How the World's Most Notorious Atheist Changed His Mind

Characteristic Flew - even with a ghost writer. It is only a short summary of some of the available evidence and thought, but he hits the high points. There certainly are better books out there. May I recommend God's Undertaker, by Lennox, for the inquiring mind who wants a more in depth discussion?

Antony Flew's journey to theism is quite fascinating. God reveals himself to the most unlikely of characters. Antony Flew is one of the most unlikely theist yet, "know the truth because the truth can set you free."

From skeptic to evolutionist to creationist, my journey as a technical professional and critical thinker has been enhanced by this book by Flew and Varghese. For the serious and honest intellectual, I recommend that you read it carefully . If you are, and if you do, you may very well recognize the answer to my riddle in titling this review "I Think Therefore God." Clues reside throughout the book if you have the willingness to think in terms of "science" (as in verifiable knowledge), of "philosophy" (as in pursuit of wisdom and understanding values and reality via logic and reason) and of "religion" (as in a cause or systematic belief held to with faith). None singly holds the answer. Only by integration have Flew and Varghese arrived at the answer.

This brilliant philosopher has written a book about his change of mind about his disbelief in a God in very clear and
understandable language that anyone can understand! No deep philosophical verbiage, just a good personal talk with his
readers!

Flew's personal testimony for his journey from atheism to belief is succinct and to the point. Doesn't contain in-depth analysis from the realms of physics or molecular biology, but plenty of other new books do, so this one works great as a quick intro to various arguments---again, with a personal touch.

I've heard nothing but good things about this book so I had to give it a read. Antony Flew was one of the most reasonable persons and one of the greatest minds that the field of philosophy has encountered. His conversion story is summed up so simply: he followed the evidence where it led. I don't want to spoil the book so I figure i won't say much about what evidence led him to believe in God. It was both the scientific data and the Aristotelian philosophy that brought him to his conclusion.

A philosopher relates the story of his personal journey from philosophical atheism to the deism akin to Aristotle's. The fascinating aspect of the origin of his intellectual 'about face' was not philosophical insights as such, but the truths of science especially the function of DNA and its relation to proteins. Two distinct languages are mapped to each other. This is a phenomenon of 'semantics' and can only be accounted for by the existence of a mind. A beautiful example of an inquiring philosophical mind discovering scientific realities and drawing conclusions from the evidence.

This is a very well written and interesting book about one man's journey of faith. Driven by a deep conviction to follow the truth where ever it led Mr. Flew rejected the concept of god in his early life only to return to belief towards the end of his life. This is an easy read and is one of the best apologetics for the existance of God that I have read in recent years.

The book is about Antony Flew's Journey from being raised in the house of a Methodist minister, his father, his movement towards atheism at an early age, his life as a philosopher and his debates, and finally his acceptance of a Divine Creator (except that he didn't accept the idea of revelation).

The book is divided into two parts, and has two appendices. The first part is about his early life, his atheism and finally considering atheism in a logical and calm manner. The second part is about his acceptance of a Divine Creator, and the reasons that lead him to that conclusion, whether they are scientific or philosophical reasons. Appendix A is written by Roy Abraham Varghese, and it's a criticism of "New Atheism". He considers arguments about "Rationality", "Life", "Consciousness", "Thought" "The Self", and "The Origin of the Supraphysical". This appendix is a really great read, and one of the really great arguments that I would recommend to any one.

Finally, the last appendix is written by Bishop N. T. Wright, and it concerns the claim that there is a self-revelation of God in the person of Jesus Christ. Frankly, I didn't like this part at all, and it would have been the reason of reducing this book's score. I think that this part might appeal to Christians, however not a Muslim like me, especially that I have read a lot about Christianity. Didn't like N. T. Wright's logic, and how he arrived to the conclusions.

The book is much smaller than I thought it would be; Flew's part was about 160 pages. It's a good quick read, and quiet easy to understand and follow. I totally recommend this book (except for the last part).

Flew divided his book into two parts .The first one was a short summery about his life , and how he start to get interested in philosophy and embraced atheism . The Second was about how he started to believe in the divine , and the argument he gives for that belief .

He cited three arguments for God . First , The laws of the nature explain the mind of God . Second , The origin of life . Third , the cosmological argument.

it is very good book for both believers and non-believers to read

For the majority of his adult life Anthony Flew was an atheist and only recently came to the conclusion that there has to be a God. His logic is impressive and makes arguments for atheism seem childish. Flew writes for other philosophers and if you aren't one, or have not read other philosophic writings, this book can take some time to fully understand.

Flew has not converted to any organized religion since acknowledging the existence of a God, nor does his perception of God fit neatly into the commonly held religious beliefs. What the book points out is that there had to be some supernatural force behind the creation of the universe. It is excellent reading.

The author gives us an easy-to-read book explaining clearly and logically why he left behind his atheism. Based on scientific and mathematical principals, he now believes in God as defined by him as being a rational mind that brought into existence the physical universe. And he explains why he believes this.

Anthony Flew impressed me with this book. He basically stated his life story and showed extreme honesty on why he fell out of theism, and how he slowly got into deism.

It all started with the problem of evil, but after reading about Alvin Plantinga's Free Will defense he realized that maybe it is respectable to believe in God.

Slowly over the years after debates with William Lane Craig and readings from Richard Swinburne starting to leave rocks in the shoe of Anthony Flew.

I really liked the story about C.S Lewis and Elizabeth Anscombe's debate that winded up changing C.S Lewis' Chapter 3 in Miracles. I had no idea Anthony Flew was part of that group. After reading more and more books about Philosophers and Apologetics I'm starting to see that a good number of these believers and non-believers all know each other on a personal level.

I had no idea Richard Swinburne (who is easily one of the "elite" Apologists of our time) was the man who took Flews place at a university that Flew was teaching at.

Anthony Flew then gets into the design argument and states something extremely important in which I agree wholeheartedly with "the rebuttal for the *Fine tuning argument* called the Multiverse theory is an embarrassment" Flew also takes a few well deserved shots at Richard Dawkins, I mean hey who isn't now a days.

For those that think Flew left his unbelief, because of fearing hell at his old age needs to realize, Flew didn't become a Christian or any religious member that believes in the afterlife, therefore he still doesn't believe in Hell.

I definitely recommend this for the day in the life of a great philospher, who lost his faith when he was a teen, then followed the evidence where it lead and came to beleiving in a higher power, the greatest conceivable being...Code Name.....God

Courageous book by someone who is not afraid to follow evidence wherever it leads... This alone is a lessons that most of the World needs. Teh rest of the book is great insight. Worth the read if you are willing to reexamine why you believe what you believe. God is not silent.

The author of this book was, surprisingly, a very honest, humble, and courageous man, who had the courage to speak up, in spite of the persecution from his fellow contemporaries! Rarely, does one find such an individual!

Anthony Flew's new work is a short concise reflection on his early life and career path that lead to his athiesm. The reasons for his change of mind. An argument for God by his co-author, and then a brief dialogue with N.T. Wright on the Resurrection. It is geared towards someone with a working knowledge of philosophy, and also some familiarity with his previous works, as parts of the book consist of correction he now wishes to make upon some of his earlier work, and having not read much of it I was frequently at a loss. The purpose of Flew's section is not to prove that theres a God but merely to show what led to his change and promote discussion, he's respectful to both sides though he does take the New Athiests to task on a few points. His co-author argues for theism in the end and as a Christian I found little to disagree with (though I'm not sure I agree with his position on universals, he did only give one statement on it though). And N.T. Wright's section is the most readable with some new interesting ideas about the resurrection.
For what it's meant to be it's very well done. It has an appeal that might be larger than it's audience with it's more sophisticated argumentation. If your curious what happened to Flew there's no better source to find out, if you're looking for an apologetics resource it doesn't quite fit the bill. I recommend it to all interested in philosophy of religion

A must read for both Christian and atheist. He clearly outlines why he has changed his mind as a scientist who follows the evidence to where it leads. I was disappointed that he has not yet come to see the only proof of God's existence is the birth, life death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. What does it matter if God exists if he doesn't love and care for the salvation of all who believe in Him? If God is greater that anything the human mind can conceive than it shouldn't be hard to believe this same all powerful God can and did come to earth in a human form to reveal in human terms what God is like and how much he loves the world and all those who believe in him.

Flew's apologetic for becoming a theist is presented concisely and clearly. While his decision is ostensibly personal, his argument engages any serious thinker. Regardless of private disposition, the book invites both theologian and skeptic to examine the evidence and "follow where it leads."
In addition to Flew's material, Varghese has included an Appendix which presents five phenomena that he argues, "can only be explained in terms of the existence of God." These 20+ pages alone make the book worthwhile.

Fairly well-written. Just not convincing. Flew argued logically as an atheist for years. Later, he just thinks that DNA is too complex to be evolved without a god. Once you accept the supernatural into your worldview, then you can make up whatever you like. He thinks Christianity is really cool because God became a man for a while. But he doesn't believe in an afterlife - it seems like he disavows an afterlife so he can negate critic's suggestion that he is just getting religion now because he is advanced in age and wants to get in. I was hoping for stronger rationale.

I was really interested to see the reasoning behind Antony Flew's change from devote atheist to deist. I found it quite profound to see his thought process and the way he always questioned, and then followed where the answers led him. It also contains a mini-biography, as well as the history of his thoughts. He details the reasoning that changed his mind, and does so with deep thought, and a childlike attitude, which is so refreshing. So often great thinkers really now longer leave doors open in their minds, and only provide the deep thoughts to find reasoning for what they already believe.

This was a great read, I look forward to reading some of the books, articles and essays he mentioned that helped challenge his beliefs.

When you read this book you will understand why Hawking came out with his new book to say there is no need for a god. Flew quotes Hawking a lot in his book and finds God through Hawking's own writings. I enjoyed reading the book and have used some of the illustrations when talking about God.

Antony Flew gives the best argument that God exists, that I have ever read. Coming from over 60 years of Atheism, and writing many books on Atheism, he knows the arguments against God and the critics of his arguments. He was true to the Socratic philosophy of, "Follow the evidence where it leads you." He shares his decades long pilgrimage to the final ultimate truth, God exists.

This book is the equalizer to the atheistic trend of the scientific world where it is now politically incorrect to suggest that anything in the world is not explained by science or if it is unexplained "science has advanced so far, it is only a matter of time before it will be explained". The book is written to a very narrow scope however - ie does the evidence point to a creator or no creator? There is no suggestion of why creation occurred or how the scheme of things (especially human affairs) is designed the way it is. Thus major questions remain such as "if there is a creator then why are there a multiplicity of religions and different timing for the emergence of religions". However, this is really a strength because you should not judge whether something exists by examining possible motives for creation as this tests whether a human type God exists. I have read (outside of this work) that Antony Flew did propose that an inactive God existed but clearly he saw this as outside the scope of the book. The book is a philosophical work and is rigorous in its approach and I believe it leaves every scientist in the position that having heard Antony Flew's arguments he or she would have to have alot of faith to say that science will some day explain life on earth.

Science and Philosophy make efforts to answer the first questions. Science seems to be now in the lead but still cannot answer where the laws of nature come from or how life came out to be. Antony Flew reflections is an interesting view to reach rationally to the First Cause that explains where we need to go to understand nature, life and our own existence. It will be interesting to know what the new atheist will have to say to Flew arguments.

I have always been an admirer of Anthony Flew having read most of his books. One of the reviewers of this book referred to him as a militant atheist which was not true. He was always a gentleman philosopher. I can't help but feel he was used in an inappropriate manner by Mr. Varghese as a platform for asserting his own views. Why did Mr. Varghese and N. T. Wright opinions about Christianity need to be included in the book? It was clear that Professor Flew never claimed to be a Christian (though one got the sense in the book that he was leaning in this direction).

The book would have been much better had he not had help writing it. The fact is he did not need help. Unfortunately, his arguments against atheists are weak at best. It is obvious that Professor Flew was not up to date on the latest finding of science. The fact that he was at the end of a distinguished career and perhaps not able to devote the necessary energy to be immersed in the current debate, Professor Flew did not critically adhere to the Socratic principle of ' following the evidence wherever it may lead. ' I had no problem with his conversion and actually thought he did a good job of explaining his journey to theism. He was always an eloquent writer and even in his old age had not lost his flair. This was all good stuff and I am convinced of his sincerity in his conversion. What I found appalling was the coauthor's attempt to ride on his coattails. Shame on all those who turned this book into a battle cry for theism! It just goes to show there is no difference between atheists and theists when it comes to the levels they will stoop to to make their points. Honestly, I expected more from the theists. This comment also applies to all the reviewers who also jumped on the bandwagon. It is not very Christian to use people as a means to your own ends.

This book is an extremely fluid, easy to read story of the transformation of one of the worlds most notorious atheists changed his mind. It is rather unfortunate and ridiculous that there are those who say that flew has succumed to senility or fear of death(he still maintains there is no afterlife). Would you say the same about Billy Graham if he rejected his faith and became atheist? Probably not, you would say he finally came to his senses, even if the book he wrote about it was merely the incoherent ramblings of a crazed man.

Flew demonstrates a complete lack of understanding not only of science, but the pre-eminent scientists he depends upon for his insanely weak arguments.

Presenting outspokenly atheistic Einstein & Hawking as being proponents of a theistic god to justify his own decision to banish science from the questions of ultimate causation is a flat out lie. Claiming the argument from design as both obvious & well supported demonstrates he has no comprehension of the science.

One has to wonder, how was Flew ever taken seriously on anything?

My comments are more in regard to the book seller than the book itself. Apparently, Reborn Books idea of "crisp and clean pages" does not include more than 50 pages marked with highlighted or pencil. They advertised minor ware due to shelving.

I read half of the book before realizing the author had a poor understanding of evolutionary biology. He considered the refutation of the metaphor of "a room full of monkeys banging on typewriters to create Shakespeare" a valid argument against evolution. He discounted Dawkin's A Selfish Gene because he took literally the agency of the gene implied in the title. If, as the author suggests, his initial conversion to atheism was poorly justified, it's not surprising that he found poor justification for his relapse to theism.

I am writing two books on Christian apologetics, and this is my best reference. When your enemy converts to your side, it says a lot about your side. I should not say "enemy" here, though; Flew became my brother in Christ. James Ivey

Anthony Flew, after 50 years as an athiest, has come to believe in God. His philosophical mind is still sharp for an old man, and his integrity is intact because be "followed the evidence where it led." A great book for those who are seeking to resolve the issue of God or no God.