Peter Hitchens, brother of the famous anti-theist, Christopher Hitchens, describes how atheism led him to faith.

The Rage Against God: How Atheism Led Me to Faith
Peter Hitchens
Harper Collins 2010
ISBN 9780310320319

Peter and Christopher Hitchens have a shared heritage of British nominal Christianity and the embracing of atheism as a form of intellectual emancipation. ‘I set fire to my Bible on the playing fields of my Cambridge boarding school one bright, windy spring afternoon in 1967. I was 15 years old’ (page 7).
Peter has since returned to an active Christian faith after decades of leftist-atheism, whilst his brother Christopher has become a great preacher of the new atheism. This book is a banquet of biography, a prophetic evaluation of 20th Century Western Christian culture, a defence of common objections to the
Christian faith, and an undressing of self-assured anti-theism.
Peter has written this book as a record of his own journey, and also to help those who might be potentially ‘enchanted by the arguments of the anti-religious intellects of our age’ (page 2). Having been on the inside, he is able to shine a light on the motives and arrogance that makes up much of popular atheism.
Peter argues that the biggest weakness of his brother’s ‘faith’ is that ‘he often assumes that moral truths are self-evident, attributes purpose to the universe and swerves dangerously round the problem of conscience—which surely cannot be conscience if he is right—he is astonishingly unable to grasp that these assumptions are problems for his argument. This inability closes his mind to a great part of the debate, and so this makes his atheist faith insuperable for as long as he himself chooses to accept it’ (page 3). This inability is revealed with insufferable repetition in the 2009 documentary Collision—which narrates a string of public debates Christopher Hitchens held with the American Christian pastor and writer, Douglas Wilson. This DVD is highly recommended as both entertaining and thought-provoking viewing (see www.collisionmovie.com).
Peter puts forward a cogent case that the decay of 21st Century Western societies is due to the 20th Century decay of credal Christianity. He is scathing of Church of England nominalism in the last 100 years, especially in relation to English patriotism and the two World Wars. His reflections on the ‘national cult’ of British patriotism also critique our own Anzac traditions and loyalties.
As a professional journalist, Peter’s observations of the 20th Century have a breadth of wisdom and evidence, not least his insights comparing five years of living in Russia and his return to London at the turn of the century. As part of his spiritual journey he observes what effect predominant belief systems have on the virtue of any society: ‘I also concluded that a high moral standard cannot be reached or maintained unless it is generally accepted and understood by an overwhelming number of people. I have since concluded that a hitherto Christian society which was de-Christianised would also face such problems, because I have seen public discourtesy and incivility spreading rapidly in my own country as Christianity is forgotten’ (page 66).
Peter knows 20th century history exceedingly well. He was thoroughly versed in and supportive of leftist atheistic regimes, and of the excuses required to maintain this ideology in the face of repeated atrocity after atrocity. He is now ‘baffled and frustrated by the strange insistence of my anti-theist brother that the cruelty of Communist anti-theist regimes does not reflect badly on his case and his cause. It unquestionably does. Soviet Communism is organically linked to atheism, materialist rationalism and most of the other causes the new atheists support. It used the same language, treasured the same hopes and appealed to the same constituency as atheism today’ (page 100).
The biographical elements are sparse but riveting. The poetic majesty of the KJV and traditional Anglican 1662 Book of Common Prayer liturgy connected and awakened suppressed beliefs for Hitchens. In fact his journey back to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ came in part through his wife and children’s baptism in a traditional Church of England parish. As Anglican Evangelicals, what does it say of us that should we be surprised by this? There is more than one way to skin a secularist cat—of his brother he suggests that ‘it is my belief that passions as strong as his are more likely to be countered by the unexpected force of poetry, which can ambush the human heart at any time’ (page 3).
At 160 pages this is a concise book, eminently readable and well worth giving to our atheist friends. It represents a challenge to evangelicals who, being weak on history and aesthetics, are often left to debate on the narrow turf of Enlightenment categories. It highlights Christian failures but it also offers philosophical and historical ways forward from our Anglican heritage.
As a weakness, presentation of the person and work of Jesus Christ is significantly absent in this book. But it is a penetrating critique of the spirit of our age and I pray it opens eyes for many to consider the ascended Saviour-King.

Wayne Schuller is Vicar of Berwick Anglican Church in Melbourne’s booming south-eastern growth corridor.

John Wilson responds to Andrew Malone’s introduction to Leviticus.

Andrew Malone in the last issue of Essentials has provided us with a helpful introduction to the book on Leviticus with the aim of getting it, along with other neglected parts of the Old Testament, back on the agenda. He sees it as fertile soil for nurturing believers in biblical theology. He has listed five possible themes to be explored.

‘Lectures for Lent’ assumed that Leviticus could form a sermon series in Lent. How will the congregation know what Lent is? How will they be reminded that the weeks of Lent have traditionally been set aside for congregations to do some extra study? Will there be a clear linking between Jesus’ 40 days being tested in the wilderness and the period between Ash Wednesday and Good Friday as the church has traditionally done, so that people see this period as an opportunity for reflection on their own progress and purpose as Christians and also the opportunity to do some extra Bible study?

Lent and the Gospels. Andrew has helpfully provided many links between the contents of Leviticus and the New Testament. In some churches there has been a tendency with such sermon series to concentrate the readings of Scripture on large portions of the book being studied (in this case Leviticus) and to put aside even the Gospel reading. But the reading from the Gospels has always been at the heart of the church’s teaching because its content is of first importance (1 Corinthians 15:3–11) and it is considered impossible to develop a Christian life-style without reference to the person of Jesus himself (rather than a doctrinal teaching about Jesus). To neglect the Gospels is to neglect the narrative which lies at the heart of Christian faith. How will the readings from the Gospels each week be honoured in a way that is fully appropriate to their centrality? The actual Gospel readings have been designated traditionally in the church’s calendar. Will these readings be followed, or is it thought that others might be substituted?
It is very common for congregations to stand during the reading from the Gospels during the service of Holy Communion. In this way the congregation acknowledges that the events narrated in these books are central to Christian faith. In fact there could be no Christian faith without them. In no way does standing for the Gospel reading diminish the authority of other parts of Scripture. How will our congregations otherwise recognize what is of first importance in the reading of the Gospel (1 Corinthians 15:3–11)?

The Relationship between the Old and the New Testament. Andrew’s article raises this issue by the examples he gives of links between the two. His aim is to nurture believers in biblical theology. The question must be always: Is there ever a Christian biblical theology which is not closely integrated with the contents of the Gospels? If Jesus is ‘the pioneer and perfecter of our faith’ (Hebrews 12:2) is it really possible to be nurtured in a truly biblical way without absorbing what the Gospels have to teach us about Jesus?

The Sermon Series and the daily experiences of the congregation and its membership. Does the sermon series exist, as it were, in its own separate world as a general example of biblical theology? Or has the teacher attended to the actual pastoral situation of members of the congregation? Is the teacher also the pastor, the ‘pastor and teacher’ of Ephesians 4:11 or has the one ministry been separated into two?

Needless to say, what is advocated here is that those who have the responsibility for determining the preaching program give careful consideration as to how they will integrate it into such periods as Lent. They are also urged to give careful consideration as to how the centrality of the Gospel readings will be honoured appropriately and as to how preaching and teaching will at the same time be pastoral in its intent.


John Wilson was assistant bishop in the Diocese of Melbourne and is author of (among others) Christianity Alongside Islam (Acorn 2010). He died in January 2011.

I love Tasmania too much to leave it the way I found it

John Harrower reflects on ten years as Bishop of Tasmania.

It is a decade since I became the eleventh Bishop of Tasmania.
It is wonderful, yet challenging to reflect on what God has done in my life: where He has taken us and where we are going.
From my background in engineering, economics and political science and involvement as a Director researching the impact of technological and demographic change on Australia’s industrial structure, God took me, my wife and our two sons to Argentina as missionaries with the Church Missionary Society (CMS).
In Argentina during the years 1979–88 we worked with university students, helped grow a church, and published and distributed Christian literature. I was ordained deacon in 1984 and priest in 1986 in the Diocese of Argentina. God brought us back to Australia and in 1989 I became the Vicar of St Paul’s Glen Waverly and later of St Barnabas’ Glen Waverly (GWAC). We focused on community building, discipleship, evangelism, youth, ministry formation and relating the Gospel of Jesus Christ to different cultures.
In 2000 God called Gayelene and me to Tasmania. I love Tasmanians deeply and throughout the past ten years have worked to model healthy ministry. I have endeavoured to lead by example through the righting of past wrongs and challenging Anglicans to be people who are prayerful activists, enlivened by Biblical faith and the power of the Holy Spirit.
I want Tasmanian Anglicans to be risk takers in mission, to be focused on reaching the communities to which they belong with the Good News of Jesus Christ. I have aimed to create a permission giving culture in which it is alright to try new ministries, new ways of being church, to engage creatively and relevantly with Tasmanians of all shapes and sizes. Essentially I yearn for us to be a healthy church taking initiatives in missions, so that God may transform the life of our Christian communities and all Tasmanians.
As I look forward to the coming years as Bishop of Tasmania neither my desire to see all Tasmanians committed to Jesus Christ, nor my desire for a healthy Anglican church transforming the life of Tasmania, have changed.
In Tasmania we continue to build the kingdom of God and his people, the Church. We continue to look for new ways to reach out to people of all ages, stages and interests. We obviously face challenges in all of this. Not everyone is willing or wants to change, yet for others change cannot happen fast enough! While overall we are a Church in decline, God is gracious and we are seeing churches growing. I would love to see more church plants, new ministries, old ministries strengthened and all generations healthily represented.
So if you love the Triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, if you love God’s people, have a heart for the lost, are a prayerful activist enlivened by Biblical faith and the power of the Holy Spirit, are willing to take risks in mission and be an example to all, then I would love you to pray for us and for us to talk with you! :-)

Bishop John Harrower is Bishop of Tasmania.
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GPO Box 748, Hobart Tasmania 7001
(03) 6220 2020
www.anglicantas.org.au