Freshly fished from the Amazon is this book by David Robertson. I’d heard really good things about it here and sampled a few bits here.

What will follow is a self indulgent series of posts that essentially summarise the content of each of his chapters. The reason I’m doing this is to hold myself to account. I need to get through the book quickly and understand its contents. What better way than to presume to tell the world [for that read ‘visitors of this blog - family and close friends then…’] what it’s about!

Robertson’s book is essentially a collection of letters written to Professor Dawkins in response to each of the chapters of his book, The God Delusion.

The God Delusion is the latest offering from Britain’s most famous and vociferous atheist. The God Delusion continues to attract far too much attention on both sides of the atlantic. Wonderfully, it’s stirred up some of the finest Christian thinkers to respond at an academic level. However, few layman will have the access or the inclination to interact with this fine and necessary material. If that situation goes unaddressed the false impressions and myths presented and propagated will continue to gain acceptance.

And so, Robertson’s aim is straightforward. He writes,

‘My aim is to rpesent one person’s response to Dawkins and to do so from a wide and personal perspective. My aim is not to convert, nor to insult, nor even to defend. Rather it is to challenge some of the basic myths that Dawkins uses and encourages in his book, in order that you may think and consider these things for yourself’.

Robertson is clear about his own Christian presuppositions, his non-scientific background and his desire to want to interact at a popular and personal level. But he’s also clear that he thinks that Dawkins’ approach is parasitical. He writes,

‘I believe that he [Dawkins] is appealing not to people’s intelligence and knowledge but rather to their ignorance. This series of letters is presenetd to the reader in order to challenge some of the atheistic myths that Dawkins taps into and feeds … I call them atheistic myths because they are beliefs that are widely held or assumed without necessarily having been thought through or evidenced’.

The appetite should be whetted. You could do a lot worse than buy it and read it yourself! Try here.

You’d be forgiven for thinking that we’ve done nothing else this Christmas holidays but watch DVDs. You’d be wrong. We also went to the cinema. 

But before you call social services to make allegations of child abuse let me put your mind at rest. There’s been no over exposure to televisual stimulation. We’ve carefully rationed their intake of C-Beebies to compensate. In the light of recent health scares we’ve also been very aware of the dangers of under exposure to a vital source of vitamin D. We’ve actually managed a trip to the Princess Diana Memorial Playground in Kensington Gardens and a visit to the London Transport Museum. But around tea and crumpet time with scratchy kids and weary parents there are few better options than a 90 minute offering from Disney, Pixar or Dreamworks. Their ministry is a blessed thing!

Our film of choice this afternoon was about an animated collection of fairytale characters. This meant that the usual question from number one son, ‘Daddy, is this real’, was deemed unnecessary.

Essentially ‘Shrek the Third’ is a story about an ogre who refuses to accept responsibility. Shrek won’t accept responsibility for ruling and he won’t accept the responsibility of fatherhood. To be fair, his track record does little to instil confidence. He hasn’t derived much self belief from the time he’s stepped in for his bed ridden father in law. He’s shown little aptitude for taking charge of the kingdom and so why should he fair any better with his children? Understandably Shrek is therefore reluctant to take on a role for which he feels ill suited. And so, he’d far rather head back to the swamp with the fragrant Fiona to enjoy the quiet life. We can all identify with that! Well, sort of. Apart from the swamp, taking the throne and being married to an ogre, obviously. But it’s not only his past poor performance that’s convinced him that he’s not cut out for responsibility. It’s the lack of a credible role model. The one person who should have shown him how to be a father tried to consume him. There’s not much to learn from a man who tries to eat his offspring.

Shrek is brought face to face with his insecurities throughout the film. His vivid dream about children and the fireside encounter with Merlin do little to calm his anxieties. But it’s perhaps in his interaction with Artie, the alternative heir to the throne, that he’s exposed most fully to his fears. Artie is hardly kingly material. In the high school food chain he’s rock bottom. He’s the kid even the nerds persecute. Artie lacks confidence. He’s also reluctant to sit on the throne. It’s as though Shrek were looking into a mirror and seeing the questions about his limitation, his inadequacies as a leader, or his refusal to grow up reflected back at him.

Dreamworks’ answer to Shrek’s parenting insecurities is ‘the thing that matters most is what you think of yourself’. I tried to tease out what this meant with the kids and asked them whether they thought this was true. There’s no such thing as entertainment without education in our family! Well there’s not such thing as entertainment without indoctrination in Disney’s so it’s fair game. I don’t want my kids to take onboard a world view unawares, like I have. So we talk about what we’ve watched. I may be raising a generation of ‘Barry Normans’.

‘The thing that matters most is what you think of yourself’. There’s just enough truth in that statement to make it believable. We all know that crippling self doubt and low self esteem are a massive hindrance to reaching maturity, exercising authority and taking responsibility. But let’s not overstate it. It needs to be more nuanced than that. It may be that within the narrative, it is. By the end of the film Shrek has taken on responsibility as a father and he seems to be enjoying it. But he’s left the task of ruling the kingdom to Artie. Perhaps Shrek does know himself and therefore know his limitations. And so ‘knowing ourselves’ as long as it means ‘knowing our capabilities and limitations’ is a prudent strategy. Having a healthy self regard to our strengths and weaknesses is a sensible approach. But that’s not how people are going to hear Dreamworks’ soundbite. People really will think that what matters most is what I think of myself. They’ll believe Artie’s words that ‘the only thing that can get in your way is you’. We need to be clear where this can take us. The early rounds of the X-Factor.

So what does matter most?

It can’t be that the thing that matters most is what I think of myself. I may have an overly inflated view of myself. But that doesn’t mean it’s accurate. It just means I’m delusional. Our Saturday night television is full of well meaning deluded young adults. They’ve been fed this diet of ‘just believe in yourself’ empowerment nonsense with their mother’s milk and their Disney DVDs. And we’re reaping what we’ve sown. We’re raising a generation of kids who clearly can’t sing, dance or act. But what they have in spades is unwavering self belief. It’s painful. And we’ve allowed them to do this to themselves. It’s embarassing. And we’re responsible. In part. They desperately need to come to terms with their capabilities and limitations and not over reach.

What matters most is not even what my peers think of me. Sure they’ll all be very affirming because they’ve recognised that’s a value that Disney also esteems. But sometimes we need accurate feedback and not just the affirming kind. That’s real love. As long as it’s done sensitively. I’m not suggesting that Simon Cowell is our role model here!

Of course, what matters most is what God thinks. At the end of the day it’s His opinion that will count more than my vaunted self esteem. I don’t want our kids growing up massaging their own egos with comforting thoughts about their own self assessment. I want them to grow up fearing the Lord and wondering what he thinks. Not in a dreadful terrified sort of way. But in a respectful mildly apprehensive sort of a way. God is not to be taken lightly. And they need to know that His assessment of what we’ve done with the life He’s giving us far outweighs what we think of ourselves and what our peers think of us.

For your own enjoyment and education you can find reviews here, here and here! It was Abigail Coleman’s review on Damaris that got me thinking most.