Antony Flew (1923–2010)

Clear, concise definitions, nearly complete for its size.
It fills in those gaps where I bog down over philosophical terms.

Later, I realize it's mostly about Anglo, analytic philosophy, without much about the rest of the world. But it was very helpful for its discussions of its narrow field.

A much meatier, weightier tome than the book's small size would suggest, Flew and Varghese tell the history of Flew's change in philosophical thought. Flew describes, with great detail, his atheistic views, and describes them adequately. He then explains why he is now a deist. It is a good work, dense enough to be engaging, but not hard enough to be off-putting for the lay reader (it isn't a philosophy text, but it isn't "chicken soup for the atheist" either). It makes you pause and think at show more several points, but lays a decent philosophical foundation for belief in, at least, a Creator. I could have used a selected bibliography at the end, but, all in all, a great book. Recommended, though some might find Flew's final refusal to believe in a Revealed God, a theist stance, a bit grating. show less

I admire Flew's open minded quest for truth. He explains his progression of understanding, and points to Gerald Schroeder, one of my favorite authors, and a physicist turned Bible scholar, as sparking his first step away from atheism.
Rather than exhibiting a loss of mental capabilities as charged by other vocal atheists, Flew presents a very rational thought process. He shows courage in being so open about admitting he must have been wrong before.

I particularly liked Appendix B, by N.T. Wright

The author has become renowned for his conversion from atheism to belief (apparently some form of deism), and this book was re-issued shortly after. The author wrote a new introduction for the book, and the editors suggest the reader decide for herself the status of Flew's conversion. The introduction is rambling and not totally coherent, but all in all, it does not read like anything other than a total skeptic. The book itself, being a basically unchanged reissue of an earlier work, show more contains nothing but skepticism and critical thinking, though sometimes it's hard to be sure because the rather convoluted arguments are shrouded in so much philosopherese that it can make your head swim at times. Where it is clear, the book does a good job of deconstructing common apologetic arguments (the sophisticated theology that we hear so much about when a book addresses a simpler, quotidian version of Christianity). Where it is not clear, a diligent reader can still tease out the arguments that Flew is using against the apologetics, but it is at least somewhat less convincing. It certainly would not convince a religious believer, unless they had been reading a great many other books that did a better job with these particular arguments. In short, when my believing friends ask me to recommend books on the topic, this will not be the one I will recommend for a beginning student of doubt - or philosophy, for that matter. show less