Believe

Why Everyone Should Be Religious

Ross Douthat

• Publisher: Zondervan
• Year: 2025
• eBook ISBN: 9780310367598
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Religion

An Instant New York Times Bestseller

"Truly a Mere Christianity for the 21st century"--World magazine

From the host of the Interesting Times podcast

Do you ever wish you had more faith? Here is a blueprint for thinking your way from doubt to belief.

As a columnist for the New York Times who writes often about spiritual topics for a skeptical audience, Ross Douthat understands that many of us want to have more faith than we do. Douthat argues that in light of what we know today it should be harder to not have faith than to have it.

With empathy, clarity, and rigor, Douthat explores:

• Why nonbelief requires ignoring what our reasoning faculties tell us about the world
• How modern scientific developments make a religious worldview more credible, not less
• Why it's entirely reasonable to believe in mystical and supernatural realities
• How an open-minded religious quest should proceed amid the diversity of religious faiths
• How Douthat's own Christianity is informed by his blueprint for belief

 

With clear and straightforward arguments, Believe shows how religious belief makes sense of the order of the cosmos and our place within it, illuminates the mystery of consciousness, and explains the persistent reality of encounters with the supernatural. Highly relevant for our current moment, Believe offers a pathway for thinking your way from doubt into belief, from uncertainty about our place in the universe into a confidence that we are here for a reason.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• 1. The Fashioned Universe
• 2. The Mind and the Cosmos
• 3. The Myth of Disenchantment
• 4. The Case for Commitment
• 5. Big Faiths and Big Divisions
• 6. Three Stumbling Blocks
• 7. The End of Exploring
• 8. A Case Study: Why I Am a Christian
• Notes