Real Faces

Ravi Zacharias is one of the most engaging Christian thinkers in the western world today and a staunch defender of trhe reasonableness of the Christian faith.

The Real Face of Atheism divides neatly into two parts. In Part I Zacharias engages in what Francis Schaeffer used to call "taking the roof off" - that is he takes the philosophy of the atheist and pushes it to its logical conclusion. He looks at the implications of saying we live in a closed and, essentially, arbitrary universe for our thinking about morality, meaning and death. The result is a damning indictment of the meaningless and essential unliveability of an atheist world view.

The book skillfully exposes the deception of those who want to remove any sense of meaning in the world that necessitates the existence of God and yet retain some sort of concept of purpose, joy, love or goodness - when they have denied the existence of evil, destiny and final judgment.

In Part II Zacharias goes on to show how the Christian faith, rightly understood, provides the most coherent and livable world view for people who, like almsot eveyr person on the planet, wish to retain a world that has meaning, grandeur, moral responsibility, love, faithfulness and justice.

He does this largely using the canons and concepts of philosophy rather than establishing the teaching of the Scriptures in these areas. This is completely understandable as he is trying to show that Christianity stacks up philosophically as a coherent world view. However it could (wrongly I think) give the impression that Zacharias believes the Bible itself does not cover these issues.

The book is at its best when engaging with the philosophical sleights of hand used by atheists and demonstrating how sown within this disturbing philosophy are the seeds of its own incoherence and ultimate destruction.

Zacharias is clearly extremely well informed and his sources are wide ranging and comprehensive. He draws mostly from writers who would be well known names but has clearly engaged with their work at a deep level.

This book is ideal for the Christian who meets thoughtful atheists in their regular work - especially for those who work or study in universities perhaps - but also to give away to thoughtful atheists as a change from their regular diet of Hitchins, Dawkins and Dennett!