The God Debaters : New Atheist Identity-Making and the Religious Self in the New Millennium

This book examines the post-9/11 God debate in the West. Through a close study of prominent English God debaters Richard Dawkins, Karen Armstrong, Christopher Hitchens, and Terry Eagleton, Adrian Rosenfeldt demonstrates that New Atheist and religious apologist ideas and arguments about God, science, and identity are driven by mythic autobiographical narratives and Protestant or Catholic cultural heritage. This study is informed by criticism of the New Atheist polemic as being positivistic, and the religious apologists as propagating "sophisticated theology." In both cases, the God debaters are perceived as disassociating themselves from human lived experience. It is through reconnecting the God debaters intellectual ideas to their cultural and social background that the God debate can be grounded in a recognisable human reality that eludes reductive distinctions and disembodied abstractions. Adrian Rosenfeldt is a teaching associate at La Trobe University and Melbourne University, Australia. His research interests and teaching involve classical sociology, cultural sociology, sociology of mental illness, modernism, and criminology. His current research focuses on different forms of humanism and identity-making as recognisable in the twenty-first century God debate Contents Chapter 1: Introduction Cultural Phenomenon Intellectual Positions and Ideas The God Hypothesis Max Weber and Objectivity Binaries and Distinctions Religion as Lived Experience Identity-Making and the Memoir: Performing the Self Fluid and Stable Identity-Making Culture of Authenticity The God Debaters Chapter 2: Richard Dawkins: Public Professor of Science Childhood: Instinctual Dualism and Teleology Transformation from Religious Adolescent to Adult Atheist Rational Man of Science Dawkins, Darwin and Memes Scientific Truth Problems with the Self: “The Masters of Suspicion” Methodology: Religion as Delusion Religious Morality, Divisive Language and the Changing Zeitgeist Four Horsemen of the Non-Apocalypse Past Feuerbach and Freud Jung: Dualism and Religious Belief as a Psychological Reality A Conclusion: Two Paradoxes Chapter 3: The Mythos of Karen Armstrong A History of God What Is History? Man vs. God Mythos and Logos Autobiography: Through the Narrow Gate and Up The Spiral Staircase Muhammad Biography: An “Act of Surrender” Armstrong’s Critics A New Methodology Dr. Piet as Mythos Mythos as Truth A Story of Redemption Ineffable God Conclusion Chapter 4: Christopher Hitchens’ New Enlightenment Finding a Place to Stand Socrates: A Character Ideal Socrates: “A Profound Illusion”? Methodology: Words as Weapons Sophistry Light and Dark Identity-Making A Divided Self Protestant Atheist Death: Poetic Verses the Scientific Taunton’s Charge New Atheism, Uncertainty and Doubt How to Die Conclusion Chapter 5: Terry Eagleton’s Revolution Tragic Humanism The German-Austrian Influence Tragic Humanism, Christianity and the Revolutionary Jesus God and Creation: “There Was Nothing in It for Him” Methodology The Literary Theorist Memoir and Identity—“The Gatekeeper” A Father’s Sacrifice Anti-autobiography The Nuns and Dr Greenway Ghosts and Utility The Meaning of Life Conclusion Chapter 6: Conclusion Bibliography Index "This book examines the post-9/11 God debate in the West. Through a close study of prominent English God debaters Richard Dawkins, Karen Armstrong, Christopher Hitchens, and Terry Eagleton, Adrian Rosenfeldt demonstrates that New Atheist and religious apologist ideas and arguments about God, science, and identity are driven by mythic autobiographical narratives and Protestant or Catholic cultural heritage. This study is informed by criticism of the New Atheist polemic as being positivistic, and the religious apologists as propagating "sophisticated theology." In both cases, the God debaters are perceived as disassociating themselves from human lived experience. It is through reconnecting the God debaters' intellectual ideas to their cultural and social background that the God debate can be grounded in a recognisable human reality that eludes reductive distinctions and disembodied abstractions." --Provided by publisher