'Imagine someone holding forth on biology whose only knowledge of the subject comes from The British Book of Birds, and you have a rough idea of what it feels like to read Richard Dawkins on the subject of theology.'
Thus begins the literary critic Terry Eagleton's recent review of Richard Dawkins' latest book, The God Delusion. If you have somehow managed to miss it, it's well worth a read.
4 comments:
ouch. imagine getting a review like that!
Hi, Jo,
Finally tracked down your site after Frances has been telling me for months I should read it. And now I know where she found Eagleton's wonderful review. Since my DVD player broke down the otehr day, I've been catching up on stuff I've taped recently, and came across the ABC's "First Tuesday's Book Club" which reviewed Dawkin's book. Surprisingly, all thought it was too shrill, too bitter, more about Dawkins than about sicence or theology. Even Germaine Greer (who basically said that the problem with atheists is that having decided there is no god, why do they keep going on about him?) Fantastic show, though Greer's own brand of atheism was scary... something like, after spending time in Ethiopia last year "If there was a God, I'd shake my fist in his face and say "why..." scary, perhaps, because I find that, admittedly emotional argument, easier to understand than arguing a creator's absence from an ordered creation. Well, as Frank wouuld tell you, I rave on a bit, hope y'all have a great new year. Matt Cardier
hi there, matt - thanks for dropping by. As you can see, I haven't been doing much blogging lately, but it's one of my new year's resolutions to do better in 2007!
I wonder if you would still be interested in addressing my Grace and Salvation students on Charles Wesley. The Intensive begins next week (Monday-Friday 15-19 Jan from 9 till 5). We would be dealing with Wesleyan stuff on Thursday or Friday. There would be a modest payment for your trouble and I'm sure the students (a small group of 4)would benefit greatly from your input. If you'd like an idea of the shape of the unit you can go the Grace and Salvation blog at http://grace-and-salvation.blogspot.com/
Let me know if you're still interested and we can make arrangements. How's the job hunting going? I saw there were three positions in History at La Trobe recently. Cheers.
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