Book Review: What Makes Us Moral?

This review, newly published by SPCK, is a response to one of the 'New Atheists', in this case Sam Harris. Hovey subtitles his book "Science, Religion, and the shaping of the moral landscape", and it is a slim, readable volume that gets to the heart of what Harris writes/argues, and engages well. Having previously read bits of Harris, and reviewed his "Letter to A Christian Nation", I was interested to see how Craig Hovey would engage with Harris' interesting vision, and so enjoyed reading this. In a specific sense, this book is a response to Harris's "The Moral Landscape", but you won't necessarily need to have read that book in order to enjoy and appreciate Hovey's offering.

This book does two things, and it does them both well. The first of these is illumined by the front cover - this is a comprehensive Christian response to Sam Harris. For those not in the know, Harris is (According to Wikipedia) an "American author, philosopher, public intellectual and neuroscientist", and he's written a number of books and articles against religion. Hovey responds to him powerfully - first opening with what Sam Harris says, then challenging what Hovey identifies as the 'arrogance of reason . The third chapter of this relatively short book is an excellent discussion of the relationship between Religion and Science - they are not in conflict - and he closes with a discussion of what he calls "A better (but strange) landscape". Simply put, Hovey identifies the weaknesses and flaws in both Harris' Method and intent, and puts Harris' project to rest. As a rebuttal of a specific attempt by a 'New Atheist' to challenge Christianity, this is excellent.

Secondly, and perhaps more usefully, Hovey demonstrates (in a slightly C.S.Lewis-ian style) that the answer to the title question "What Makes us Moral?" is to be found only in a worldview based in the Christian story. This is, as a book, manifestly not a diatribe against science or atheism. It is instead a fundamentally good apologetic for the Christian understanding of morality, goodness, and so on. 

I'd recommend this book to those that have fallen for the 'New Atheist' campaign. It demonstrates the holes - scientific, reasonable, theological and moral holes - in the whole project. And Hovey does this with grace, technically yet readably, and in a relatively short number of pages! This is a good little book that deserves to be read. Its available now from SPCK
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For those whose appetites are whetted by the hints of apologetics victory that I've touched upon in this review, then I'd recommend "There is A God" by late former Atheist philosopher Anthony Flew, as being a far better discussion of some of the issues than what Harris raises. For those interested in the historicity of Jesus, the central person standing apart from the silliness of current debates, then I'd recommend "The Historical Jesus: Five Views", also published by SPCK, which demonstrates that the Christian story is based on rather more reality than many think!