The value in a worldview lies in its consistency and ability to explain those things which form the real stuff of our lives.  She adduces a string of leading atheist thinkers to demonstrate a kind of cognitive dissonance, where the practicalities of real life are actually antithetical to what they profess to be true. Atheists act as if Christian epistemology is true, because their humanity demands it, even whilst writing shrill, anti-God polemics such as ‘The God Delusion’.

A little while ago, I received a review copy of a new book by Nancy Pearcey, an academic and Christian thinker with a string of literary awards, and with a particular gift for extremely clear, economical writing.  It’s not a short book, with the main text running for 276 pages, 45 pages of references and 50 pages of appendices forming a most helpful, reflective study guide to the content.

The author is living proof that a Christian worldview lends itself to the development of polymaths – indeed, her previous work, Saving Leonardo, demonstrated a grasp of art, literature, science, history and philosophy which one rarely encounters, due to the rigid, secularist compartmentalisation of the disciplines which now dominates our academic system.  As Wendell Berry points out, in his excellent little volume, ‘Life is a Miracle’, the nearest atheism gets to harmonising the arts, is through such entirely spurious concepts as ‘consilience’, promoted by E. O. Wilson.

I have spent too long reviewing this book, conscious that the publishers would appreciate the feedback they expect, but never the less continually finding more and more points which trigger a kind of “Ah!” moment.  For Mrs Pearcey’s real gift lies in joining the dots, in making sense of the various conflicting messages thrown at Christians by the forces of secularism.  The subtitle is pertinent: “5 Principles for Unmasking Atheism, Secularism and Other God Substitutes,”, and the author is remorseless in following a governing structure which she discovers in Romans 1:19-28.

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