R Z I M E U R O P E ’ S M A G A Z I N E
Introducing Tanya Walker
Discipleship remixed:
The art and practice of huddling
www.rzim.eu
WHY DOES TRUTH MATTER?
John Lennox’s
Lent talk for Radio 4
Evangelism in the public sphere
ISSUE 11 | SUMMER 2012
SUMMER 2012 | PULSE ISSUE 11
Our speakers are trained to respond to the objections and questions that people have about faith, so that lives
might be transformed by the gospel message. We also help to resource the church, through apologetics articles
and talks, engagement with the media, training events and academic courses through the Oxford Centre for
Christian Apologetics (OCCA). Furthermore, we run an Associates Programme for emerging evangelists around
Europe and we contribute to the work of Wellspring International, RZIM’s humanitarian organisation.
SUMMER 2012 | PULSE ISSUE 11
RZIM Europe is the working name of RZIM Zacharias Trust, a charitable company founded in 1997 that is limited by guarantee and registered in England. Company No. 3449676. Charity No. 1067314
PRINTER | VERITÉ CM LTD
DESIGN & ILLUSTRATION | KAREN SAWREY
PHOTOGRAPHY | JOHN CAIRNS
STOCK IMAGES | ISTOCKphoto
The Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics (OCCA) is a partnership between RZIM and Wycliff e Hall, a Permanent Private Hall of the University of Oxford.
RAVI ZACHARIAS, PRESIDENT OF RZIM AND SENIOR RESEARCH FELLOW AT WYCLIFFE HALL
MICHAEL RAMSDEN, EUROPEAN DIRECTOR OF RZIM AND DIRECTOR OF THE OCCA
ALISTER MCGRATH, PRESIDENT OF THE OCCA
AMY ORR-EWING, UK DIRECTOR OF RZIM AND CURRICULUM DIRECTOR OF THE OCCA
JOHN LENNOX,ADJUNCT PROFESSOR AT THE OCCA
OS GUINNESS, SENIOR FELLOW AT THE OCCA
VINCE VITALE, SENIOR TUTOR AT THE OCCAAND SPEAKER FOR RZIM
TOM PRICE,TUTOR AT THE OCCAAND SPEAKER FOR RZIM
SHARON DIRCKX, TUTOR AT THE OCCAAND SPEAKER FOR RZIM
MICHELLE TEPPER, SPEAKER FOR RZIM
TANYA WALKER, SPEAKER FOR RZIM
VLAD CRIZNIC, DIRECTOR OF RZIM ROMANIA
RZIM Europe, 76 Banbury Road, Oxford, OX2 6JT T: +44 (0)1865 302900 F: +44 (0)1865 318451 www.rzim.eu
our team includes:
HELPING THE THINKER BELIEVE AND THE BELIEVER THINK
RZIM Europe is an evangelistic organisation that seeks to engage hearts and minds for Christ.
SUMMER 2012 | PULSE ISSUE 11
Th e enlarged format enables us to bring you even more content, including the latest news about about RZIM Europe and the Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics (OCCA), as well as articles on evangelism and apologetics.
WELCOME TO THE NEW LOOKpulse
PULSE ISSUE 11 | SUMMER 2012
CONTENTSINTRODUCING
TANYA WALKER 4WHY JESUS?:
BOOK REVIEW 7EVANGELISM
IN THE PUBLIC SPHERE 8JOHN LENNOX’S
LENT TALK FOR RADIO 4 10WHY DOES
TRUTH MATTER? 13OCCA ARTICLES:
DISCIPLESHIP REMIXED:
THE ART AND PRACTICE
OF HUDDLING 16STORY AS AN
APOLOGETIC 18RELIGION FOR
ATHEISTS: BOOK REVIEW 20DATES FOR
YOUR DIARY 23
IN THIS ISSUE:
THE MEDIA
John Lennox gave one of Radio 4’s
Lent Talks on science and faith which
provoked the biggest response
to date on his website. Read the
transcript of what he said on page 10.
EVANGELISM TODAY
What opportunities are there for
evangelism in modern Britain today
and why does truth matter anyway?
The former question is tackled by
Amy Orr-Ewing (page 8), whilst the
latter is addressed by Os Guinness
(page 13).
WHY JESUS?
Ravi Zacharias’ latest book, entitled
Why Jesus?, addresses the rise of mass-
marketed (New Age) spirituality in the
West. A review can be read on page 7, whilst another, on Alain de Botton’s
Religion for Atheists, can be read on
page 20.
INTRODUCING TANYA WALKER
Meet the newest member of RZIM
Europe’s team and learn about her
passion for evangelism and her hopes
for the role (page 4).
THE OCCA
Frog Orr-Ewing explains how the
system of ‘huddling’ works, which
is used to encourage spiritual
development at the OCCA (page 16). This is followed by an article on
‘Story as an Apologetic’ by an
alumnus, Theo Brun (page 18).
DO YOU HAVE A QUESTION?
Do you have a diffi cult question
about Christianity you would like
us to answer? If so, please email it
Each subsequent edition of Pulse will
include a reader’s question answered
by a member of the RZIM team. We
will keep a record of all of those that
are submitted, so that we can address
the topics that people are most
interested in.
Simon Wenham
RESEARCH CO-ORDINATOR
INTRODUCING
TANYA WALKER
INTERVIEW BY SIMON WENHAM
GENUINELY, I THINK, FOR ME, IT’S AS SIMPLE AS:
I FIND RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD EXHILARATING.
SUMMER 2012 | PULSE ISSUE 11
PHO
TOG
RAPH
S FO
R A
RTIC
LE B
Y JO
HN
CA
IRN
S
SIMON:
Firstly, we'd like to welcome you to the RZIM team! For those who are not familiar with you, could you tell us a little about how you became connected with the ministry?
Tanya: Thank you! I’ve had a number
of connections with RZIM over the
past twenty years or so. I fi rst heard
Ravi Zacharias speaking when I
was about eight years old and the
teaching completely blew me away.
I think what captured my heart about
it was that it was more than just
listening to a gifted speaker – the way
he communicated truths about God
really revealed more of the beauty of
God, and it had a transformative eff ect
on me. Ever since then I’ve really loved
this ministry, and often thought of it
and prayed for it. The next signifi cant
step for me was coming to Oxford
for my undergraduate degree and
getting to know Michael and Anne
Ramsden, who had a huge impact on
my life. I did the training weekends
and various other things with the
ministry, and the friendship continued
to grow after university. And then
I think it was about fi ve or six years
ago now, that Michael asked me
to join the Associates Programme,
and there’s been more of a formal
involvement in the team since then.
So there are a number of diff erent
avenues, which make me feel like
I’m part of the family already.
So you were brought up a Christian?
Yes, I don’t remember a day when I
haven’t known Jesus as my personal
Lord and saviour. I was born in Iran
during the Iran-Iraq war and it was
a diffi cult context. But I’ve been
incredibly blessed with parents
who are amongst my heroes of the
faith – they really walked the talk,
and they’ve always lived with a real
expectation and excitement about
seeing people coming to Jesus,
both personally and in the church-
planting ministry that they lead. So
I had a very privileged upbringing
in experiencing the reality and the
adventure of walking with Jesus when
I was young. We moved to the UK
when I was seven, and I remember
being very evangelistically motivated
even then. I don’t think I really
considered the intellectual aspect of
the faith, though, until my late teens,
when I regularly listened to Ravi. So
I’ve been a Christian ever since I can
remember, but I’m not sure I would
have been able to give a reasoned
defence for my beliefs until later.
What would you say to someone who says that you - or anyone for that matter - are only a Christian because you were brought up that way?
Well, it’s not an original claim, in
that it’s grounded in a Foucauldian
understanding of discourses of power
that are said to shape us as individuals
and the ‘truths’ of our cultures. Of
course it can be easily turned around
to the person making the claim – in
the sense that they don’t believe in
God because of their background or
culture! But it is more fundamentally
fl awed than that. I think I would want
to redefi ne the debate and bring
us back to the question of truth.
Regardless of why I believe what I
believe, the real question is: ‘Is there
such a thing as truth and can we
know it?’ And if we can know it, how
can we go about fi nding out what is
true? That’s where I’d want to have
the discussion and that’s why I think
apologetics is so important, because
we have to be ready to ask some hard
questions – both of ourselves and of
other people. If I don’t agree that I
am simply a Christian because of my
background – then I need to be ready
to engage with the real reasons of
why I am a Christian, and be ready to
give a reasoned defence for my faith.
When you studied philosophy (as part of your Philosophy, Politics and Economics degree) did anything challenge your faith?
A lot of people assume that if you
study philosophy you’re bound to
lose your faith, because there are
all these hard questions that are
diffi cult to answer. But I found the
opposite. I left Oxford with such a
confi dence in my faith – I discovered
that even one-to-one tutorials with
world-renowned philosophers could
not shake the solid ground that is
the gospel. I remember one of the
most helpful pieces of advice that
Michael Ramsden ever gave to me
was not to try and philosophise
outside of theology, but to stick to
the Bible and what it says. If you try
and make the Bible fi t into what you
think is philosophically sound, you
will fi nd that both your theology and
philosophy eventually run aground.
But philosophy works when theology
is true, even when we can’t see it
straight away – and that truth helped
me in more than one tutorial!
So why has it taken you so long to join the team?
It feels like it’s been a convoluted
route, to say the least! Although
Michael had mentioned the job to me
a while ago, and I knew it would be
my dream job, I had felt God lead me
towards postgraduate research. Toby
– my husband – and I had prayed and
thought about the various possibilities
and we were confi dent that I should
pursue a PhD, and that’s what God
had for us in this particular season.
So that’s what I’ve been doing these
past few years. It’s defi nitely been a
challenge – as well as an adventure
– but I’ve recently completed my
PhD thesis, which has meant that
I’ve been freed up to join the team.
SUMMER 2012 | PULSE ISSUE 11
5
SUMMER 2012 | PULSE ISSUE 11
6
....ENGAGING BOTH THE MIND AND
THE HEART
Can you tell us a bit more about the research?
Yes, it’s essentially an ethnographic
study that looks to the workings
of the Shari’a councils in Britain,
and asks some questions about
the motivations, the circumstances
and the reasoning of the women
who use them. I look at some of the
political and sociological implications
of the councils and their growing
role in the West, as well as some
of the political theory on the role
of religion in the public sphere,
the rights of minorities, issues of
freedom of religion, liberalism, and
so on. There’s still a lot more to be
known and discussed in the fi eld,
but I think my research makes a
signifi cant contribution to our
understanding of the dynamics that
are involved in the call for a greater
recognition of Shari’a law in the West.
What motivates you to do evangelism?
Genuinely, I think, for me, it’s as
simple as: I fi nd relationship with
God exhilarating. There is nothing
like being loved by God and loving
God. It’s not that I have this deep
sense of wanting everyone to
live a certain way or to conform
to a certain morality – it’s just the
understanding that being with God
is the most amazing place to be and
I cannot imagine what it would be
like to live without God. That’s what
motivates me to do evangelism.
What role does apologetics play in this?
For me, growing up, it was primarily
the experience of God that fi rst
captured my heart, but I think I would
feel very uncomfortable with basing
my whole existence on something if it
did not make sense. And it’s the same
in our culture – people don’t just
want an experience of God, they want
to know that it makes sense, that it
can engage their minds – and this is
actually a very Biblical desire!
I love that the greatest commandment
is not just to love God with all our
heart, but to love him with all our
heart, soul, mind and strength. So I
think apologetics has to go hand-
in-hand with a genuine experience
of the love and reality of God. It is
about knowing that you are building
on a sure foundation, engaging
both the mind and the heart.
What are your hopes for the new role?
I have so many hopes and dreams for
the coming years. I cannot imagine
anything more wonderful than telling
people about Jesus for your job and
helping to instil confi dence about
the Gospel in what is, at times, an
unsettled and insecure church. But
I think maybe my overriding hope
for this role comes down to what I
call the ‘stand up and clap’ moment.
I remember when I fi rst heard Ravi
speak, it would make me feel like
standing up and clapping – and it
was applause that wasn’t directed at
Ravi, but at something of the beauty
of God, or of the Gospel, that my heart
had connected with in the moment.
It was eff ectively spontaneous,
child-like, worship. I hope that when
I speak I can help to similarly reveal
something of the nature of God, his
truth, his grace and his wisdom, that
incites worship – both for the believer
who’s lived with God for many
years, but maybe sees something
new of him, and for the unbeliever
who sees him for the fi rst time.
How can we pray for you?
I have one particular prayer that I have
been praying as I get started. I am
very aware that talks get written, we
think, study and research to convey
the message of the gospel, in all sorts
of diff erent ways – but it’s really all
words unless the presence of God
and the power of the Holy Spirit
come with us. So my biggest prayer
is that whenever I am speaking it’s
not just good ideas, concepts, and
words that I am conveying, but that
the presence of God is with me and
that the power of the Holy Spirit is
convicting heart and minds. That is
my daily prayer and I would love it
if others would pray that too.
SUMMER 2012 | PULSE ISSUE 11
7
Although this can mean a range
of things, the chances are it may
have been uttered by someone
who embraces a form of New
Age spirituality, whether they
name it as such, or not.
This is a religious movement that few
Christians know much about, which
is why Ravi Zacharias has addressed
the topic in his latest book, Why
Jesus? Rediscovering his truth in an
age of mass marketed spirituality.
The work is partly a critique of the
New Age movement and partly
a critique of western culture.
Zacharias points out that the kind
of ‘smorgasbord’ spirituality that is
prevalent today and espoused by the
likes of Oprah Winfrey and Deepak
Chopra, simply does not stand up to
scrutiny. The proponents of ‘Weastern
spirituality’ (his word for the melding
of Western Materialism and Eastern
spirituality) use language that may
sound exotic and profound, but often
the precise meanings remain elusive.
Some of the teachings have even
been given a contemporary twist by
the adoption of pseudo-scientifi c
terms, such as Chopra’s ‘quantum
healing’, which attempts to align
Hindu metaphysics with modern
physics - a link that is strongly denied
by scientists. Zacharias reminds us
that we should not forget that the
New Age movement has at its core a
Hindu-pantheistic worldview, which,
unlike Christianity, makes humans
less than they should be and not
more. There is no such thing as ‘I’
in pantheism, for example, which
means that it lacks the transformative
relationship that is at the heart
of Christianity. Furthermore, it
misunderstands and misuses logic, it
cannot sustain the idea of the sacred
(or even defi ne evil) and it fails to give
grounds for why love should occur.
Like Alain de Botton (see page 20), Zacharias also admonishes the
materialistic culture of the West, which
has created a spiritual vacuum that
has been exploited by the ‘wellness’
market. There has also been a reaction
to the perceived shallowness and,
at times, hypocrisy of the church.
So-called Christians have sought to
reshape Jesus according to their own
agenda, whilst religious institutions
have been guilty of chasing political
or economic power. As a result, the
church has been viewed as intolerant
and dogmatic, whilst the reputation
of the New Age movement has
remained relatively unsullied.
A recurring theme of the book is
that there remains a strong spiritual
hunger in the West today, which
serves as an encouragement to
those hoping to share their faith
with others. Why Jesus? is for those
who want to communicate more
eff ectively to those from a New Age
background or those seeking to
understand more about the beliefs
that underpin the movement. Above
all, it serves as a reminder that
the need for apologetics training
has arguably never been greater,
which is why Zacharias’ ministry is
dedicated to ‘helping the thinker
believe, and the believer think’.
Copies of Why Jesus? are available
for £12 each from the Oxford offi ce.
R EVIEW BY SIMON WENHAM
Have you ever heard someone say ‘I’m not religious, but I am a spiritual person’?
SUMMER 2012 | PULSE ISSUE 11
EVANGELISM
IN THE
PUBLIC SPHERE
In the last few months God has featured prominently in the news. Th ere has been the question of whether councils can include a time of
prayer in their meetings, there have been statements about religion from the highest echelons of the royal family, and the government recently
held a discussion about the role of Christianity in Britain today.
BY AMY ORR-EWING
SUMMER 2012 | PULSE ISSUE 11
The Archbishop of Canterbury’s
debate with Professor Richard
Dawkins in Oxford on God’s
existence captured the twittersphere
as Dawkins was quoted as being
agnostic about belief in God.
It seems it is now acceptable to
discuss the Christian faith and belief
in God in public. From radio studios
to the school gate I have enjoyed
being a part of this. The role of
God in Britain is being discussed
up and down the country in
government, education, legislation
and community life in a way that I
can’t remember in recent history.
This is a huge opportunity.
The secularists tell us that nothing
good comes from religion, but isn’t
it actually the case that it is our
Christian heritage that provides
us with a free and open society –
encouraging people to question and
reason for themselves? For many
people religious faith is a process,
a journey of discovery on the basis
of evidence, reason and personal
experience. Christianity has provided
the foundation in Britain for an open
and tolerant society. It was the great
Christian leader Augustine who
coined the phrase tolerare malus.
He claimed that political structure,
infl uenced by the Christian faith,
must tolerate that which it disagreed
with and perceived as wrong, for
the greater good of freedom.
Attitudes about freedom and
tolerance arise from a worldview – a
set of values and beliefs that are
conducive to liberty, which do not
come about by random chance. In
Britain this foundation (or worldview)
has undeniably been the Christian
faith. But this seems to fl y in the
face of the claims made by leading
atheists that belief in God is delusional
and oppressive and that people in
Britain are not truly religious anyway.
Invoking what has come to be known
by sociologists as the secularization
thesis, they tell us that modern
countries eventually turn their
back on spiritual belief - as people
progress they become less religious.
However, the myth of secularization
has plainly not panned out and it
has been soundly debunked within
academia. The leading sociologist
Mary Douglas announced the death
of the secularization theory in 1982
in an essay that began with the
words, ‘Events have taken religious
studies by surprise.’ Even prominent
proponents like sociologist Peter
Berger have now abandoned
it because the world is plainly
becoming more religious not less.
SO IS BRITAIN STILL A CHRISTIAN COUNTRY?
Our most profound laws and rights,
and the concept of the dignity of the
human person expounded in the
Magna Carta arise from a Christian
vision and the assumption of God’s
existence. Our greatest social reform
movements, from the abolition of
the slave trade to the reform of child
labour laws - and many other justice
movements - are the bequest of this
heritage. Britain has benefi tted so
much from Christianity – and this
continues today, as we see the values
of a tolerant society envisaged by St
Augustine where Rowan Williams and
Richard Dawkins can debate without
fear of reprisals. Does everyone in
Britain agree with the central tenets
of the Christian faith? No, of course
not, but does our Christian heritage
make a way for peace, courteous
debate, tolerance, inclusion and
freedom? I believe it does.
But as Christians going about our
everyday lives, are we able to speak
confi dently and warmly about the
person of Christ who has inspired
so much that is good about our
society? Or are we silenced by
a fear of seeming intellectually
unsophisticated? Last month, I was
privileged to be leading a university
mission in the north of England.
It was freezing cold and we were
holding a series of events for students
in a marquee in the snow. This
particular university is known for
its nightlife and on the surface it
seemed, under the circumstances,
to be a very unlikely place for
people to be turning to Christ in
any signifi cant number. My team
and I were so humbled to see over
forty students make professions of
faith in Christ for the fi rst time and
139 signed up asking to fi nd out
more about the Christian faith.
As people up and down the country
discuss belief in God and the
newspapers keep running stories
about Christianity, we are seeing a
greater openness to speak about
the gospel in Britain. Who knows,
this may be a window that is open
for a few weeks or months, or it
may be a more signifi cant change.
Either way, are we ready and willing
to take the opportunities to speak
of Christ when they come?
Amy Orr-Ewing
UK DIRECTOR
DOES OUR CHRISTIAN
HERITAGE MAKE A WAY FOR PEACE,
COURTEOUS DEBATE, TOLERANCE,
INCLUSION AND FREEDOM?
9IL
LU
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TIO
N B
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SA
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EY
SUMMER 2012 | PULSE ISSUE 11
I have spent my life as a pure
mathematician and I often refl ect
on what physics Nobel Prize-
winner Eugene Wigner called
‘the unreasonable eff ectiveness
of mathematics’. How is it that
equations created in the head of
a mathematician can relate to the
universe outside that head? This
question prompted Albert Einstein
to say: ‘The only incomprehensible
thing about the universe is that it
is comprehensible.’ The very fact
that we believe that science can be
done is a thing to be wondered at.
Why should we believe that
the universe is intelligible?
After all, if as certain secular thinkers
tell us, the human mind is nothing
but the brain and the brain is nothing
but a product of mindless unguided
forces, it is hard to see that any kind
of truth, let alone scientifi c truth,
could be one of its products. As
chemist J. B. S. Haldane pointed
out long ago: if the thoughts in my
mind are just the motions of atoms
in my brain, why should I believe
anything it tells me – including
the fact that it is made of atoms?
Yet many scientists have adopted
that naturalistic view, seemingly
unaware that it undermines the
very rationality upon which their
scientifi c research depends!
Contemporary science is a wonderfully collaborative activity. It knows no barriers of geography, race or creed.
At its best it enables us to wrestle with the problems that beset humanity and we rightly celebrate when an
advance is made that brings relief to millions.
JOHN LENNOX’S
LENT TALK FOR RADIO 4
SUMMER 2012 | PULSE ISSUE 11
It was not – and is not – always so.
Science, as we know it, exploded onto
the world stage in Europe in the 16th
and 17th centuries. Why then and why
there? Alfred North Whitehead’s view,
as summarised by C. S. Lewis, was
that: ‘Men became scientifi c because
they expected law in nature, and they
expected law in nature because they
believed in a lawgiver’. It is no accident
that Galileo, Kepler, Newton and
Clerk-Maxwell were believers in God.
Melvin Calvin, Nobel Prize-winner
in biochemistry, fi nds the origin of
the conviction, basic to science, that
nature is ordered in the idea ‘that
the universe is governed by a single
God, and is not the product of the
whims of many gods, each governing
his own province according to
his own laws. This monotheistic
view seems to be the historical
foundation for modern science.’
Far from belief in God hindering
science, it was the motor that drove
it. Isaac Newton, when he discovered
the law of gravitation, did not make
the common mistake of saying: ‘now
I have a law of gravity, I don’t need
God’. Instead, he wrote Principia
Mathematica, the most famous book
in the history of science, expressing
the hope that it would persuade the
thinking man to believe in a Creator.
Newton could see what, sadly, many
people nowadays seem unable to
see, that God and science are not
alternative explanations. God is the
agent who designed and upholds the
universe; science tells us about how
the universe works and about the
laws that govern its behaviour. God
no more confl icts with science as an
explanation for the universe than Sir
Frank Whittle confl icts with the laws
and mechanisms of jet propulsion as
an explanation for the jet engine. The
existence of mechanisms and laws
is not an argument for the absence
of an agent who set those laws and
mechanisms in place. On the contrary,
their very sophistication, down to
the fi ne-tuning of the universe, is
evidence for the Creator’s genius.
For Kepler: ‘The chief aim of all
investigations of the external world
should be to discover the rational
order which has been imposed on
it by God and which he revealed to
us in the language of mathematics’.
As a scientist then, I am not ashamed
or embarrassed to be a Christian.
After all, Christianity played a large
part in giving me my subject.
The mention of Kepler brings me
to another issue. Science is, as I said
earlier, by and large a collaborative
activity. Yet real breakthrough is often
made by a lone individual who has
the courage to question established
wisdom and strike out on his own.
Kepler was one such. He went to
Prague as assistant to the astronomer
Tycho Brahe, who gave him the task
of making mathematical sense of
observations of planetary motion, in
terms of complex systems of circles.
The view that perfect motion was
circular came from Aristotle
and had dominated thought for
centuries. But Kepler just couldn’t
make circles fi t the observations.
He then decided on the revolutionary
step of abandoning Aristotle,
approaching the observations of
the planets from scratch and seeing
what the orbits actually looked
like. Kepler’s discovery, that the
planetary orbits were not circular
but elliptical, led to a fundamental
paradigm shift in science.
Kepler had the instinct to pay careful
attention to things that didn’t fi t in
to established theory. Einstein was
another. For things that don’t fi t
in can lead to crucial advances in
scientifi c understanding. Furthermore,
there are things that do not fi t in to
science. For, and it needs to be said
in the face of widespread popular
opinion to the contrary, science is
not the only way to truth. Indeed,
the very success of science is due to
the narrowness of the range of its
questions and methodology. Nor is
science co-extensive with rationality –
otherwise half our university faculties
would have to shut. There are bigger
matters in life – questions of history
and art, culture and music, meaning
and truth, beauty and love, morality
and spirituality and a host of other
important things that go beyond the
reach of the natural sciences – and,
indeed, of naturalism itself. Just as
Kepler was initially held back by an
assumed Aristotelianism could it
not be that an a priori naturalism is
holding back progress by stopping
evidence speaking for itself?
It is to such things that my mind turns
at this time of Lent. In particular, to
the person of Jesus, the man, above
all others, who did not fi t in to the
pre-conceptions of this world. Just
as Kepler revolutionized science by
paying close attention to why the
observations of the planets did not fi t
in to the mathematical wisdom of the
time, I claim that my life and that of
many others has been revolutionized
by paying close attention to why
Jesus did not, and still does not, fi t in
to the thinking of this world. Indeed,
the fact that Jesus did not fi t in is
one of the reasons I am convinced
of his claim to be the Son of God.
For instance, Jesus does not fi t in to
the category of literary fi ction. If he
did, then what we have in the Gospels
is inexplicable. It would have required
exceptional genius to have invented
the character of Jesus, and put into his
mouth parables that are in themselves
literary masterpieces. It is just not
credible that all four Gospel writers
with little formal education between
IT IS NO ACCIDENT THAT GALILEO, KEPLER, NEWTON AND
CLERK-MAXWELL WERE BELIEVERS IN GOD.
SUMMER 2012 | PULSE ISSUE 11
them just happened, simultaneously,
to be literary geniuses of world rank.
Furthermore, there are relatively few
characters in literature that strike us
as real persons, whom we can know
and recognise. One of them is my
intellectual hero, Socrates. He has
struck generation after generation of
readers as a real person. The reason
for that is that Plato did not invent
him. So it is with Jesus Christ. Indeed,
the more we know about the leading
cultures of the time, the more we
see that, if the character of Jesus had
not been a historical reality, no-one
could have invented it, for the simple
reason that he did not fi t in to any
of those cultures. The Jesus of the
Gospels fi tted nobody’s concept of a
hero. Greek, Roman and Jew all found
Him the very opposite of their ideal.
The Jewish ideal was that of a strong,
military general, fi red with messianic
ideals, and prepared to fi ght the
Roman occupation. So when Jesus
eventually off ered no resistance to
arrest, it was not surprising that his
followers temporarily left him. He
was far from the Jewish ideal leader.
As for the Greeks, some favoured
the Epicurean avoidance of
extremes of pain and pleasure
that could disturb tranquility.
Others preferred the rationality of
Stoicism that suppressed emotion
and met suff ering and death with
equanimity, as Socrates had done.
Jesus was utterly diff erent. In
such intense agony in the garden
of Gethsemane that he sweat
drops of blood, he asked God
to let Him off the task of facing
the cross. No Greek would have
invented such a fi gure as a hero.
And the Roman Governor Pilate found
Christ unworldly and impractical
when Jesus said to him: ‘My kingdom
is not of this world…to this end I was
born and to this end I came into the
world to bear witness to the truth’.
So, Jesus ran counter to everybody’s
concept of an ideal hero. Indeed,
Matthew Parris, an atheist, suggested
in the Spectator recently that if
Jesus hadn’t existed not even
the church could have invented
him! Jesus just did not fi t in.
Nor did his message – the Easter
message for which Lent prepares us.
St. Paul tells us that the preaching of
the cross of Christ was regarded by
the Jews as scandalous, and by the
Greeks as foolish. The early Christians
certainly could not have invented
such a story. Where, then, did it come
from? From Jesus himself who said:
‘the Son of Man did not come to be
served, but to serve, and to give his life
as a ransom for many’. Jesus did not
fi t in to the world. So they crucifi ed
him and tried to fi t him in a tomb.
But that did not work either. He rose
from the dead on the third day.
But, doesn’t this go against
the grain of the science I was
praising earlier? Aren’t such
miracles impossible because they
violate the laws of nature?
I disagree. If, on each of two nights,
I put 10 pounds into my drawer, the
laws of arithmetic tell me I have 20
pounds. If, however, on waking up,
I fi nd only 5 pounds in the drawer,
as C. S. Lewis pointed out, I don’t
conclude that the laws of arithmetic
have been broken, but possibly the
laws of England. The laws of nature
describe to us the regularities on
which the universe normally runs.
God who created the universe with
those laws is no more their prisoner
than the thief is prisoner of the laws
of arithmetic. Like my room, the
universe is not a closed system, as
the secularist maintains. God can,
if he wills, do something special,
like raise Jesus from the dead.
Note, that it is my knowledge of
the laws of arithmetic that tells me
that a thief has stolen the money.
Similarly, if we did not know the law
of nature that dead people normally
remain in their tombs, we should
never recognise a resurrection. We
could certainly say that it is a law
of nature that no-one rises from
the dead by natural processes. But
Christians do not claim that Jesus
rose by natural processes, but by
supernatural power. The laws of
nature cannot rule out that possibility.
Hume’s view was that you must
reject a miracle as false, unless
believing in its falsity would have
such inexplicable implications, that
you would need an even bigger
miracle to explain them. That is
one good reason to believe in the
resurrection of Jesus. The evidence
of the empty tomb, the character
of the witnesses, the explosion of
Christianity out of Judaism and
the testimony of millions today are
inexplicable without the resurrection.
As Holmes said to Watson: ‘How
often have I said to you that when
you have eliminated the impossible,
whatever remains, however
improbable, must be the truth?’
As Russian Christians say at Easter:
Khristos Voskryes – Voiistinu Voskryes!
Christ is risen – he is risen indeed!
John Lennox
ADJUNCT PROFESSOR AT THE OCCA
SUMMER 2012 | PULSE ISSUE 11
"At fi rst sight, the biblical view of truth is obscene to modern minds. But on a deeper level, the biblical view is profound, timely, and urgent for today, even for those who reject it."
WHY DOESTRUTH
MATTER?
BY OS GUINNESS
In this extraordinary moment in
human history, why is it that truth
matters? There are times when history
and the gospel of Jesus converge
and create a great thrust forward
in human history. So it was with
the ‘gifts’ of the gospel, such as the
rise of philanthropy, of the reform
movements, or the creation of the
universities, or modern science.
There are other times when history
and the gospel collide and the
titanic struggle shapes history in a
diff erent, but equally decisive, way.
So it was when the Lordship of Christ
triumphed over the might of imperial
Rome. But there are still other times
when history and the gospel appear
to collide but, in fact, the gospel
speaks to the deepest dilemmas and
the highest aspirations of the age,
even to those who oppose it. So it
is today with the concept of truth.
At fi rst sight, the biblical view of truth
is obscene to modern minds. It’s
arrogant, it’s exclusive, it’s intolerant,
it’s divisive, it’s judgmental, and it’s
reactionary. But on a deeper level,
the biblical view is profound, timely,
and urgent for today, even for those
who reject it. But obviously regardless
of what the world thinks, we follow
the one who is the way, the truth,
and the life. We therefore worship
and serve the God of truth, whose
Word is truth, and who Himself is
true and may be trusted because
of his covenant faithfulness.
Let me, therefore, sum up six
reasons why truth matters to
us supremely. And why those
Christians who are careless about
truth are as wrong, and as foolish,
and as dangerous as the worst
scoff ers and sceptics of our time.
FIRST, ONLY A HIGH VIEW OF TRUTH HONOURS THE GOD OF TRUTH.
Too often truth is left as a
philosophical issue. Philosophical
issues are important to us but truth
is fi rst and foremost a matter of
theology. Not only is our Lord the
God who is objectively, really, and
truly there—so that what we believe
corresponds to what actually is
the case —but our Lord is also the
true one in the sense that He is the
one whose covenant loyalty may
be trusted and the entire weight
of our existence staked on Him.
Those who weaken their hold on
truth, weaken their hold on God.
SECOND, ONLY A HIGH VIEW OF TRUTH REFLECTS HOW WE COME TO KNOW AND LOVE GOD.
Jesus is the only way to God, although
there are as many ways to Jesus as
there are people that come. But the
record of Scripture and the experience
of the centuries show us that there are
three main reasons why we believe,
often overlapping. We come to faith
in Christ because we are driven by
our human needs. We come to faith
in Him because He seeks us and fi nds
us. And we come to faith in Christ
because we believe his claims and
the claims of the gospel are true. It is
because of truth that our faith in God
is not irrational. It is not an emotional
crutch. It is not a psychological
projection. It is not a matter of wish-
fulfi lment. It is not an opiate for
the masses. Our faith goes beyond
reason because we as humans are
much more than reason. But our
faith is a warranted faith because
we have a fi rm, clear conviction that
it is true. We are those who think in
believing and we believe in thinking.
THIRD, ONLY A HIGH VIEW OF TRUTH EMPOWERS OUR BEST HUMAN ENTERPRISES.
Sceptics and relativists who
undermine the notion of truth
are like the fool who is cutting off
the branch on which he is sitting.
Without truth, science and all human
knowledge collapse into conjecture.
Without truth, the vital profession of
journalism and how we follow the
events of our day and understand
the signs of our times dissolve into
rumour. Without truth, the worlds
of politics and business melt down
into rules and power games. Without
truth, the precious gift of human
reason and freedom becomes license,
and all human relationships lose
IN THIS EXTRAORDINARY
MOMENT IN HUMAN HISTORY,
WHY IS IT THAT
TRUTH MATTERS?
SUMMER 2012 | PULSE ISSUE 11
SUMMER 2012 | PULSE ISSUE 11
the bonding element of trust that is
binding at their heart. We then, as
followers of Christ, are unashamed
to stand before the world as servants
and guardians of a high view of truth,
both for our Lord’s sake but also for
the highest endeavours of humanity.
FOURTH, ONLY A HIGH VIEW OF TRUTH CAN UNDERGIRD OUR PROCLAMATION AND DEFENSE OF THE FAITH.
If our Lord is the God of truth, we
gladly affi rm that all truth is God’s
truth and we therefore welcome all
ideas and arguments and beliefs that
pass the muster of God’s standard
of truth. But we also know that all
humans, including we ourselves,
are not only truth seekers but truth
twisters. All unbelief, as St. Paul says,
holds the truth in unrighteousness.
We have the grounds, as well as the
duty, to confront false ideas and false
beliefs with the assurance that they
are neither true in the end nor are
they in the best interests of those who
believe them. And we must never
forget today that our stand for truth
must start in the church itself. We
must resist the powerful seductions
of those who downplay truth for
methodology, or truth in the name of
activism, or truth for entertainment, or
truth for seeker sensitivity, and, above
all, those who put a modern and
revisionist view of truth in the place of
the biblical view. Whatever the motive
of these people, all such seductions
lead to a weak and a compromised
faith and they end in sorrow and
a betrayal of our Lord. To abandon
truth is to abandon faithfulness, and
to commit theological adultery, and
to end in spiritual suicide. Let the
sorry fate of Protestant liberalism
be a stern warning to us all.
FIFTH, ONLY A HIGH VIEW OF TRUTH IS SUFFICIENT FOR COMBATING EVIL AND HYPOCRISY.
Postmodern thinking makes us all
aware of hypocrisy but gives us no
standard of truth to expose and
correct it. And now with the global
expansion of markets through
capitalism, the global expansion of
freedom through technology and
travel, and the global expansion of
human dysfunctions through the
breakdown of the family, we are
facing the greatest human rights crisis
of all time and a perfect storm of evil.
Both hypocrisy and evil depend on
lies. Hypocrisy is a lie in deeds rather
than in words. And evil always uses
lies to cover its oppressions. Only with
truth can we stand up to deception
and manipulation. For all who hate
hypocrisy, care for justice and human
dignity, and are prepared to fi ght evil,
truth is the absolute requirement.
SIXTH AND LASTLY, ONLY A HIGH VIEW OF TRUTH WILL HELP OUR GROWTH AND OUR TRANSFORMATION IN CHRIST.
Just as Abraham was called to walk
before the Lord, so are we called
to follow the way of Jesus. Not just
to believe the truth or to know
and defend the truth, but to so
live in truth that truth may be part
of our innermost beings, that in
some imperfect way we become
people of truth. So let there be no
uncertainty from this congress, as
followers of Christ and as evangelicals.
If we do not stand for truth, this
congress might as well stop here.
Shame on those Western Christians
who casually neglect or scornfully
deny what our Lord declared, what
the Scriptures defend, and what
many brothers and sisters would
rather die than deny: that Jesus is
the way, the truth, and the life.
Let us say with the great German
reformer, as he said of truth in regard
to the evil one, ‘One little word
will fell him.’ Let us demonstrate
with our brother the great Russian
novelist and dissident, ‘One word of truth outweighs the entire world.’ If faith is not true, it would be false
even if the whole world believed
it. If our faith is true, it would be
true even if the whole world were
against it. So let the conviction
ring out from this conference. We
worship and serve the God of truth
and humbly and resolutely, we
seek to live as people of truth. Here
we still stand, so help us God.
As evangelicals we are people of the
good news, but may we also always
be people of truth, worthy of the
God of truth. God is true. God can be
trusted in all situations. Have faith in
God. Have no fear. Hold fast to truth.
And may God be with us all.
Os Guinness
SENIOR FELLOW AT THE OCCA
From a plenary session delivered
at Lausanne 2010 (www.lausanne.org)
Used by permission of the author.
SUMMER 2012 | PULSE ISSUE 11
I was more of an enthusiast than an
expert, but the ‘gather-round’ moment
was crucial - a constructive breathing
space to reassess the successes and
failures of the fi rst half and then to get
back into the game and play to win.
I have another set of memories - weak
tea in polystyrene cups in my student
days enduring an earnestly-led bible
study strung out like a painful English
comprehension exercise: …'and what
does Jesus mean when he said "come
follow me and I will make you fi shers
of men"?'...'That he wanted evangelists
to always exaggerate the size of
the catch?' 'Er… no - that wasn’t
quite the answer I was looking for!'
Discipleship, so central, so crucial
to genuine Christianity has been
blighted by the memories of tepid
tea and navel-gazing on one hand,
or by guilt-inducing exhortation and
dry cerebral information-sharing
on the other. Some children of the
eighties may still be living with the
psychological hang-over of the heavy
shepherding movement, though
increasing numbers of young adults
are now asking and longing for
more mentoring, more constructive
spiritual intervention. Pastoral care
in church communities has taken
on the trappings of the client-
provider relationships, so beloved
of public sector bodies - individuals
involved in public ministry teams
are often hindered or swamped by
the management structures which
were meant to liberate them.
Huddles are the half-time team
talks of the Christian walk - but
probably without oranges.
They are a re-articulation of a long-
I have an enduring memory of half-time team-talks as a boy playing rugby: It is the quarters of oranges sucked enthusiastically and turned into garish clown smiles combined with the obligatory
‘C’mon lads’ and a little pep talk from the team captain.
DISCIPLESHIP
REMIXED:
BY FROG ORR-EWING
The Art and Practiseof Huddling
SUMMER 2012 | PULSE ISSUE 11
17understood principle of Christian
discipleship, from the catechisms of
the early church, to the class groups
of the early Methodists, marked by
content, accountability, prayer and,
more than anything, an expectation
of spiritual progress in the lives of
those within the group. They are
intentional discipleship groups
formed at the invitation of the leader,
which meet regularly. They are
prayerful and accountable groups
which practice learning together
through theological refl ection and
asking penetrating, but open-ended,
questions. They are designed to
equip and empower missionary
leaders and discipleship is expected
to be a process and a journey which
includes regular change. We come
to speak and we come to listen. We
come to draw upon the lessons of
life and ministry, as well as think
of ways through problems.
Listen to how radically diff erent a
huddle leader’s briefi ng sounds
to a classic small group:
Ask the person/people who talked about that topic to unpack further what they have said. Ask them questions that help bring accurate observation – essentially these are ‘who’, ‘where’, ‘when’, ‘what’ and ‘how’ questions. Th en begin to do some refl ection together – essentially by asking ‘why’ questions. Ask them what refl ections they have had on the matter. Follow up with questions that ensure they are refl ecting properly – for instance, ‘Why did you say that? Why does it stir that response in you? What could you have done better? What are you pleased about in your response? Why is there such a strong emotional response in you to this person? Is God showing you any broader
patterns in this incident?’... Th e discussion will fl ow out of the refl ection stage, and your aim in it is to be well on the way to identifying the key issue at hand – in other words, ‘What is God saying in this situation?’1
Over the last two years, we have
incorporated huddles into the
spiritual formation of the year-long
programme at the OCCA, with tutors
and some of the itinerant team
leading the process for the students.
As tutors we have been astonished
at how much more progress we
are seeing in the spiritual lives of
our students since we began to
expand on a simple pastoral or prayer
group of previous years. We ask
about the placements, the missions,
we process culture-shock and
homesickness – emotional, as well
as practical, issues are allowed. The
groups are safer and bolder at the
same time. We have even continued
with some ‘virtual huddles’ using
Skype for OCCA alumni scattered
across the world, serving God.
We have tended to rest most heavily
on one model to work through
the hour we spend together every
week - which is that of a ‘learning
circle’. Those accustomed to the
academic discipline of theological
refl ection, might have encountered
such tools within spiritual direction
and spiritual counselling, but seldom
have these lessons been brought
out of the Academy or the confi nes
of the professionals involved in
mental or vocational health.
We take a moment out of our lives
and pause to observe, refl ect and
discuss, before beginning to consider
a way forward. We plan, account
and then act - getting back into
the game again for the second half.
Having repented, and turned away,
ideally from those destructive habits
or thoughts in order to embrace
the positive values and belief in
the Kingdom of God in our current
situations and circumstances. After
the fi rst few times together these
precise steps begin to give way to a
fl ow of thought and accountability
which by God’s grace eff ects
change in the life of a disciple.
(THIS IMAGE IS FROM
‘BUILDING A DISCIPLING CULTURE’ - SEE BELOW)
More recent resources developed
by 3DM have refi ned these
theoretical models into a truly
helpful discipleship tool, which I am
convinced is here to stay, because
it has recaptured an understanding
of discipleship more like a biblical
apprenticeship than being in the
schoolroom. The disciples needed
not only to ‘follow Jesus’, as a prayer
of commitment, but while they did
so, they would begin the process of
change from fi shers of fi sh to eff ective
persuaders, who help people out
of the choppy sea of confusion into
the Ark of salvation. This change in
purpose would require not just a
diff erent Master to follow, but also a
change in character, a renewal of the
mind, and a re-skilling for mission.
I have taken part in huddles for several
years now, as well as having led
them, and have never even thought
to pick holes in a polystyrene cup
out of boredom or in a desperate
attempt to avoid the creeping
death of an English comprehension
question. Discipleship has become
fun again and eff ective. Hurrah!
Frog Orr-Ewing
CHAPLAIN OF THE OXFORD CENTRE FOR CHRISTIAN APOLOGETICS
1 Mike Breen, How to Lead a Huddle, p.40
Excellent resources to help explain huddles and missional communities can be found on the 3DM website, but I would
recommend a cover-to-cover read of two specifi c books for an overview:
Building a Discipling Culture by Mike Breen and Steve Cockram and Launching Missional Communities by Mike Breen and Alex Absolom
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SUMMER 2012 | PULSE ISSUE 11
From a picture book, read to a child,
to the most ambitious novel up
for the Nobel Prize for Literature,
authors say something about the
reality in which we live - even when
they claim they don’t. The reason
is that they can’t help it. A story is
seldom told without the narrative,
somehow, growing out of the way
the author themselves makes sense
of the world - their worldview. As
Paulo Coelho writes, ‘I am my books
and they are part of my soul.’
Writers may choose to represent
diff erent worldviews through diff erent
characters in their stories, but it is
rare for the resolution of a story to
Everybody loves a good story. It is hard, to conceive of a story that doesn’t also carry a message, whether in novels, movies,
TV programmes, songs or poetry. We are surrounded by narrative and, as human beings, it has always been so.
BY THEO BRUN
SUMMER 2012 | PULSE ISSUE 11
run against the author’s deepest
convictions about what is true.
Can anyone doubt the sincerity of
J.K. Rowling’s climactic conclusion
to the Harry Potter series – that she
believes it is only sacrifi cial love
that has the power to overcome
death and evil? That tendency arises
because authors use narrative to get
at the truth – often to discover it for
themselves within their own stories.
Even if the plotline is outrageous
or fantastical or mythical, essential
messages about good and evil,
purpose, fate and freedom, love
and suff ering are inescapable when
you tell a story about anything. As
readers, we allow ourselves to be
drawn along by the story if we fi nd
it compelling or resonant; or we
end up parting company with the
storyteller somewhere along the
way, as our views of reality diverge.
Narrative, however, is not only
something we draw into ourselves
from storytellers in their various
guises; it is how we make sense of
our own lives. From the creation of
all things and how we came to be,
to the plans we’ve made for this
week or year and why, narrative
informs our vision for our lives and
the life of the world: our grasp of
truth. Who creates the narrative of
our age? What are they saying?
Although authors with a Christian
worldview have great champions
amongst their number - writers
like Lewis and Tolkien; Dickens
and Dostoyevsky; Tolstoy and
Sayers - has some ground been lost
recently? Popular fi ction these days
rarely arises from overtly Christian
imaginations. Perhaps because,
on one hand, preachy books
generally don’t make good fi ction;
on the other, books that are well
received tend to refl ect the existing
worldview of the reading public.
Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials,
refl ects an acerbic scepticism about
the Church. Jonathan Franzen’s
bestsellers refl ect a view that
psychology explains all, while saying
almost nothing positive about faith.
The popularity of Paulo Coelho
refl ects his intoxicating way of telling
a story, but also a palatable form of
spirituality which tries to be many
things to many people. On the broad
road of Coelho’s spirituality in The
Witch of Portobello, one can wander
rather freely from Catholicism to
Buddhism; to pagan rites and ancient
Mother Goddess worship; without
discounting any. Jesus is good, but
whoever says so exclusively is bad
(and misunderstands Him). It is as if
Coelho celebrates Jesus as life-giving
water, but stops short of actually
encouraging anyone to take a drink.
Even more popular, is the world of
Harry Potter, created by J. K. Rowling.
It is a grand assertion of the reality
of good and evil, a premise people
naturally accept, from which great
minds through history have argued
for the existence of God. Though
she admits to the Christian themes
in her books, if she laboured the
point too much would she begin
to lose her audience? In young
adult fi ction, a publishing friend
assures me that vampires are now
‘dead’ and adventures in dystopian
near-future worlds, like The Hunger
Games trilogy, are taking over. What
spiritual messages are behind that
kind of fi ction? What is the eff ect
of absorbing those kinds of stories
at such an impressionable age?
There are no clear answers to those
questions. What is clear is that fi ction
is a realm of the heart and the mind –
the imagination – where the destiny
of a person’s soul may be profoundly
infl uenced. Jesus knew that better
than anyone: his teaching of eternal
truths often came through stories.
If you like, he used fi ction to make
his point, and by using parables,
he introduced a veil of judgment
between the message and his
listeners. How would each receive his
stories? ‘He who has ears, let him hear.’
To imitate Jesus, followers must,
therefore, contest the realm of fi ction.
That is where fi ction and apologetics
join hands. In the search for truth,
apologetics serves a vital purpose.
Reason has the power to remove
many obstacles standing in the
way of a person coming to faith.
Fiction, on the other hand, exists as
a paradox; as Camus said, ‘Fiction
is the lie through which we tell
the truth.’ Crucially, it is often those
truths that touch the heart.
For us then, discernment is key.
When the ears of a post-modern
listener may be closed to the
propositional truths of philosophy
or reason - that this is right, and that
is wrong - they may yet be open to
the power of story. Such a person,
trying to make sense of their own life,
may be unable to admit that they
are wrong or that there is just one
Truth in Christ, but they may be able
to accept an ‘apologetic of story’.
That God may become part of
their narrative, and they may
become part of His.
Theo Brun
OCCA ALUMNUS
For further information about courses
at the OCCA see the back cover.
USING STORIES FOR EVANGELISM
Do you know of good stories that can
be used in an evangelistic context? An
ex-student of the OCCA has contacted
us to ask whether we knew of any tales
that could be used to communicate
both the gospel and a Christian ethic
to street children, but without overtly
mentioning fi gures from the Bible,
etc. These are to be used in a country
where Christianity is marginalised
and therefore the stories have to be
appropriate for this setting. If you know
of anything that might be suitable
please email [email protected].
SUMMER 2012 | PULSE ISSUE 11
Rather than suggesting ‘religion
poisons everything,’ he argues
that it is ‘intermittently too useful,
eff ective and intelligent to be
abandoned to the religious alone.’1
De Botton’s central thesis is that the
best ideas and practices (i.e. those that
don’t relate to belief in God) should
be stolen and appropriated by non-
believers. He suggests that atheists
can learn from religious approaches
to community, kindness, education,
tenderness, pessimism, perspective,
art, architecture and institutions
(each of which are covered in a
respective chapter). Although he
cherry-picks from a variety of faiths,
the majority of what he commends
comes from Christianity. He
applauds the church for, amongst
other things, teaching us how to
live, encouraging people towards
moral improvement, promoting
role models, being consoling and its
eff ectiveness in communicating ideas.
One might argue that there is
nothing particularly revolutionary
about that approach. Charlie Brooker,
for example, rather unkindly branded
de Botton a ‘pop philosopher’ who
has ‘forged a lucrative career stating
the bleeding obvious’.2 The book
Christians have grown accustomed to the aggressive anti-religious rhetoric that has become a hallmark of the New Atheists, so it comes as
quite a surprise, therefore, to read Alain de Botton’s, Religion for Atheists, which adopts a much more conciliatory approach to the topic of faith.
R EVIEW BY SIMON WENHAM
SUMMER 2012 | PULSE ISSUE 11
21is certainly targeted at a popular
audience - and it suff ers from various
classic weaknesses as a result, such as
a lack of precise defi nitions (‘religion’
and ‘culture’ being two obvious
ones), some broad generalisations
and inconsistent citation - but
this shouldn’t detract from the
fact that his work sells because it
resonates with so many people.
Indeed, Religion for Atheists is
intended to be a practical guide for
improving life, because de Botton
believes that western society has
lost out because it has ‘secularized
badly’.3 In particular, he notes that
atheism has failed to satisfy deep
human needs, which remain the
primary focus (and preserve) of
religions. Furthermore, he suggests
that some of the atheist literature
that has been generated has not
been particularly helpful – in a recent
radio interview, for example, he
described A. C. Grayling’s attempt at
humanist wisdom as a ‘weird book’.4
One should not assume, however,
that this is a pro-Christian work, as
he is quite clear that it is intended for
those who are already non-believers,
but who want to know where to go
next (Atheism 2.0, as he has dubbed
it). The non-existence of God is
therefore assumed throughout and
is backed up by various passing
comments.5 Intriguingly, the reason
for not addressing this topic is that
he believes that people come to
faith by a ‘fairly mysterious’ process,
which may not be related to rational
thought, but, instead, to some kind of
psychological-spiritual orientation.6
The idea provokes a number of
questions, although it is a topic
that is not covered in his book.
De Botton was fully aware that
his book would upset the militant
atheist and the believer alike.7 The
major criticism he faced from the
former, was that, like his inspiration
Auguste Comte, the project comes
across as being a little too religious
(as the name of the book suggests).
He advocates, for example, having
patron saints of atheism, secular
‘wailing walls’ transmitted by
technology to help us cope with
our inadequacies, and ‘temples’ for
atheists (in the form of museums that
inspire us). One of his most amusing
suggestions is that non-believers
should imitate American Pentecostal
churches by adopting a more
interactive approach to learning,
by saying the secular equivalent of
‘Amen, Preacher’ during lectures!8
Richard Dawkins poured scorn on
the idea of ‘temples for atheists’, as
he suggested that the money would
be better spent on something more
practical, such as institutions for
educating people to think logically
and critically.9 De Botton responded
by saying that although you had ‘to
love Dawkins for his sheer grumpiness,’
the backlash had illustrated precisely
why he thought his book was
necessary. Although he accepted the
word ‘temple’ was perhaps misguided,
he pointed out that whilst schools,
libraries and railways stations are all
very valuable, they are not enough to
satisfy the inner human longings.10
Yet the atheist John Gray argued
that de Botton’s ideas were doomed
to failure, because they were,
by defi nition, unable to satisfy
the most important needs:
Th e church of humanity is a prototypical modern example of atheism turned into a cult of
collective self-worship... Religions are human creations. When they are consciously designed to be useful, they are normally short-lived. Th e ones that survive are those that have evolved to serve enduring human needs - especially the need for self-transcendence. Th at is why we can be sure the world's traditional religions will be alive and well when evangelical atheism is dead and long forgotten.11
By contrast, criticism from religious
quarters centred on the problem of
trying to defend ideas or practises,
whilst denying the philosophical
justifi cation for upholding them.
A LOT OF CHRISTIAN CONCEPTS ARE FLOATING IN OUR
SOCIETY UNRECOGNISED AND UNNAMED.
SUMMER 2012 | PULSE ISSUE 11
22
1 A. de Botton, Religion for Atheists
(London, 20012), p. 312.
2 C. Brooke, ‘The Art of Drivel’, The
Guardian , 1 January 2005.
3 De Botton, Religion , p. 17.
4 A. de Botton, J. Orr and J. Brierley, ‘Should
atheists be more religious?’, on ‘Unbelievable?’,
Premier Christian Radio, 11 February 2012.
5 De Botton, Religion , p. 173
6 De Botton, Orr and Brierley, ‘Should atheists’.
7 De Botton, Religion , pp. 17 – 18.
8 De Botton, Religion , pp. 131.
9 ‘Temple for Atheists Provokes row among non-
believers’, Daily Telegraph , 27 January 2012.
10 De Botton, Orr and Brierley, ‘Should atheists’.
11 ‘The Cult of Unbelief’,
New Statesman , 16 February 2012.
12 De Botton, Orr and Brierley, ‘Should atheists’.
13 ‘Divine intervention’, Sydney Morning
Herald , 18 February 2012.
14 ‘Religion for atheists by Alain de Botton
– review’, Guardian , 12 January 2012.
15 ‘Secularism vs Religion: Should we give a fi g?’,
The Big Issue , 27 February – 4 March 2012, p. 9.
16 De Botton, Orr and Brierley, ‘Should atheists’.
17 A. de Botton, Status Anxiety (London,
2004), pp. 225 – 274.
18 De Botton, Religion , p. 77.
19 ‘Religion for Atheists by Alain de Botton –
review’, The Observer , 22 January 2012.
In a recent interview de Botton
defended this approach by saying:
A lot of Christian concepts are fl oating in our society unrecognised and unnamed. Th e very concept of human rights is essentially a Christian concept. Th ings like feminism arise from Christianity, as does the welfare state, in many ways. It’s impossible to imagine a welfare state without the tradition of Christianity and Christian charity, etc… We’ve got a lot of this already and it’s working very well…12
The Religious Editor of The Age ,
Barnie Zwatz, argued that de Botton’s
ideas could be a house built on sand
‘because what gives religions their
staying power are the ideas at their
core. Stripped of that nourishment,
appendages in a secular world
may simply wither and die.’13
The Catholic and Marxist literary critic
Terry Eagleton branded de Botton
a ‘reluctant atheist’, for refusing to
revolutionise his ideas. He suggested
that there is something ‘deeply
disingenuous’ and ‘patronising’ about
arguing ‘that religious beliefs are a
lot of nonsense, but that they remain
indispensable to civilised existence.’
He claimed this was akin to being
told that free speech and civil rights
were bunkum, but that they had
their social uses. By hijacking other
people’s beliefs, emptying them of
content and redeploying them in the
name of moral order, social consensus
and aesthetic pleasure, he argued
that de Botton had reduced the
radical teaching of the gospel to ‘a
set of banal moral tags’ deployed as a
‘soothing form of spiritual therapy.’14
As this suggests, a major problem
with advocating ideas without
the philosophical justifi cation for
supporting them, is that, as well as
being an inconsistent way to live, it
becomes very unclear as to which
ones other people might choose to
adopt. De Botton wants to raise up a
group of benevolent humanists who
can make life better for everyone,
but what if those who take up the
mantel are militant nihilists instead?
The latter might be considered a
danger to society, but if they insist
they are being more consistent
with their worldview, how do you
determine who is right? Furthermore
there are already plenty of secular
‘patron saints’ out there whom people
worship, but many of them are far
from being good role-models. As
Brendan O’Neill, a self-confessed
atheist secularist, has pointed out,
it is becoming increasingly hard
to know which side to take:
A great irony in today’s topsy-turvy faith wars is that the religious side oft en appears more humanist, more trusting of mankind, than the humanist side. Indeed, in a brilliant historical fl ip-reversal of their normal roles, humanists now tend to attack the religious for having too much regard for human beings.15
Furthermore, as James Orr pointed
out, perhaps the greatest irony is
that de Botton’s solution for society
is to become more religious at a
time when many Christians are
advocating precisely the opposite
(in order to avoid a legalistic faith).16
The book will certainly resonate with
those who do not believe in God,
but who identify themselves as
being culturally 'Christian’.
Yet by emphasising the failure of
atheism to meet human needs
and by suggesting the solution is
something akin to a religion, de
Botton has arguably played into the
hands of the religious apologist.
In fact, this is an author who has
written in a previous work that
Christianity is one of the answers to
the ‘status anxiety’ that is so pervasive
in our modern society.17 In Religion
for Atheists , he even writes that ‘Our
deepest wish may be that someone
would come along and save us from
ourselves’!18 The obvious response
to this, from a Christian perspective,
is that someone has already done
this! Furthermore, one might be
inclined to question how eff ective
mimicking religious practices will be.
As Michael Ramsden often says, ‘If you
take Christ out of Christian you are
left with i-a-n and Ian is not going to
help you!’ Indeed, perhaps the fi nal
word should go to Richard Coles, who
points out that our deepest longings
and fears may be ‘mirrored and
contextualised’ by an atheist temple,
but crucially, ‘they are not redeemed’:
…Christianity does not off er consolation, it off ers salvation. Th at is why people built cathedrals, and in other dispensations enormous mosques and complexes of temples: they sought, and seek, salvation, and for this, God-givenness seems to me essential.19
FURTHER READING:
For information about the
inconsistency of holding onto
Christian concepts without the grounds to do
so, see John Gray’s Straw Dogs (for an atheist’s
perspective) and John Lennox’s Gunning for God (for a Christian’s perspective).
SUMMER 2012 | PULSE ISSUE 11
SELECTED EUROPEAN HIGHLIGHTS:
THE DIARY
THIS LIST DOES NOT INCLUDE ALL OF THE EVENTS THAT OUR SPEAKERS ARE INVOLVED
WITH, BUT IF YOU WANT FURTHER INFORMATION ABOUT ANY OF THE ABOVE PLEASE
CONTACT OUR OXFORD OFFICE.
PLEASE JOIN US IN
PRAYING FOR THESE EVENTS
AND IN PARTICULAR
THOSE SHOWN BELOW:
THE EUROPEAN LEADERSHIP FORUM
This is a major annual event that unites Christian teachers and students from
across Europe. Please pray for all of those attending, including the RZIM team who will be teaching the evangelism track, as well as
giving a number of apologetics seminars.
OCCA YEAR PROGRAMME
The OCCA year programme will be ending in June. Please pray for all of the graduates as they leave Oxford to start the next stage in their lives. Please pray that there will be many opportunities to use the skills that they have learnt and that their ministry will be fruitful.
OCCA SIX-WEEK PROGRAMME
AND THE RZIM SUMMER SCHOOL
At the end of May a new cohort of students will be arriving at the OCCA for the start of the six-week programme. Please pray for those who will be attending this, as
they seek to learn about communicating the gospel more eff ectively in the secular
work environment. The course ends with delegates attending the annual
Oxford Summer School, where they will be joined by another 100 delegates for a week of intensive apologetics teaching.
Please pray that those attending will experience both a deepening faith and a greater knowledge of God.
NEW WINE
Please pray for Michelle Tepper, Vince Vitale and Tom Price who will all be speaking at
New Wine, a major Christian summer festival.
RZIM TRAINING DAY
Please pray for Os Guinness and Vince Vitale, who will be speaking at the next RZIM
training day in Manchester. Please also pray for the on-going work of AiM (Apologetics in Manchester), who are hosting the event.
MAY
19-24 EUROPEAN LEADERSHIP FORUM, EGER, HUNGARY (Team)
26 UNBELIEVABLE? CONFERENCE, LONDON (John Lennox)
26-30 SCOTTISH DISCIPLESHIP FORUM, ARBROATH (Os Guinness)
28 OCCA SIX WEEK PROGRAMME STARTS (Team)
JUNE
11-16 RZIM SUMMER INSTITUTE, CHICAGO (Team)
28 READING UNIVERSITY CHRISTIAN UNION (Tom Price)
28 PREMIER RADIO PUBLIC LECTURE (Os Guinness)
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1-7 RZIM OXFORD SUMMER SCHOOL (Team)
14 LEWES SPEAKERS FESTIVAL, LEWES (John Lennox)
21-27 HTB FOCUS WEEK, LONDON (Amy Orr-Ewing and Michelle Tepper)
28-31 CLAN GATHERING, ST ANDREWS (Amy Orr-Ewing)
31-4 AUG NEW WINE, SHEPTON MALLET (Team)
AUGUST
17 NEWDAY 2012, NORFOLK SHOWGROUND (John Lennox)
31-2 SEP BETANIA MISSIONS CONFERENCE, CIUDAD REAL, SPAIN
(Michelle Tepper)
SEPTEMBER
22 RZIM TRAINING DAY, MANCHESTER (Team)
27 PUBLIC LECTURES, STOCKHOLM (Os Guinness)
28-30 NATIONAL APOLOGETICS CONFERENCE, GOTHENBERG (Os Guinness)
29 INTERNATIONAL STUDENT EVENT, OXFORD (John Lennox)
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The faculty at the OCCA includes Alister McGrath, John Lennox, Michael Ramsden,
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