Reviews for The Miracle of Theism: Arguments for and Against the Existence of God

The average rating for The Miracle of Theism: Arguments for and Against the Existence of God based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2015-12-15 00:00:00 Joseph Ledue As a Christian, I have been tired of the neo-Athiest movement and its caustic rhetoric. Mackie is definitely not in the class of Dawkins, Krauss, Hitchens, or Dennett. After reading Mackie, I suspect he would distance himself from such characters. I could be wrong about this, but based on his writing he seems to at least have respect for his theistic academicians. It should be noted that this book is first and foremost an academic treatment of atheism and theism. Atheists and theists who are used to the popular, neo-Atheistic writings of Dawkins and his ilk will find this book challenging. In order to really appreciate Mackie's thought, as well as his mistakes, one must have extensive knowledge of the history of theology and philosophy (with some chapters being exempt from this observation i.e., the Problem of Evil, Chapter 9), especially knowledge of modern and medieval eras. In terms of contemporary theists, Richard Swinburne and Alvin Plantinga are given special attention throughout this work, especially Swinburne. If you are not up to date on their writings, again you will feel as though there are holes in your understanding and find it difficult to grasp the significance of Mackie's objections to theism. Regarding the actual content of the book, I found Mackie's aggressive approach combined with an admirable respect to be a refreshing mixture in an atheist writer. He admits that atheism has challenges in the areas of consciousness and that there are ways to evade his famous problem of evil arguments, should one modify his definitions of evil. Today's atheists are as dogmatic as many of their theistic opponents and this is frustrating for those searching for a constructive dialog on the issues. As a theist, I particularly enjoyed his treatment of William James and Blaise Pascal. In an era of fideism it was great to see myself aligned with a respectable thinker's responses to Pascal's wager and pragmatism. Although, I do wish Mackie would have more explicitly discussed James' pragmatism and its influence or lack there of on his views of religious experience. Compliments aside, I did find that Mackie doesn't appear to offer any positive arguments for atheism. He offers polemics, but these are not the same as demonstrations of naturalism philosophically. He definitely, in my humble opinion and I don't mean that sarcastically, fulfills the stereotype that atheism could not exist without theism. Meaning, that he doesn't seem to have any chapter that argues for naturalism as such. All of his arguments for atheism are completely dependent on arguments for theism. Second, while he does bring good arguments against James on religious experience, it is hard to see how his views on morality do not fall prey to the same arguments. Since Mackie believes in an evolutionary view of morality, and admits that this leads to relativism (chapter 14), it is hard to see how one will not just adopt a morality based solely on the pragmatic or damaging 'moral experiences.' In addition, one of the major objections to atheism is its lack of objectivity in morality and thus the toss of up for atheists to be nihilist or moralists. I don't think that Mackie avoids this, but he could if he adopted an Aristotelian view, or even as he described it, a Kantian view of morality. But, to his credit, Mackie does provide a sound rejection of communism and Marxist political theories as being too oppressive and overly optimistic. And admits that although he does not like the closed minded Catholics, they have done more to stand against oppressive regimes and communist governments than atheists have. In summary, I wish that the popular atheists of today would recognize what it means to be respectable, courteous, and possess academic integrity rather than resorting to rhetoric and ad hominem arguments (insulting ones character to discredit their position). I think that this was an excellent book to read and helpful if you are looking for atheists who have truly thought through atheism and theism and reasoned to atheism. But given that his seems to end on a self-defeating conclusion(i.e. relativism), that he assumes naturalism as a viable philosophy without proposing arguments for it, that his position seems to ultimately reduces to nihilism, and finally that he concludes that atheism is merely more probably than theism, seems to be a bit of a leap of faith, especially for those who will believe atheism based on authority and not on demonstration.

Review # 2 was written on 2018-01-12 00:00:00 Zaw Coolinga John Mackie is one of the few atheologians whose work is both widely distributed and exceptionally fair, well-written and engaging. This book is an interesting read for those dedicated to theology, and is the paradigm of literature which theists ought to read in order to better rebut the arguments of their atheist pals.