Book plug

I just HAVE to plug Peter Hitchens' book The Rage Against God: How Atheism Led Me to Faith.

Peter, brother of famous anti-theist Christopher (who is suffering from advanced esophagal cancer and hasn't long to live - spare a prayer for him) has written a gripping read of his journey from nonbelief to Christianity.
It is honest, raw, and humble.
Throughout it, I keep thinking how much I'd like to have lunch with the author. He comes across as so very genuine. 

I just finished the part where Peter sees van der Weyden's The Last Judgment in the hotel in which he was staying in France. Upon seeing the painting's subjects naked and not confined to any one time period by fashion, Peter realizes that faith is present-day and not some dusty bit of antiquity. He sees in the faces of the damned the faces of his contemporaries, his own face. Shaken, he notes that one poor soul is actually vomiting in terror.
Yikes.

A good read, not just for the conversion angle, but Hitchens' stories of growing up in 1950s England, living in Soviet Russia as it collapses, and visiting Mogadishu are gripping on their own.

Amazon description:

Here, for the first time, in his new book The Rage Against God, Peter Hitchens, brother of prominent atheist Christopher Hitchens, chronicles his personal journey through disbelief into a committed Christian faith. With unflinching openness and intellectual honesty, Hitchens describes the personal loss and philosophical curiosity that led him to burn his Bible at prep school and embrace atheism in its place. From there, he traces his experience as a journalist in Soviet Moscow, and the critical observations that left him with more questions than answers, and more despair than hope for how to live a meaningful life. With first-hand insight into the blurring of the line between politics and the Church, Hitchens reveals the reasons why an honest assessment of Atheism cannot sustain disbelief in God. In the process, he provides hope for all believers who, in the words of T. S. Eliot, may discover 'the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.'


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