The passionate intellect : Christian faith and the discipleship of the mind / Alister McGrath ; design Cindy Kiple.

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Christianity Today

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Introduction
• Part 1 The Purpose, Place and Relevance of Christian Theology
• 1 Mere Theology: The Landscape of Faith (1)
• 2 Mere Theology: The Landscape of Faith (2)
• 3 The Gospel and the Transformation of Reality: George Herbert's "Elixir"
• 4 The Cross, Suffering and Theological Bewilderment: Reflections on Martin Luther and C. S. Lewis
• 5 The Theatre of the Glory of God: A Christian View of Nature
• 6 The Tapestry of Faith: Theology and Apologetics
• Part 2 Engaging with Our Culture
• 7 The Natural Sciences: Friends or Foes of Faith?
• 8 Religious and Scientific Faith: The Case of Charles Darwin's Origin of Species
• 9 Augustine of Hippo on Creation and Evolution
• 10 Does Religion Poison Everything? The New Atheism and Religious Belief
• 11 Atheism and the Enlightenment: Reflections on the Intellectual Roots of the New Atheism
• Notes
• Index

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Booklist Review

McGrath's objective is two-pronged. First, he wants to remind Christians that an intellectually vibrant theology is not inimical to Christian life, worship, and faith. He spends the first half describing theology as a discipline that informs and sustains the Christian vision of reality and as a passion of the mind to understand God's nature and ways. Second, McGrath wants to point out the benefits of a theology that includes an enrichment of faith and a deeper engagement with the culture and concerns of the modern world. It is this latter benefit that he hopes will help combat the contemporary critiques of religion from Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, and others. Indeed, the second half of the book is a counter to some of the claims of those he calls the New Atheists, though none of them will be convinced by any of McGrath's arguments. This will serve as a good introduction for Christians who may be uncertain about, or have been unwilling to engage in, theological reflection, and to reassure them that rebuttals to the claims of those who deride religious belief can be made.--McConnell, Christopher Copyright 2010 Booklist