Outgrowing God?

“Outgrowing God? is an important and insightful book. Williams knows his way around an argument and is well-versed on the key tension points with the thought of the New Atheists. The brilliance of this book is especially evident in two unique features that make it stand out among other works in the field of Christian philosophy and apologetics. First, Williams wisely focuses his attention on a detailed examination of the central figure among the New Atheists—Richard Dawkins. This strategy allows Williams to interact thoroughly with a very important figure. Second, I love the dialogical format. This enhances the book’s readability and enables Williams not only to present compelling content, but also to illustrate how to use this content in real-life interactions. I highly recommend it.”


—J. P. Moreland, Distinguished Professor of Philosophy, Talbot School of Theology, Biola University, and author of Scientism and Secularism





“Imagine an educator’s utopia: a small group of students from very different perspectives, Christian and non-Christian, calmly and insightfully discussing as controversial and influential a series of claims as Richard Dawkins makes in his book, Outgrowing God. The students can quickly navigate their phones and tablets to all the right sites to come up with key, relevant quotations of major theologians and philosophers, and they even seem to care for each other and respect each other but still ask all the hard but important questions. That is precisely the scenario Peter Williams imagines and creates in this delightful dialogue/critique of one influential atheist’s philosophy, with ample footnotes and bibliographies to all the relevant sources. If only I knew where the café was that this group keeps meeting at, I’d join their conversation in a heartbeat! At least I can eavesdrop thanks to Williams’s expertise.”


—Craig L. Blomberg, Distinguished Professor of New Testament, Denver Seminary





“Peter Williams has written another solid, readable response to the ‘New Atheism.’ In this engaging dialogical format, Williams challenges the slogans and rhetoric of Richard Dawkins and other critics. The author patiently discusses these criticisms, incisively exposes the assumptions behind them, and effectively responds to their faulty reasoning.”


—Paul Copan, Pledger Family Chair of Philosophy and Ethics, Palm Beach Atlantic University, and author of Is God a Moral Monster? and A Little Book for New Philosophers





“Couched in the dialogue between a Christian and her less-believing contemporaries, Outgrowing God? provides many stimulating arguments on an introductory, easy-to-understand level that challenge the reader to think and to seriously engage with the big questions about God. Williams’s communicative approach quickly captures one’s attention, tackling decisive philosophical, theological, historical, and scientific arguments, and providing many useful references to books, articles, and websites.”


—Martin Heide, Professor of Semitic Languages, Philipps University of Marburg, Germany