I have yet to read a positive review of Ross Douthat's new book, Bad Religion: How We Became a Nation of Heretics. Now Michael Sean Winters joins the chorus. You can read his entire review here, but here is the conclusion:
My problem with Douthat’s book is not that his opinions differ from my
own. My problem is that he does not seem to have any idea what he is
talking about. In the West, there has been no universally accepted
authoritative voice on orthodoxy since the Reformation. “What am I to do
when many persons allege different interpretations, each one of whom
swears to have the Spirit?” asked Erasmus in 1524. But Douthat does not
see the larger picture that he aims to explain, and his treatment of his
subject is so pitifully mistaken in things large and small that what we
are left with is a meandering, self-serving screed. The book has the
same reliance on private judgment that anyone who was really concerned
with heresy would recognize as part of the problem, not part of the
solution.

1 comment:
Douthat replied:
http://www.tnr.com/book/review/bad-religion-response
Winters replied back:
http://www.tnr.com/book/review/bad-religion-response-part-2
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