro me, or for me, in Christ.
Third, human beings, made in God's image, are guilty of sin before God" (72).
At the same time, I don't think that this short summary does justice to how helpful his argument is for us. His concluding reflections are also well worth pondering.
So I would strongly encourage Christians to consider wrestling over the concerns raised in Minich's book. I may have struggled as I read, but my diligence was richly rewarded, and I hope to gain more insights by returning to this resource in the future.
Why do I give this book such high praise? It addresses an often neglected issue: why is atheism attractive? Or as Minich says: "why does it sometimes feel like it takes great effort to believe things about reality that are supposed to be obvious—as though we're holding onto it by an act of will rather than by a passive sense of its obviousness?" (6) In other words, how can we explain atheism as the default standard in our society which tempts us to believe it when we don't see God's activity or involvement in our world? Through five chapters, he seeks to answer this question and show why atheism is plausible to us, yet its plausibility does not mean that it is warranted or true.
I won't try to summarize Minich's argument, which admittedly becomes quite philosophical and challenging to follow at times. But he situates where we are in the Western world through the intellectual developments and technological advancements which shape our sense of reality. As Minich writes: "To put it bluntly, the world is a 'world for me.' I do not find myself in a big mysterious world suffused with agencies to which I am subject and around which I must learn to navigate. I find myself in a world almost entirely tool-i-fied, a world of my own subjective agency before an increasingly silent cosmos. And a silent cosmos echoes no ultimate Speaker" (59).
How then should we respond to this understanding of our world? The author explains what faith looks like as we live with the temptation of atheism. I found his response incredibly thought-provoking and very insightful. While I hesitate to boil down his treatment of these issues to his core conclusion, Minich summarizes a strategy for us to remember three propositions:
"First, God is actus purus or pure act.
Second, God is pro me, or for me, in Christ.
Third, human beings, made in God's image, are guilty of sin before God" (72).
At the same time, I don't think that this short summary does justice to how helpful his argument is for us. His concluding reflections are also well worth pondering.
So I would strongly encourage Christians to consider wrestling over the concerns raised in Minich's book. I may have struggled as I read, but my diligence was richly rewarded, and I hope to gain more insights by returning to this resource in the future.
July 28, 2020
This book is for the Christian who wants to know why, even though he or she is a true believer, atheism is a plausible option in the back of their mind. The author does a great job of confronting that issue. He explains how even if we believe Christianity to be intellectually coherent and atheism to be incoherent, for philosophical and historical reasons, we are confronted with the plausibility of atheism. And in our present day, due to technology and man's ability to control his environment more and more, this is even a greater issue.
After the author spends a couple of chapters describing why the issue exists, he then does a fantastic job prescribing what the Christian should do. I think this is the best part of the book. I will not spoil it for others by going into detail here. Suffice it to say that this is the best treatment of why even strong believers can have doubts, why there are atheists, and a prescription for why some believers should understand why they go through this process.
After the author spends a couple of chapters describing why the issue exists, he then does a fantastic job prescribing what the Christian should do. I think this is the best part of the book. I will not spoil it for others by going into detail here. Suffice it to say that this is the best treatment of why even strong believers can have doubts, why there are atheists, and a prescription for why some believers should understand why they go through this process.
July 15, 2018
This is a very good book on a difficult phenomena that all believers experience. Minnich starts from the assumption that Christians have good reason for their beliefs. Minnich points at proofs like the Cosmological argument as showing that God is exists, but given the reality of God why do we feel like Atheism is a real possibility? Minnich explores this question which goes back to the OT (how long O’Lord?), and into the present longing of believers to see God’s face.
One of the main reasons for the feeling that Atheism is a live option that Minnich points out is technology. Minnich argues that the usefulness of technique leads to the tacit assumption that all knowledge must be empirical. Even though we know, with a little reflection, that not all knowledge is scientific knowledge we still have a certain habit of mind engrained into us. Minnich gives a few steps on how to combat this feeling, and use it to build a robust intellectual response.
One of the main reasons for the feeling that Atheism is a live option that Minnich points out is technology. Minnich argues that the usefulness of technique leads to the tacit assumption that all knowledge must be empirical. Even though we know, with a little reflection, that not all knowledge is scientific knowledge we still have a certain habit of mind engrained into us. Minnich gives a few steps on how to combat this feeling, and use it to build a robust intellectual response.
September 16, 2021
My favorite part was what happens when you keep asking why about how a particular natural process works. Eventually, even if you figure out all the details, you will get to the point of wondering why the particular law or foundational process is the way it is. Conceivably, it could have been a different way. Some entity which created the universe (God) must have choses for this law to be this way instead of another way.
I think this is a good effort to step above the current apologetic trends and understand what about our culture is even putting us in a position where we feel the need to defend and justify God, as opposed to God as the default.
I think this is a good effort to step above the current apologetic trends and understand what about our culture is even putting us in a position where we feel the need to defend and justify God, as opposed to God as the default.
February 12, 2022
Refreshing in topic and approach. Joseph paints a picture of the current atmosphere of plausible/functional atheism that affects everyone, including many firm Christians. Divine absence for the Psalmist and the 21st century man is experienced quite differently. This book seeks to answer why and suggest ways to deal with it. The kind of book I'll have to re-read to fully absorb but worth the effort.
February 7, 2019
A tour-de-force analysis of psychological, philosophical and historical factors that go into making atheism plausible ("a live option") today. "Even in your world, my son, [a huge ball of flaming gas] is not what a star is, but only what it is made of.” (CS Lewis, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader)
Many thanks to Davenant Press for putting it out.
Many thanks to Davenant Press for putting it out.
March 15, 2019
This was a hard read to get through. I wanted to abandon it as I kept reading but felt bad to do so as it’s only 93 pages.
Regarding structure and terms/phrases, it’s like the author took one of his doctoral papers and decided to make a book out of it.
Giving it two stars as there are a couple of good nuggets in there. But they are buried deep.
Regarding structure and terms/phrases, it’s like the author took one of his doctoral papers and decided to make a book out of it.
Giving it two stars as there are a couple of good nuggets in there. But they are buried deep.
August 20, 2020
I love this book! Joseph Minich spoke to me and my questions with sincerity and intellectual honesty, yet didn't allow me to stay there. I am so thankful I found this book.
Just a note: he has several presentations on youtube entitled 'Plausible Faith" that are an excellent addition to this book. Worth the time.
Just a note: he has several presentations on youtube entitled 'Plausible Faith" that are an excellent addition to this book. Worth the time.
January 2, 2025
Minich deals with the issue of making the case for God in the modern world in a way that I find to be incredibly profound, and doing it in a way that I have not found anyone else doing. Highly recommend.
November 9, 2018
Brilliant. Timely. Provocative. Lord willing, I’d like to read this book 3 or 4 more times before I die.
February 20, 2019
Should have been longer. :)
June 16, 2019
Great little read
May 22, 2023
Excellent. 4.5 stars. Another reviewer said it best - “it scratched itches I didn’t even know I had.”
November 16, 2023
Excellent.
March 1, 2025
God’s divine absence does not constitute
a lack of love, but rather a call to trust its return -
Where faith is strengthened, He is in our midst.
a lack of love, but rather a call to trust its return -
Where faith is strengthened, He is in our midst.
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