The God That Did Not Fail
Robert Royal, The God That Did Not Fail: How Religion Built and Sustains the West (Encounter Books, 2010), 336 pages, US$25.95.
Robert Royal’s accessible book The God That Did Not Fail is a take on The God That Failed (1949), a well-known collection of essays in which six famous men, including Arthur Koestler, tell of how they changed their minds about Marxism, one of the gods that failed during the twentieth century, the others being the gods we made of Darwinism, Nietzscheism and Freudianism. Royal’s book is more than a take, though. It also complements the intellectual character of the papacy under Benedict XVI. Anyone interested in understanding the historical relationship between faith and reason—and wanting respite from the way Christianity is portrayed by the media, perceived by popular culture, anathematised by the intelligentsia, and criticised by many Christians themselves—should read it. There are lots of cartoons floating about and many people, including those who…
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