Worth every second

Lucid, exciting, forensically argued, and beautifully written- no atheist who read this seriously could maintain their position. An exquisite exposure of the paucity of materialism . Thank you DB-H and also itvwas read beautifully too.

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this book is incredible

there are not words to adequately describe how exquisite this experience has been for me. this book expresses perfectly how I have always felt

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Brilliant!

This book will strengthen your rational faith and deepen the mystery of God. I was brought closer to an appreciation of God's majesty too. This book can only have been written after a lifetime of careful thought.

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A Crash Course in Philosophy

Intellectually challenging but well worth the effort. The central argument of this book is that belief in God (across all the major Theistic traditions) is actually rational whereas Atheism/Materialism/Naturalism is necessarily irrational. Very well argued in my opinion.

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8 people found this helpful

Lots to think about

This is worth listening to as it provides an alternative perspective to the more usual materialist account of the universe.

Hart argues that we have forgotten metaphysics and need to learn it again - if we pretend we aren't doing metaphysics in a materialist universe he points out that the questions metaphysics asks are - literally - after physics - and so not answerable by the usual scientific methods.

So if we are honest - Hart argues - we have two alternatives - we can do metaphysics "properly" using reason and philosophical methods or we can just give up on it. Thus he says a materialist who does not engage in metaphysics is profoundly irrational because they can provide no reason for the basis of their beliefs.

He is particularly critical of the "new atheists" who claim metaphysics can be done with science, and this Hart argues is a clear category error caused by philosophical ignorance. Just because someone is a scientist and an expert in one particular area does not mean they are qualified to speak on questions of philosophy and if they try to do so their ignorance is evident as they make many basic errors that even an undergraduate in philosophy would be able to spot.

Hart argues the metaphysical principles of all the major theistic traditions - Islam, Hindu, Christianity and Judaism are quite similar and can generally be summed up as follows:

God is not a being like other beings in the universe but is being itself, the source of all that exists. God is what gives all other contingent things their existence - God is why there is something rather than nothing.

Our Consciousness exhibits properties not found in the material universe - qualia, intentionality, purpose, awareness and so on - which shows we are more than just material objects and there is more to the universe than just material objects. Through our consciousness we can become aware of God who exists in all things.

The search for God is not like the search for properties of material reality - it requires something from our mind, it demands something from us, yet through following a spiritual path we can achieve empirical experience of God and come to know the bliss of the reality of God.

Hart also argues our success in science has blinded us to our lack of awareness of God, and that we should not think that just because we are technologically advanced that means we are are an advanced culture. In many respects we are a very primitive culture.

I felt most of the points Hart made were successful - he does seem to have a very negative view of the modern world which is understandable but there are also plenty of people who are not caught up in desiring only wealth, power or fame and who are trying to make this a better world for everyone.

Whether we are justified in believing in a spiritual reality is also perhaps more problematic than Hart will allow. There are experiments which could have shown there is a spiritual world separate to this material reality - it should be possible to test telepathy, precognition, out of body experiences, recollection of past lives and so on but of course so far no proof has been found.

There are suggestive stories (near death experiences for example) but it is still really just a matter of pure faith whether we do believe in a world beyond the visible.

However this is really one of the biggest questions anyone can ask and the answer can change the whole course of an individual's life. Hart provides an excellent case for taking theism seriously and gives the listener plenty to think about.

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5 people found this helpful

Clear exposition of classical theism for modern

audience. Brilliant writing from DBH setting out a plausible and convincing alternative to modernist world views.

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Steelman what you oppose, atheists

Powerfully argued, beautifully written, deeply thoughtful and pleasantly read. Atheists who are interested in the best arguments for the worldview they oppose need not look any further.

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A must read!

I loved the book. DBH gives a wonderful account on the classical definition of God

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Outstanding

Far too much here for just one listen. Meticulous, broad and informative. A thorough treatment of the metaphysics of being. Some real wisdom on coming with ultimate reality.

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The Real God revealed

The author takes us out of our present mechanistic view of the world and it’s “Supreme Being” (actually a god of sorts, but still a large being among other beings) who lives out there in space. And the author introduces us to Being as such, the Great Reality in whom we live and move and have our being. Being is consciousness. A wonderful revelatory book!

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