Finding Truth

Kevin Moss | October 2015

By Nancy Pearcey - (2015) David C Cook Publishing Company

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 Nancy 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. She identifies these five principles as follows:

1. Identify the Idol (any God-substitute)
2. Identify the Idol's reductionism (every one leads to some kind of debased worldview)
3. Test the Idol (does it contradict what we know about the world?)
4. Test the Idol (does it contradict itself?)
5. Replace the Idol (making the case for Christianity).

For each principle, she carefully and systematically makes her case, demonstrating that any worldview, other than a Christian one, tends towards some form of reductionism, and that the versions of materialism on offer are not only at odds with fundamental human experience, but are also internally self-refuting. Modern atheism makes a great deal of 'rationality' (contra the alleged metaphysical irrationalities of 'religion'), and yet on its own terms can find no logical basis for the idea of rational thought processes that actually correspond with an external reality.

As Nancy Pearcey says, 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'.

This book is brilliant. It recapitulates many of the truths I've been learning in my own academic studies, not least the essential Christian theological underpinnings of the scientific revolution – but does so in a highly accessible way that would benefit any thoughtful reader. It reaffirms the pressing need to teach our children critical thinking, something that is now almost entirely lost to school curricula, leading to a generation without the functional metaphysical constructs to allow them to deal with the real issues of life. It's great for parents who wish to support their children through the brutal secularisation process which now forms the core of their education. It's essential for any Christian seeking to make sense of our culture from a Christian perspective, and to be able to identify those superficially-plausible but empty idols that are continually thrust at us.

[A copy will be available for purchase on the Highfields bookstall at the latest by next week.]