Meanwhile, One of the Old Atheists Has Converted to Theism

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When it was first announced that Anthony Flew -- perhaps the leading atheist philosopher of our time -- had converted to theism (though not orthodox Christianity), atheists responded in a number of ways. One such way was to claim that he was a nice enough fellow, but he was old after all, and perhaps was mislead by some dastardly Christian apologists and had recanted his conversion in any event.

Thankfully, Anthony Flew has written a book explaining his beliefs about God and how he arrived at them. It is not-so-subtly titled: There Is a God: How the World's Most Notorious Atheist Changed His Mind. That should leave little room for doubt that his conversion real and enduring.

From Amazon's book description:

In one of the biggest religion news stories of the new millennium, the Associated Press announced that Professor Antony Flew, the world's leading atheist, now believes in God.

Flew is a pioneer for modern atheism. His famous paper, Theology and Falsification, was first presented at a meeting of the Oxford Socratic Club chaired by C. S. Lewis and went on to become the most widely reprinted philosophical publication of the last five decades. Flew earned his fame by arguing that one should presuppose atheism until evidence of a God surfaces. He now believes that such evidence exists, and There Is a God chronicles his journey from staunch atheism to believer.

For the first time, this book will present a detailed and fascinating account of Flew's riveting decision to revoke his previous beliefs and argue for the existence of God. Ever since Flew's announcement, there has been great debate among atheists and believers alike about what exactly this "conversion" means. There Is a God will finally put this debate to rest.

This is a story of a brilliant mind and reasoned thinker, and where his lifelong intellectual pursuit eventually led him: belief in God as designer

Comments

BK said…
I think it appropriate to note that we sniffed out Flew's change of position before he announced it. But now I'm glad that he has written in detail on his reasoning.
9/18/2007 07:35:00 PM
Layman said…
Not "we," but "you."
9/18/2007 08:07:00 PM
Jason A. Van Bemmel said…
I just pray that Flew will go the rest of the way in his conversion soon, for his own sake.

On another note: Federal Vision: I launched a new blog to further the discussion. I want to invite all interested parties in the FV controversy to come and participate: http://prochristorege.wordpress.com
9/19/2007 07:46:00 AM
Layman said…
Jason,

I hope so too. There are positive signs. Although Flew apparently expresses disagreement with N.T. Wright, he gave Wright the space to write an addendum/appendix in the book making the case for the resurrection.
9/19/2007 08:43:00 AM
Jason Pratt said…
Mainly I hope he's more specific about his reasoning than he's been so far in other discussions since his move to deism. His various interviews on the topic seem kind of whiffy. Though considering he only moved to hyperminimal deism, maybe that should be expected. {lopsided g} (Also, we should keep in mind that this is co-authored by Roy Varghese, whose book was significant in leading Flew to deism at least.)

One thing he has going in his favor, is that he has a strong fondness for the _person_ of Jesus. That isn't the same thing as trusting God to save him from his sin; but on the other hand it's God's business to judge him on that, not ours: an admonition which in the Gospels (and the OT, too, I think) is given for purposes of reserving _hope_ over-against tendencies of ours to pre-condemn apparent 'enemies of God'. (Since after all _we_ are enemies of God, too. {s})

JRP
9/20/2007 06:25:00 AM
Steven Carr said…
I think it is going to be pretty amazing seeing what Flew wrote now and what he wrote 20 or 30 years ago.

Now that '...he has written in detail on his reasoning.'.......
9/29/2007 10:38:00 AM
Jason Pratt said…
You know perfectly well that Bill meant (as I myself explicitly qualified) "since his move to deism", Steven. Try not to be a irrelevant troll, please: your weak attempt at ironic correction means less than nothing when the whole point is that we're curious about whatever differences there are between the details of his reasoning now (whatever it is) and what he wrote 20 or 30 (or 10 or even 60) years ago.

JRP
9/30/2007 10:18:00 AM
Steven Carr said…
'This is a story of a brilliant mind and reasoned thinker...'

In fact, Flew can write lucidly and cogenty about philosophers whose names he cannot recognise in ordinary conversation.

It's a miracle.
11/04/2007 11:21:00 PM
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