The book is not a refutation of atheism per se, but a biblical treatment on the larger topic of unbelief using psychological categories. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the book. This book was written before the phenomenon of the New Atheists (which I don’t see as new in content nor even in it’s fury against God, contrary to what some observers might say about this movement’s attitude; it’s just repackaged and marketed as new that’s all). Nevertheless, it’s still relevant. One thing that I took away from this book is that the author pointed out how a lot of the philosophers’ argument against God has been psychological in nature. Freud’s argument against God is an attempt to explain the origin of man’s religiosity as the result of fear of the unknown. Marx thought of religion as the opiate of the masses. Nietzsche saw religion as the crutch of the weak to impose against the strong. Yet, in all of this Sproul makes the observation that just because one gives a possible psychological motive for religion, it is not in essence a refutation or an argument against God’s existence. The book also has a very good chapter that features an exposition of Romans 1 concerning unbelief. As I was reading it I had to wonder why Sproul is not Presuppositional in his apologetics. The other chapter that stand out in this book was the one on the Trauma of God and the Holy. It was excellent, bringing out the discussion of how the idea of meeting God is painted in Scripture as being so aweful (full of awe) that it is dreadful for mankind. It also has an interesting discussion about being seen, gazing, staring and also nakedness in theological perspective. Excellent book in developing a theology of unbelief.
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The Domain for Truth 