Book Review: The Little Book of God, Mind, Cosmos and Truth

by Daniel Mallock (August 2017)

 

The Little Book of God, Mind, Cosmos and Truth
Kenneth Francis, St Pauls Publishing, £8.95

Apologetics is a long-honored tradition in Christian theological writing. It has a target audience and a core following of true appreciators. The target demographic, that is the disbeliever and the non-Christian, seems rarely interested. For Christians of all sorts, apologetics is the logical case made for the existence of God and for Jesus Christ as the Messiah. Apologetics has nothing to do with apologizing for anything.

 

The conundrum that is a consequence of the elegant and logical defense of belief-in-(Christian) religion, a belief that is essentially a matter of faith rather than of logic, as the author of this book has so finely done, is not a relevant issue. The deployment by this or any apologetics author of logical argument and critical reasoning to justify beliefs that are fundamentally based in faith is no contradiction because Christianity originated in the western tradition.

 

The Little Book of God, Mind, Cosmos and Truth (St Pauls Publishing, £8.95

 

 

 

—a galactic happenstance—that shatters human attempts to ascribe meaning and value to thoughts, actions, feelings, and to life itself. Mr. Francis colorfully describes the absence of God in this way: “Without God, we would be nothing more than evolved slime fighting for survival amongst a multitude of advanced apes dressed in skirts and suits with delusions of intellectual grandeur.”

 

Arguments that defend the existence of God, and Jesus as the Messiah and Son of God, are a time-honored tradition for Christian theologians, philosophers, logicians, and scholars. Mr. Francis is safely ensconced among them with this strongly written, and elegantly argued book.

 

Critics might suggest that there is a certain triumphalism in the genre as all arguments appear to lead to a seemingly pre-ordained conclusion. Such criticism would miss the point, however. In this short but weighty book Mr. Francis asserts what he believes to be true because they are his beliefs and because the logical arguments that he presents to the reader support his conclusions.

 

Logic is not meant to be manipulatable in the same way that statistics can tell whatever story a statistician wishes. Logic and argument are supposed to allow a critical and rational thinker the ability to follow evidence and arrive at conclusions based on both the arguments and the evidence presented. Much like a detective the logician/theologian/scholar is obliged to follow the evidence wherever it might lead. When set out by the apologetics author, the reader does the same. That the conclusion is in favor of God and Jesus is no fault of the author nor is it manipulation of the reader.

 

In the best apologetics the arguments are solid, the thought-process reasoned and clear, and the logic correct so that the reader can follow the course of the discussion and logical evidence and see that the outcome fits and is reasonable, reasoned, and sensical. The reader may not accept the result of the intellectual exercise thus presented, but that does not mean that the theologian/author/scholar/logician has failed.

 

While reading this book I was reminded of a lecture that I attended on eschatology some years ago. In a discussion with the Christian lecturer after the program, this conversation occurred in the parking lot:

Lecturer: Did you enjoy the lecture?

Me: Yes, very much.

Lecturer: Does this subject of Christianity resonate with you?

Me: Yes, it does.

Lecturer: You’ve studied this subject.

Me: Yes.

Lecturer: Yet, you retain your connection to your current belief system.

Me: Yes.

Lecturer: How do you retain your connection to your current belief system?

Me: It’s difficult.

 

 

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Daniel Mallock is the author of Agony and Eloquence: John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and a World of Revolution.

 

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