15AR20-07

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Apologia Report 20:7 (1,236)

February 18, 2015

Subject: Why religions grow and decline, a new perspective

In this issue:

ATHEISM - a new book that's "long on rhetoric and short on evidence" calls theism a "delusion typical of adolescence"

DEMOGRAPHICS - challenging longstanding theories of "why some religious groups are growing while others are in decline"

ISLAM - addressing "the popular Western notion that Islam is monolithic"

SCIENCE - a Christian perspective on how science is conducted finds it "can almost be viewed as a religious activity"

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ATHEISM

Christianity Without God: Moving Beyond the Dogmas and Retrieving the Epic Moral Narrative, by Daniel C. Maguire [1] -- currently at Loyola University Chicago, distantly familiar reviewer Paul K. Moser tells us: "Maguire (Marquette Univ.) proposes that people seek a global ethic without a personal God. Regarding monotheistic commitment to a personal God who is all-powerful and all-merciful, Maguire comments: 'Such delusions are typical of adolescence. And adolescent is what we are.' He recommends instead a 'quest for new symbols' that provide a global ethic. The main question, however, is what evidence in particular shows that commitment to a personal God is a 'delusion,' and Maguire fails to deliver an adequate answer. Diversity of belief in the history of religions does not yield his desired conclusion. Maguire neglects the careful discussion of his topic in contemporary philosophy of religion, and the book suffers accordingly. This volume surveys some of the diversity in the history of Christianity and recommends that one favor a kind of poetry over prose. The result is such rhetoric as 'New heavens and a new earth are within our reach.' Maguire cannot mean this literally. Perhaps he means, 'We should try harder to reverse our damages.' However, this reviewer finds it hard to see how such an amorphous injunction should prompt hope for a new global ethic. The book is long on rhetoric and short on convincing evidence. Summing Up: Not recommended." Choice, Jan '15, n.p.

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DEMOGRAPHICS

Changing Faith: The Dynamics and Consequences of Americans' Shifting Religious Identities, by Darren Sherkat [2] -- "Using data from the General Social Surveys <www.goo.gl/Ee3YcI>, Sherkat (Southern Illinois Univ.) challenges both supply-side and secularization grand theories, finding that neither adequately accounts for the religious changes occurring in American culture and for the continuing importance of religious identification in many arenas. His careful analysis of decades of survey data sustains his central argument that demographic change (especially that resulting from immigration shifts since 1965) and generational differences join in a complex relationship with ethnicity to better explain why some groups are growing while others are in decline. Equally significant is Sherkat's demonstration that religious identification is directly correlated to matters such as political stance, views on sexuality, and even educational attainment and career choice. Sherkat's study undermines the popular claim that while fewer Americans have a formal religious identification, they nevertheless retain many of the trappings of religious belief and personal practice. Scores of tables and graphs, each carefully explained, support Sherkat's compelling argument. A helpful bibliography enriches the study. Sherkat writes primarily for other social scientists, not the general public. This is a valuable book for advanced undergraduates and specialists in sociology of religion and American religious culture." Charles H. Lippy (University of Tennessee at Chattanooga) for Choice, Jan '15, n.p.

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ISLAM

Scriptural Polemics: The Qur'an and Other Religions, by Mun'im Sirry [3] -- in his review for Choice, Steven Peter Blackburn with Hartford Seminary <www.goo.gl/Dd1Lu0> reports: "Although the notion that Islam is monolithic continues in the popular Western imagination, such as in Samuel Huntington's 'clash of civilizations' paradigm, scholars within and outside the Muslim world long have recognized that Islam is profoundly variegated. Sirry (Univ. of Notre Dame) adds to this perception of diversity in an examination of modernist and reformist Muslim commentators on those passages of the Qur'an that display assorted levels of hostility to the Other, especially Christians and Jews. These passages, this volume argues, tend to be ignored by non-Muslim scholars trying to promote interreligious understanding and by politicians seeking to reinforce an irenic tone in modern civil discourse. But for almost the last two centuries, Muslim students of the Qur'an, both Sunni and Shi'a, have tackled these polemical passages head on, resulting in a broad spectrum of views on relations between Islam and other religions. Highlights here include not only familiar Qur'anic passages on Trinitarianism, the person of Jesus, incarnation, and the like but also examinations of underlying differences on revelation, inspiration, corruptions of scripture, and how such differences can be, and have been, reinterpreted nonpolemically." Choice, Jan '15, n.p.

POSTSCRIPT Jul 4 '18: Sales copy for Huntingon's book, The Clash of Civilizations - mentioned above, describes it as "the classic study of post-Cold War international relations ... one of the most influential books ever written about foreign affairs [which argues for] an international order based on civilizations is the best safeguard against war."

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SCIENCE

Faith and Wisdom in Science, by Tom McLeish [4] -- according to Publishers Weekly (May '14, #3, n.p.): "McLeish, a professor of physics from Durham University, attempts to bring together the fields of religion and science in a manner designed to reframe and defuse the current debates between the two disciplines. He presents close readings of the Bible's various creation stories and argues that both disciplines are centered on questioning the nature of the world around us as part of our search for wisdom. McLeish urges readers not to 'swallow an inadequate narrative that portrays science as simply replacing an ancient world of myth and superstition with a modern one of fact and comprehension.' Biblical texts, he asserts, place particular value 'on knowledge of the hidden structure of the world, some... going so far as to identify such an internal grasp of nature with the notion of wisdom itself.' McLeish is at his best when describing the scientific process, the passion that many scientists bring to their work, and his belief that 'science is more about imaginative and creative questions than it is about method, logic or answers to those questions.' Nonetheless, his larger point, that a full reconciliation of religion and science is both possible and necessary, will likely remain out of reach for those who don't come to his text already sharing his underlying assumptions."

Writing for Choice (Jan '15, n.p.), Clair G. Wood (Eastern Maine Community College) adds: "McLeish is a rare individual, a true polymath who researches and writes extensively in history, theology, and theoretical physics. In this book, he examines the conduct of science from a Christian perspective and, in effect, makes the case that science can almost be viewed as a religious activity. He intersperses the narrative with biblical quotes to illustrate his central points and draws heavily on the writings of medieval scholars.... This book is not an easy read and is meant for those serious readers who are interested in the interrelationship between theology and science beyond the usual 'us versus them' mentality."

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SOURCES: Monographs

1 - Christianity Without God: Moving Beyond the Dogmas and Retrieving the Epic Moral Narrative, by Daniel C. Maguire (SUNY Prs, 2014, paperback, 234 pages) <www.goo.gl/6GZqBp>

2 - Changing Faith: The Dynamics and Consequences of Americans' Shifting Religious Identities, by Darren Sherkat (SUNY Prs, 2014, paperback, 240 pages) <www.goo.gl/HSj6Tq>

3 - Scriptural Polemics: The Qur'an and Other Religions, by Mun'im Sirry (Oxford Univ Prs, 2014, hardcover, 336 pages) <www.goo.gl/WmgZQK>

4 - Faith and Wisdom in Science, by Tom McLeish (Oxford Univ Prs, 2014, hardcover, 304 pages) <www.goo.gl/cca186>

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