FOR some time now, I have been in a religion-and-atheism dialogue process. What is going on within and between us as we discuss God and God’s existence or non-existence? This is the kind of question to which Christopher Insole, Professor of Philosophical Theology and Ethics at the University of Durham, addresses himself in this lucid, profound, and witty book.
He sets the scene with an account of an ultimately indecisive discussion between his younger self and Professor Richard Swinburne — both committed Christians — about the nature of belief in God, and, in particular, whether God does or does not exist within time. Why do such exchanges invariably fail to change minds?
He has come to the conclusion that “it is all down to desires and hopes that are not to be found on the face of the argument itself.” They are yearnings founded upon a “wanting to be at home in the world”. Four such yearnings in particular: a yearning to address the problem of evil and suffering; yearning for significance, given the problem of the vastness of the universe; a yearning for freedom from, e.g., genetic determination; and a yearning for harmony and unity.
Remarkably succinct chapters on Stoicism, Spinoza, Kant, and the Indian atheist philosopher Akeel Bilgrami demonstrate how such yearnings have been integral to both the breadth and depth of philosophical inquiry. For example, in Spinoza’s case, God, as in “God as Nature”, is merely a kind of placebo that doesn’t add anything substantive to Spinoza’s universe — perhaps an example of what Insole describes as FOMO: fear of missing out!
In Kant’s case, a yearning for freedom is identified as key to unlocking the essence of his relationship with God, while Bilgrami teaches that values and disvalues inherent in the universe are up to the job of enchanting us, and motivating our thoughts, words, and deeds without bringing God into it — a somewhat over-optimistic view of both the universe and human nature.
These chapters culminate in a key chapter on Anselm. It is yearning to know God, and to know more about God (and there is always more — “Christianity is greedy!”) that drove Anselm in his Proslogion. We can name things or people without knowing everything there is to know about them — and, in the case of God, there is always more than we know, thus triggering a yearning that transcends whatever else in the world stimulates our imagination.
In the remaining chapters, Insole moves from exploring rationality in relation to theism, atheism, and agnosticism to exploring personal experiences and emotional aspects invariably in play. It is about how God is experienced as present to, and in relationship with, the believer.
Here he returns to Swinburne and an account of his solitary childhood, self-sacrificing mother, and his parents’ unhappy marriage. It comes as no surprise that Swinburne argues for God as existing within time as, for example, a companion, especially when we are feeling most alone. Insole follows this with his own testimony to belief in God outside of time, and his own lived experience contrasting with that experienced by Swinburne. Here his embrace of a “feel-tank” rather than “think tank” approach to God-talk is very much in evidence. As Clare Carlisle has put it, “to think feelingly, to feel thoughtfully”.
This takes us into his final updating of his faith, now predicated not, as earlier, on the problem of evil, but now on death and what it reveals about love — “the love that remains after life”. That kind of love is explored in relationship to his father — a devout Catholic — and especially the renegotiation of Christopher’s relationship with faith consequent upon his father’s death. This is movingly evoked here as he concludes: “It seems I have kept faith with faith after all.” This is biography as theology at its best.
This is a book that deserves to be widely read; and the title will surely go viral.
The Rt Revd Dr John Saxbee is a former Bishop of Lincoln.
If God is the Answer, What is the Question?
Christopher Insole
Oneworld £10.99
(978-1-83643-215-9)
Church Times Bookshop £9.89