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Why We Believe

Finding Meaning in Uncertain Times

Published by Oneworld Publications
Distributed by Simon & Schuster

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About The Book

Belief: surely it’s a relic from the past, a hangover from a superstitious age that is totally out of sync with today’s rational, science-led culture?

'A timely, often bracing and always highly stimulating book.' Tom Holland, author of Dominion and co-host of The Rest is History

The dominant narratives of our age dismiss any form of belief as lying somewhere on a dark spectrum between ‘weird’ and ‘toxic’. But as our world grows ever more confusing, our societies atomised, contemplating something larger than ourselves could not be more essential.

Elegant and thought-provoking, Why We Believe argues that accepting the unknown is not a failure of rational thought, but an existential necessity. Bestowing community, consolation and the ability to negotiate uncertainty, believing in what we cannot prove is intellectually emboldening and spiritually enriching. As the discriminatory rhetoric regarding people of faith slowly recedes, here is a manifesto for the re-enchantment of the Western mind.

'Scholarly, compulsively readable and with gems of information on every page... a must read.' Revd Fergus Butler-Gallie, author of A Field Guide to the English Clergy

About The Author

Alister McGrath is emeritus Andreas Idreos Professor of Science and Religion and Director of the Ian Ramsey Centre for Science and Religion at the University of Oxford. Among his many books, translated into 27 languages, are Dawkins’ God and C. S. Lewis: A Life. Before turning to theology, he was a committed Marxist and a student of the natural sciences with a PhD in molecular biophysics.

Product Details

  • Publisher: Oneworld Publications (January 23, 2025)
  • Length: 352 pages
  • ISBN13: 9780861549238

Raves and Reviews

'A salutary corrective to those who might imagine they have emancipated themselves from belief, and a reassurance to those who have not that to believe is the very essence of being human. A timely, often bracing and always highly stimulating book.' —Tom Holland, author of Dominion

'Why We Believe is a timely and important book. It asks and answers exactly the sort of questions about belief and the very nature of who we are that are most needed at this stage of history. Scholarly, compulsively readable and with gems of information on every page, it is a must read for anyone who has ever wondered why and how humans come to believe.' — Revd Fergus Butler-Gallie, author of A Field Guide to the English Clergy

'Taking on the "great over-simplifiers", McGrath shows that belief is not some weird fault in human nature, but a vital part of it, a tool for navigating an uncertain word in our endless search for meaning, goodness and significance. A thoughtful, penetrating and engaging read.' —Nick Spencer, author of Magisteria

‘Alister McGrath shows us in this book with (paradoxically) great lucidity, just why we can only ever be "darkly wise", as Alexander Pope put it, about our ordinary assumptions, about scientific conclusions and about ultimate realities – supremely the question of God. Belief is all pervasive, while conversely religious faith may not be a desertion of reason but its intensification and the necessary guarantee of its link to reality. McGrath’s cogent conclusions will surely be of immense help to many perplexed people in our perplexed times.’ —Professor John Milbank

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