Justin Brierley

Justin's latest book (and companion podcast) does a great job developing something I have also noticed in recent years. Despite our technological progress and time of great prosperity in the West, more and more people are depressed, substance abuse is on the rise, and - most importantly - so is suicide. Modern times is seeing a crisis of meaninglessness. Brierley doesn't lay the blame solely at the feel of New Atheism, but he points out that many who were once on the side of Dawkins, Hitchens, Dennet, and Harris have since begun to consider a life of meaning and are turning to Christianity once more to find it.

This book is different than most apologetics books. While Justin does discuss many of the arguments and evidence, it's done in more of a pondering way - with lots of question-asking. Most of the discussions are "bigger picture" in nature and don't spend a lot of time going over the details and evidence of a particular argument.

Most of the citations are also from people who are not believing Christians. But, many of the sources have turned back to Christianity because they see that this story makes the most sense of the world and how it works.

For me, one of the most impactful moments was when Justin talked about Jordan Peterson and his lectures on Genesis. Peterson is not a Christian (it's hard to pin him down on if he thinks the God of Christianity actually exists or if Jesus really rose from the grave). But, he has thousands of people a night PAYING to hear him talk about Genesis and the lessons we can glean from it. While churches struggle to put people in the pews, here is a man whom people are paying to hear teach the Bible. What this means is that people are rejecting the deterministic naturalism of New Atheism and are in search of meaning in their lives. And many are finding it in the Christian story once again.

This book is encouraging, uplifting, thought-provoking, and instructional on how we ought to be ready to meet the tide of faith as it rolls back in. Highly recommend!… (more)

Summary: A journalist and podcast host makes the case that we may be seeing a new wave of people coming to faith in God and why this is so.

This book opens with Matthew Arnold’s “Dover Beach,” which describes the ebbing of the “Sea of Faith” hearing “Its meloncholy, long, withdrawing roar.” It has seemed that we are in the midst of such a time. We have witnessed the rise of the New Atheism, a self-confident attack that ridiculed the irrationality, and indeed, the immorality of the God of Christianity. Various scandals of money, sex, and power in the churches, combined with the intertwining of church and extreme political positions sent many to the exits. We witnessed the rise of the “Nones” and a series of confessional blogs of people “deconstructing” their faith, often de-converting in the process.

Justin Brierly observes that tides that ebb also flow back, and he contends that he is also seeing a return to belief in God, with an embrace of Christianity by many but not all who do. He’s in a unique position to do so, hosting the Unbelieveable podcast, bringing together believing and secular thinkers in conversation, and being surprised at what is happening in the lives of some of his “secular” guests.

He begins with a chronicle of the rise and fall of the New Atheism movement, chronicling its self-destruction amid sexist and racist pronouncements, and its inability to come forward with meaningful proposals to replace what it was tearing down. Meanwhile, its challenge energized a new generation of Christian apologists who discovered that faith is often strongest under attack.

He describes the turn toward Christianity of figures like Jordan Peterson and Peter Boghassian, once an atheist firebrand who increasingly found himself siding with Christians. He recounts interviewing Douglas Murray, a gay, agnostic journalist haunted by the faith he once scorned. Ancient historian Tom Holland is another he discusses, who came to the realization that the Western view of the world, even in its secular humanist version, that stood in such sharp contrast with the ancients, was fundamentally Christian at its roots.

Brierly chronicles a crisis of meaning for which atheism did not have an answer. He recounts how actor David Suchet found that meaning in reading the Bible and goes on to discuss how various skeptics have rediscovered the Bible and the reasons for its reliability. Likewise, science, far from disproving faith raises intriguing questions of order and the fine-tuning of the universe and the unique conditions that produced and sustained life on earth. The war is not between science and faith but between scientists who do not believe and those who do, a matter of the heart and not the science. He singles out Francis Collins and Rosalind Picard as ones who changed their minds and have believed. He observes the self-defeating arguments of determinist materialists.

He concludes with the story of Paul Kingsnorth, a naturalist and one-time Wiccan and now Orthodox Christian, who believed because it was a story that made sense of his life. He argues that there are three things the church needs to do to prepare for a returning wave of people coming to faith:

1. Embrace both reason and imagination
2, Keep Christianity weird–that is, distinctively Christian
3. Create a community that counters cancel culture

This last is striking both for the idea of physical community amid increasing isolation, and the ability of the gospel to transcend difference–that allows difference without cancelling.

Brierly is careful throughout to distinguish genuine converts and those who simply have moved toward God. His ability to bring people who differ into conversation means he doesn’t expect neat packages. He also offers the challenge that this time, far from one about which Christians ought be depressed, can be a time of reinvigorated and intellectually stimulated faith. The stories also evidence the work of God as skeptics have dreams, read scripture, or simply take a hard look at the evidence around them.

It might be argued that Brierly is putting forward an overly optimistic case. Time will tell. I suspect that what he does is offer a counter-story to the pessimistic, doom and gloom stories filling much of evangelical publishing and press accounts. Brierly acknowledges the problems but also draws on the evidence of history that these never defeat God and that God is often at work amid these, birthing new life. His stories of real people suggest that what happened with them is possible for others. If you are wondering if there is any basis to hold out hope in a time of apparent decline, this is an account worth reading.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher.… (more)