Answering Sceptics.

aturday, February 09, 2013

Book Review: 10 Answers for Skeptics by Alex McFarland

Any pastor, or pastor-in-training, who wants to know what drives contemporary scepticism, or merely what is happening in the student world, should read and re-read Alex McFarland’s 10 Answers for Sceptics. McFarland is a wise man who knows that most intellectual objections to the Christian faith are driven by the heart, and not the head. So, rather than spell out quick responses to the problem of evil or the New Atheism, he identifies the motives for scepticism, so that the evangelist and apologist can take an axe to the root of the tree.

I immediately recognised several of the ten types of sceptic that McFarland describes, and it is plain that he has gained his expertise through friendship and communication. Anyone who has spent time with New Atheists, ex-apologists, or internet infidels will know the “Educated Sceptic”. He is a graduate, proud of his new, liberating knowledge, and keen to demonstrate his freedom from the yoke of the evangelical sub-culture. Unfortunately, he stopped learning about Christianity in Sunday School, and does not understand the depth of the faith that he is criticising!