I’m currently re-reading Unapologetic on the strength of your recommendation (I bought and read it earlier in the year). Wow, Spufford packs a punch. He is a welcome change from the trite, triumphalistic formulas for happiness, success and comfort that too often pass for Christian teaching. He debunks the common explanations for suffering, which, though well-intentioned, are actually quite useless (particularly for people who are suffering). He strikes a good balance, bringing real intellectual substance to the task of defending Christianity while recognising science’s natural limitations in illuminating truth. He exposes the arrogance of atheism brilliantly.

I do think he is a little arrogant himself in asserting that evolution is definitely the method used by God in creation. I am not saying he is wrong; I am just questioning the confidence with which he makes that assertion. I think he overstates the popularity of evolution over a literal understanding of Genesis 1-3; I would call it at around 50-50.

I kind of want to agree with his conclusions on homosexual acts, but can’t see a way to accomplish that with intellectual integrity. I won’t say any more on that because I don’t want to set off a firestorm on your blog.

A final comment on his language, while trying not to tut-tut. For me, one of the skills of writing is to convey emotion without resorting to expletives, so he loses a few points there. I wonder how he squares his language with his conscience, given that he must be aware of the Bible’s exhortations to clean speech? Perhaps there is a reason for it in addition to his anger: it may be a strategy to get the book—a defence of Christianity—onto secular bookshelves.

Overall, an absorbing and thought-provoking read.

It means you just got a “hip injury.”
Philip