Overview
Justin Brierley is a first-rate presenter of Christian apologetics. This title, ‘Unbelievable?’ reveals the author’s warmth, especially toward those with opposing views. I often skim-read books, but this one I read through very carefully. I commend it to you.
Justin’s approachability extends across all religions, and into atheism and agnosticism. His ‘Unbelievable?’ programme on Premier Radio has been running for over 10 years. The book brings out some of the editions of the programme, and also helps Justin express his faith in these pages. I wish him well.
SPCK have published a very good book, and one which should be read across all Christian groups and into wider society.
The Author
This is a book of Christian apologetics: ‘Apologetics is an ancient branch of Christian theology and philosophy which goes back to the beginning of the church … The gospel is the ‘what’ and apologetics is the ‘why’’. That’s exactly what Justin Brierley does. He is employed by Premier Christian Radio, and runs the ‘Unbelievable?’ series of radio programmes on a Saturday afternoon. I salute Justin’s courage in setting up ‘Unbelievable?’ in late November 2005 and 2.5 million downloads of the show were recorded at the last count. It could so easily have gone the other way!
Justin is also Senior Editor of Premier’s ‘Christianity’ magazine. He is a radio presenter and a magazine editor, and this book brings together his understanding of Christian apologetics, at a time when it’s probably very much needed in society today. Sometimes it’s not an ‘easy’ book to read, but is written in a way that takes you from one chapter to the next very clearly. I guess this is the mark of a good magazine editor!
The intro says, ‘a wonderfully clear, winsome and accessible case for Christianity from a man who has hosted many of the world’s most prominent sceptics and agnostics’. The foreword is - tellingly and suitably - by Alister McGrath, Professor of Science and Religion at the University of Oxford. A ‘big’ book brings forward some major names!
The Book
It’s clearly a ‘gospel’ book, and it is a book most definitely full of Christian apologetics. I loved Justin’s understanding of the gospel, and as each chapter went by, I was amazed at how much he believed what he was saying. Atheism means a denial of the existence of God. The book is sub-headed, ‘Why after 10 years of talking with atheists, I’m still a Christian’. Yes, there are always issues in the book (one’s which Justin knows very well about). Yet he is gracious in his attempts to provide evidence on the crucifixion and the resurrection; but at the same time recognising that some people will not entertain this understanding of the Christian religion.
The first six pages are compliments from those leaders who also love this book. One says that ‘Justin Brierley stands at the top of those who host high quality podcasts on religious matters’. I think he’s right. It’s very hard to find someone who is good with this type of material. How do you ‘love’ what you stand for, but at the same time are gracious towards those who do not believe anything that you subscribe to? Justin manages this superbly, and whilst I do not know him, this does come over so clearly throughout the book. You can sense it throughout all the chapters.
The book contains nine chapters. His introduction says that ‘Conversations matter’. Justin begins chapter 1 in ‘Creating better conversations’; always a good place to start! Chapters 2-4 look at ‘God and human existence, value and purpose’. Chapter 5-6 deal with ‘Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection’, Chapter 7 looks at ‘suffering’, Chapter 8 is ‘My 10 minutes with Richard Dawkins’ and Chapter 9 looks at the ‘Christian story of reality’. This is followed by notes, references and finally, ‘Premier at a glance’!
Justin deals with the ‘Big Bang’. The universe is definitely expanding. Why? He explores gravity: ‘Have you thought about how incredibly bizarre this force is? It’s is the universal superglue’. Twice he says, ‘That’s why God is the best explanation of human existence itself’. His explanation of the complexity of the universe is wonderfully compelling. Without a higher force behind it, it is very hard to see how it could really operate.
Later Justin says, ‘Atheism and Christianity tell two very different stories. One is the story of ultimate purposelessness, and the other is a story of ultimate meaning and hope …. I find it very hard to believe that the rational and ordered universe we live in came from nowhere and is headed nowhere’.
Brierley takes apart so many of the anti-stories relating to Jesus' past history. So many are simply just not true! He looks at ‘Jesus the Guru’, ‘Jesus the Zealot’ and ‘Jesus the Husband’. He’s good at this, and his stories ring true in so many ways.
In the rise of ‘Jesus mysticism’, Justin looks carefully at the Four Gospels relating to Jesus life. Was Jesus truly alive? Brierley concludes that the New Testament is historically reliable. He further concludes that Jesus really did rise from the dead. He also states that ‘Having any evidence at all for the life of Jesus is a minor miracle in itself’.
The problem of ‘suffering’ is the oldest one of all. Throughout the book, Brierley uses the phrase ‘God allows’ suffering, rather than ‘God causes’ suffering. This is an important distinction in the Christian understanding of suffering.
Finally, Justin states that in the UK, church attendance has fallen by nearly 12% of the population in 1980, to 5% in 2015. But in fact, atheism is also going down around the world! Christianity, far from poisoning everything, is responsible for lots of positive things. It is simply not true to say that religion is the cause of so many wars around the world. In fact, Bradford University states that: ‘Very few, if any, wars in the past 100 years have been purely religious wars’.
The content of all of this in the book is extremely good, bearing in mind that Justin is simply a radio journalist, and not an academic nor a university tutor. He can certainly hold an audience and his content is highly readable.
It’s a good book, and one which I would certainly give to any person who was contemplating the Christian faith. I would also encourage you to subscribe to podcasts of ‘Unbelievable’ from Premier Christian Radio.
Eddie Olliffe
Bookseller and Distributor for the past 35 years. Now Consulting Editor of Together Magazine. I blog on Christian Spirituality, UK Publishing and Bookselling matters.