Incredible Story? More Than a Relic: More Than a Relic
Publication Date
12-30-2008
Publication
The Christian Century
Document Type
Article
Abstract
"I don’t believe in God, but I miss him.” The first words of English novelist Julian Barnes’s hauntingly beautiful memoir, Nothing to Be Frightened Of, suggest that this is not going to be your typical atheist’s manifesto. There will be no shots across the bow à la Richard Dawkins, no overblown criticisms of religion’s deleterious influence à la Christopher Hitchens. Indeed, Barnes’s account is less a critique of religious belief than a lament, its tone less defiant than melancholic.
Barnes notes a personal transition: in his 20s he described himself as an atheist, he says, but in his 50s and 60s he has called himself an agnostic. The reason? He is more aware of his own ignorance, and more mindful of death and his own dying. As he observes, “God might be dead, but Death is well alive.” He introduces us to his grandparents and parents, and to their manner of living as well as of dying. He observes that “however much you escape your parents in life, they are likely to reclaim you in death,” which rings true in my generation as we begin to say farewell to parents.
Recommended Citation
Jones, Gregory, "Incredible Story? More Than a Relic: More Than a Relic" (2008). Public Intellectual Writing. 110.
https://repository.belmont.edu/gregoryjones_public/110
