Book Review: The Surprising Rebirth of Belief in God by Justin Brierley
A book title is designed to grab your attention, and this one grabbed mine. It expresses a thought I would like to be true – that belief in God is making a comeback.
Quoting Mathew Arnold's poem 'Dover Beach', Brierley admits that the tide has been receding and belief in God has been in decline. But the tides turn, and belief in God is making (another) comeback.
Brierley opens his book by naming up New Atheism as the high point of disbelief, or the tide going out. In the early 2000s it felt like the rise and rise of New Atheism, instead we have witnessed its rise and fall. The phenomenon is of interest, the reasons and details less so (for me at least).
The second chapter is entitled "The New Conversation on God" – except it might not be that new – we will come to that. There are new names, like Jordan Peterson, who find the overarching Christian meta-narrative a compelling and life-giving "myth". Atheism created a meaning vacuum, in which the individual is unhinged from all grand narratives and free to choose their own adventure. It is precisely this void that has given birth to a surprising rebirth of people seeking meaning inside the Christian story.
In the middle part of this book, Brierley cites all sorts of eminent persons finding meaning and structure within the Christian story – philosophers, feminists, historians, and scientists. I found my interest levels rising and falling (like the tide). The exciting parts were the accounts of people like historian Tom Holland and journalist Douglas Murray and their journey towards faith in the Christian faith. What is most worthy within our Western tradition is thoroughly Christian, so they discover. Having said this, I am not sure this path is new. It is a path that CS Lewis walked, GK Chesterton, and many others before them.
The chapters that interested me the least were about scientists who believe in God the creator, and historians who believe in the reliability of the Bible. I believe in God as creator, and the Bible as his inspired Word, but I am quite sure these debates are not new. These chapters sounded very 20th Century to me, and I am unconvinced these apologetics are part of a surprising rebirth.
Brierley transitions in the final part of the book to acknowledge that humans are innately wired to live for something, or to worship. For Brierley, Dawkins and other’s denial of God was the ebb, and humanity's enduring search for meaning drives a new incoming tide.
Is Brierley (and others who think like him) right? In there a resurgence? Time will tell. I would like to think so, and I can even see some evidence, but I have my doubts.
As I read meta-culture, I would make alternate observations to Brierley's account. First, the rejection of New Atheism has not (IMO) given rise to belief in God, but rather indifference towards the question. The debate was a show down between the old bull and young upstart. The young upstart did not win, but the whole fracas was seen as distasteful, as are all power-plays. People have mostly returned to either agnosticism – we don't know so don't stress; or benevolent deism – god is a vague spiritual source (or sauce) who is supposed to make my life better, without imposing himself on me.
My second obersvation – we could define what used to be as Christendom religion, or cultural Christianity. That is to say, there was a shared God-centric worldview where God was the source, judge, and sustainer of all life. By contrast, what we have now is post-Christendom spirituality – which is ego-centric and self-referential. I am here to become the best version of me, and select the spirituality that helps me achieve my best. Will people who approach God from within this framework find him?
If Brierley wished to cite more evidence for his tidal metaphor, he could have looked to Western church history. The tide has been coming (30-400 AD, the revivals, the 1950s) and going (upto the 1400s, before and after the revivals) for centuries. Taking this grand view, the decline since the 1960s might be simply just another ebb, and not cause for alarm.
But it feels more significant than that. Eastern Christianity was decimated between 800-1300, and has never recovered. Is the church in the West in the midst of a season like this? Who knows?
I am sympathetic to Brierley’s core thesis. There does appear to be a renewed openness to god, which in some cases will lead to belief in the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Is this rebirth of openness the turning of the tide, or will it be a trickle? As I said, we shall wait and see.