John Gray is scathing about the intellectual pretensions of the 'new atheists' with their 'smears and fulminations' but sees in them a fault line that has run right through most forms of atheism since the 18th century. This is that in reacting against the creator-God of the Jewish and Christian traditions they have at the same time taken over many of their assumptions ... for Gray most of these forms of atheism are a form of repressed religion ... Unfortunately he does not make any real attempt to understand why the first Christians came to see Jesus the way they did and why, in their terms, this seemed justified ... while Dostoevsky was conflicted about his faith, Gray seriously underplays the strong Christian element both in his life and major characters ... This is a highly readable, fascinating book that jerks the debate on religion versus atheism right out of its crusted rut into the light of serious intellectual scrutiny.
A master contrarian in the tradition of philosophers Lev Shestov and Emil Cioran, Gray uses paradox not just for rhetorical effect but to a philosophical end ... Gray has emerged as a unique thinker precisely because he has no time for the pious lies and empty niceties of the academic establishment. He seems to have a sixth sense that helps him detect whatever is shallow, self-flattering and self-deceptive in our notions of ourselves. He is erudite, witty and persuasive.
Seven Types of Atheism does not offer a rigorous or exhaustive taxonomy of nonbelief. The seven sections mainly provide a convenient way of organizing Gray’s likes and (more often) dislikes ... the reader, especially if she has encountered similar arguments in Gray’s previous books, may find a question arising in her mind: So what? ... Gray is at his best in...sketches of writers he admires, as well as in the many similar sketches scattered through his previous books ... Gray asks us...'Other animals do not need a purpose in life.… Can we not think of the aim of life as being simply to see?' With considerable respect for Gray (and for Conrad, Santayana, et al.), I would answer no.
Seven Types of Atheism is an impressively erudite work, ranging from the Gnostics to Joseph Conrad, St Augustine to Bertrand Russell. In the end, it settles for a brand of atheism that finds enough mystery in the material world itself without needing to supplement it with a higher one. Yet this, too, is just as much a throwback to the Victorian age as Dawkins’s evangelical campaign against religious evangelism. Authors such as George Eliot, reeling from the death of God, took solace in the unfathomable intricacies of the universe. Gray condemns secular humanism as the continuation of religion by other means, but his own faith in some vague, inexplicable enigma beyond the material is open to exactly the same charge.
Seven Types of Atheism is an impressively erudite work, ranging from the Gnostics to Joseph Conrad, St Augustine to Bertrand Russell. In the end, it settles for a brand of atheism that finds enough mystery in the material world itself without needing to supplement it with a higher one. Yet this, too, is just as much a throwback to the Victorian age as Dawkins’s evangelical campaign against religious evangelism. Authors such as George Eliot, reeling from the death of God, took solace in the unfathomable intricacies of the universe. Gray condemns secular humanism as the continuation of religion by other means, but his own faith in some vague, inexplicable enigma beyond the material is open to exactly the same charge.
... elegant ... This list [of the types of atheisms] shows that Mr. Gray’s initial definition of atheism is not quite right, even by his own lights... But the definition doesn’t really matter—what matters are the actual historical movements that Mr. Gray discusses, unified only by their desire to characterize a world without God ... The book is beautifully written and full of insights from Mr. Gray’s wide learning. It is refreshing to read a book about atheism that departs from the usual pieties of the science and religion debate today ... Surprising as it may seem for a book on such a weighty subject, Seven Types of Atheism is very entertaining ... There is a tension at the heart of the book, however [as the book wants to present diversity within atheism, while also generalizing].
Always erudite and convincing, Gray is sometimes given to interesting categorical statements ... He is inarguably a reliable guide through a thicket of famous names associated with atheism—Lenin, Marx, Conrad, and Hitler, among them—and he offers solid introductions to the work of lesser-known figures, including Jan Bockelson and Isaac La Peyrère. In addressing his subjects, Gray takes deep dives into history, examining the evolution of ideas in a generally accessible way. A valuable examination of one of the many fascinating junctures where religion and philosophy meet.
Over the past two decades, at the end of a long career as an academic political philosopher, John Gray has written a series of short, studiously unacademic books ... Though they vary in emphasis and point of attack, all advance the same essential argument—that our ostensibly secular post-Enlightenment age has failed to face up to the full implications of its materialist worldview, that we remain haunted by the ghosts of Western Christianity ... The latest book in this series, Seven Types of Atheism, is a sustained effort to do just that ... his categories usefully remind us that different ways of being an atheist exist and demonstrate how much most of them owe to the traditions they claim to reject ... Gray insists that he does not mean to convert anyone, but he obviously finds these thinkers far more congenial than the other five 'types' ... Many readers will disapprove of the idea that withdrawal from public life in search of inner freedom might be an appropriate response to political instability ... I suspect that few people will take up his invitation to look upon our current political situation with equanimity. There is undoubtedly something admirable in those who can view their own suffering sub specie aeternitatis, but it is a different matter to view the suffering of others this way, particularly when their suffering vastly exceeds your own.
Reviewing the lives, principles, and practices of prominent and obscure atheists from centuries past, Gray...challenges the presuppositions and positions of contemporary atheists and secular liberals in this powerful book ... Going after the sacred cows of atheism, Gray’s work is more of a polemic than it is pure explanation or historical overview. Although prone to some sweeping statements, Gray alluringly invites readers to reconsider what atheism is and should be.
Gray spoils any chance of a big reveal by admitting that only two of the seven types are worth our time ... With his openly partisan stance as his caveat emptor, Gray intends his capsule histories and philosophies to provoke dialogue among atheists, people of faith, and everybody else. An occasionally tedious but concise and well-researched overview.
