Will Antony Flew Become a Christian? Will He come to Christ?

Coming in November will be Antony Flew’s final treatment on where he stands and hopefully how he got there. In case you’re wondering, Antony Flew was for years considered one of the foremost atheists of the century (sorry Dawkins, you don’t even come close, although no one surpasses your rabidity). After a time, he began to warm up to Christianity- or at least, to theism, finally adopting a position that sounded a lot like deism. I was among many in wanting to hear more. We were told that his new edition of God & Philosophy would have a new introduction that clarified where he stood. It didn’t, though it offered some hints.

Over the summer of 2006, I learned that Flew was not entirely pleased with how God & Philosophy turned out. More tantalized then ever, I decided to try to establish a correspondence with Dr. Flew to ask him if he would clarify where he stood before he died as, and I quote, “you are no spring chicken.” With the news of the release of his book out in the open, it is now safe to say that I had the pleasure of receiving a reply from Dr. Flew. In that reply, he indicated that he was well ahead of me: the book I wanted to see was forthcoming. That book is now here: There Is a God: How the World’s Most Notorious Atheist Changed His Mind.

And I think I have settled once and for all that Richard Carrier does not have special access to Antony Flew. Flew is a kind man who will reply to anyone. The contents of my correspondence are not earth shattering by any means, though the news about the book could have been construed as such, but I will choose to keep that correspondence private.

I think it is worthwhile to note that a whole generation of ‘free-thinkers’ borrowed arguments from Flew and now those who continue to use those arguments will have to explain why we should think the arguments sound when their originator now finds them rationally unsatisfying, or… satisfyingly met. (See for example Flew’s Gardner Parable). Of course, as the skeptic will be quick to point out, the logic of the argument stands or falls apart from the author of the argument, and I’m not denying that. Still, we expect the inventor of the object to know the object better than most of us. And besides, one of my points in raising this is that without such men to invent new arguments for them, where are the free-thinkers going to come up with new ones? Right. Dawkins, Harris, and Hitchens. Theism is safe intellectually, but may yet be undermined by good propoganda.

The real issue to watch here concerns Flew’s own spirituality. Here, of course, we leave aside the skeptics who think such things are nonsense, but for we Christians the question of whether or not Flew goes all the way and embraces Christ is of paramount importance. Surrounded by people like Habermas and NT Wright, I have to think that the right people are in place to help lead him to the final surrender, and therefore, the Final Victory. But as it stands now, he has not yet crossed that threshold, and will not reveal it as crossed in this book. Our duty, then, is to pray.

I will update this blog as events unfold.