Not enough evidence?

Patrick Glynn's "God: The Evidence" was one of the first Christian books I ever read, obviously excluding the Bible and C.S. Lewis. Unless I'm mistaken, the book was originally published in 1996.

Ironically, "God: The Evidence" isn't explicitly Christian but rather spiritual or religious in a more general sense. It hardly ever mentions the Bible and only one chapter explicitly defends monotheism. Nor does it mention the denominational affiliation of its author. I actually picked up the book at a New Age bookstore here in Stockholm.

The most interesting part of the book deals with Glynn's journey from atheism to Christianity. Glynn, a Republican and Washington DC civil servant, actually belonged to the East Coast Straussians, arguably the most despicable and vile atheist-nihilist group. To his credit, he eventually saw through this cabal. This and a couple of personal crises led him to Christian faith, with some aid from his new wife Gabrielle. Glynn still reasons very politically, however, and makes an explicit connection between religion and conservative politics. Apparently, he supports the Communitarians around Amitai Etzioni. I've never read Etzioni, but judging by Wikipedia he seems to be a fairly regular Republican (i.e. interventionist but perhaps less bellicose than Cheany, Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz). Personally, I'm more of a "liberal".

Theologically, Glynn is very main-line. His main arguments for Christianity and religion-in-general are moral and psychological. He also places heavy emphasis on near-death experiences and the research carried out by Raymond Moody, Michael Sabom and others. Glynn has no problem with the fact that many near-death experiences are Buddhist, Hindu or New Age, arguing that Jesus Christ shows himself in Buddhist guise to Buddhist, etc. This position is known as "Inclusivism" and is presumably the dominant one within main-line Protestantism. It, or something close to it, is also the official view of the Catholic Church after Vatican II.

The weakest chapter is arguably the one about "the anthropic principle", in which Glynn argues that the Big Bang and the fact that the universe is "just right" for human life, proves the existence of a Creator or Designer. The author also argues that some kind of reconciliation between religion and science is underway. Here, he was obviously wrong - "God: The Evidence" was written before the rise of the so-called New Atheism.

The title "God: The Evidence" is probably a commercial ploy, and Glynn's book was indeed a bestseller. Who in America wouldn't buy a book titled in this manner? In reality, Glynn admits that there is no 100% conclusive evidence for or against God. Indeed, his conversion seems to a large extent have been brought about by personal and psychological factors (and some miracles he refuses to discuss).

Despite this shortcoming (?), "God: The Evidence" is nevertheless a quite good introduction into the beliefs of main line American Christians and perhaps even Jews and some New Age believers. Most of the chapters are relatively easy to read, and the chapter on Glynn's own journey to faith feels very honest. In this sense, the book could be of some interest to the general reader.

Just don't expect it to contain the smoking gun evidence...

Incidentally, I originally posted a very negative review of "God: The Evidence". Today, I'm no longer a materialist, and for that reason have decided to write this more laid back review!