Greater Than You Think: A Theologian Answers the Atheists about God

by Thomas D. Williams

The recent runaway bestsellers God Is Not Great and The God Delusion have left Christians feeling defensive but not necessarily equipped to refute the accusations of nonbelievers. The bestsellers have... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0446514934
• ISBN13: 9780446514934
• Release Date: June 2008
• Publisher: Faithwords
• Length: 172 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.3" x 8.1"

Customer Reviews

Outstanding

There appears no editorial review of this book anywhere I looked, and in my eyes reviewers miss a little book whose author really did his homework and presents the result in a most concise and readable manner. The book's title (and its cover design) is a takeoff on Christopher Hitchens's "God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything", but is, as "Greater Than You Think", instead ingratiating, leaving to the reader to "think" to whom it refers and whom it addresses, compared to the crude, absolutist, and indeed poison-spewing title by Hitchens. It makes me wonder whence his reputation as a wordsmith. The reviewed author of course counters the recent atheist "bestsellers...accompanied by reams of lesser works, attesting to the power of atheism as the newest cottage industry" (p.xii). He takes these wonderfully apart and supplies cogent arguments against them. This may be the more rewarding considering that he is a clergyman, of whom usually is no more expected than a defense of his religion as compatible with scientific contentions, for an approach that might be exemplified in the book I last reviewed here. To be sure, author Williams and myself strongly part company in that I am of Jewish birth and, though a theist, am not an adherent of any organized religion. This means I am decidedly in disagreement with him about his justifications for his persuasions. He offers reasonable arguments for the historicity of Jesus and to some extent of the events associated with him. Perhaps not surprisingly, although he mentions the atheist complaint regarding inconsistencies in the Gospels, he doesn't respond to it. The accuracy of those writings then is doubtful, let alone a proof of the divinity in question. As indicated, he doesn't shy away from reason in demonstrating the validity of one's position, defending for instance (p.92) the attempted proofs by Aquinas. But he is less than logical when defending proselytizing as "believers' insistence on trying to share their beliefs with others and to convince them of their truth" (p.57), using as example (p.59) the possible discovery of "a cure for cancer or AIDS", which one "would be negligent not to" inform others about. One can hardly speak in the same breath of "believers", "their beliefs", and correspondingly "their truth" without inconsistency. A medical discovery must be well substantiated before even attempted to be applied to patients. Plausibly the author writes, regarding God's existence, (p.89), "The difference between belief and nonbelief...often reflects a deeper willingness or unwillingness to venture into a domain where we do not hold all the cards in our hands" or (p.94), "A simple analysis of the facts cannot compel a person to belief or unbelief". I happen to dispute this impossibility of a proof, finding one in fact quite simple, but go into the matter elsewhere. Now I just want to add congratulations to the author for his praiseworthy elucidation of his stand.

Brilliantly and simply executed

This book caught my eye in the grocery store. I got it on a whim and read it in two hours. I found it very easy to understand and concise. It was extremely simple to see the logic in each answer to various questions that have been raised by athiests over the past few years. I found myself wondering if those athiests would feel likewise; or if they would even give this book a chance. As a former non-believer, I do appreciate someone taking the time to answer these authors. I only hope that those for whom the book was intended are seeing it too.

Supported by Reason, Written with Love

Starting with the clever title with multiple meanings (as the font size decreases to form separate phrases), Father Thomas presents a well reasoned rebuttal to Hitchens, Dawkins et al. This book explains what the nouveau-athiests cannot admit to themselves -- that they cling to their beliefs through a "faith" they claim to rise above. Father Thomas explains his views with love for all, using a quiet voice that best proclaims the value of his foundations.

Thoughtful and Convincing

The author provides a thoughtful and convincing refutation of the pseudo-scientific conclusions and assertions of the current crop of atheists, including Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Daniel C. Dennett, and Christopher Hitchens, each of whom denies the existence of God and denounces all religion as superstition. The arguments are organized into a series of questions and answers. Those in Part III are well-known to informed theologians and scientists alike and could have been stated more concisely as follows: Neither reason-based knowledge (science) nor faith-based knowledge (theology) are capable of proof. However, reason-based knowledge is capable of disproof while faith-based knowledge is not. Reason-based knowledge is accepted or rejected on the basis of supporting evidence while faith-based knowledge is either accepted or rejected on the basis of faith--a person either believes it or not. This distinction means, for example, that the existence of God as traditionally defined, cannot be proved or disproved, i.e., the efforts of the faithful to prove it and the efforts of atheists to disprove it are futile. It follows that the belief of atheists in the non-existence of God is as faith-based as the belief of the faithful in the existence of God. This review is also published on my website, frankzahn(dot)com.

Atheist smackdown

Having read another of Father Williams' books, I ordered this one on a whim. I ended up reading it all in one night! He refutes the atheists' arguments against God and religion with solid logic and a sense of humor to boot! I really enjoyed it, and stored up some of his wisdom for my own encounters with non-believers. This is a truly great book.