The Devils’ Gospels, written by Christopher Gasson and published by Collective Ink in the UK & USA and released on 28th January 2025, aims to challenge this view by taking a look at four title works by some of the greatest atheist thinkers of modern times. Christopher’s aim is not simply dismiss their views but to take their central arguments and navigate a course which can both accept fundamental truths about the world in which we live in whilst still finding a case for belief in God.
The book is inspired by a youth discussion group Christopher ran out of his local University church in Oxford and his hope is this book will encourage that discussion further for those that want to read it and explore the topic of God and religion in the modern age.
Christopher Gasson is a journalist, publisher, and amateur theologian. He studied politics, philosophy and economics at Oxford University. While his children were young, he took responsibility for the University Church’s Sunday school and youth discussion group.
Growing up he had felt that Church liked to wrap up children in intellectual cotton wool out of fear that their faith be upset by even the gentlest questioning. He was therefore determined that the discussion group should address the most difficult and pressing challenges to Christianity rather than ignore them.
What Christopher discovered was that God is robust enough to stand up to such questioning and the adults in the congregation had just as much appetite for such discussion as the teenagers. The Devils’ Gospels was born.
It is damaging Christianity and cutting young people off from the possibility of faith. Yet, if God exists, everything we learn about the world should tell us more about God.
The Devils’ Gospels started in a youth discussion group at Oxford’s University Church. Each month the author would introduce a different atheist book to the teenagers to see where the discussion would lead. Four of the best are given the status of “gospels” here:
Freidriech Nietzsche’s Thus Spoke Zarathustra
Jacques Derrida’s Writing and Difference
Stephen Hawking’s A Brief History of Time
Richard Dawkins’ The God Delusion
Each of these books has, in its own way, shaped the world we live in today. The Devils’ Gospels captures the energy of their ideas in language simple enough for a bright 11-year-old to understand but it uses it to shed greater light on the nature of God. But it is not written just for intelligent teenagers trying to find their way towards belief. It is aimed at two other important groups: Christians who feel that they aren’t getting the answers that matter from the Church, and non-believers who want to explore the possibility that there may be more to life than physics and biology.
Let’s face it, atheism has been difficult for the Church. That is not just because it has pushed religion to the fringes of society. It has also left a gut tightening fear among many of the remaining believers that it might be game over.
I can tell you a secret: the atheists are right… but that is not the end of it.
God doesn’t disappear because some humans have written some books against him (or her). God remains: vast, eternal, metaphysical. What atheism does is to open a new chapter in our understanding of God.
It begins with the belief that everything we learn about the world can tell us more about God. Science, the humanities, all scholarship is ultimately theology. Atheism too. It doesn’t change God in any way, but it can help us get a better understanding of our relationship with God.
The atheists have a point. Something is clearly very wrong with Christianity today. Faith used to be largely associated with quiet goodness. Today it has increasingly become an instrument of power, bigotry and violence. People are disgusted. We need to understand where we have gone wrong. We won’t easily find the answers within the Church: it is part of the problem.
Let’s instead look to the great atheists for inspiration. Let’s think of them in the tradition of Jeremiah, John the Baptist, and Martin Luther: visionaries who wanted to make straight the way of the Lord.
I have done it in a book: The Devils’ Gospels. It looks at how we can find God in four great atheist books: Thus Spake Zarathustra by Friedrich Nietzsche, Writing and Difference by Jacques Derrida, A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking and The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins. I think you can read them as Holy scripture.
Whether you are already a Christian, but want better answers to the challenges posed by atheist thinkers or a thoughtful outsider who struggles intellectually with the concept of religion, I am sure you will find it an inspiring read.
As part of the book launch, a 10,000 respondent survey has been commissioned to map out Belief in Britain in 2025 and how it has changed over time.
The survey results have uncovered fundamental shifts in the way religion is viewed compared to previous generations and get to the heart of the place of religion in modern society through the lens of Brits from across the country.
You can sign up to receive the report as soon as it goes live by clicking on the button above and filling out the form.
The report is not yet available but will be published upon the launch of the book later this month.
If you would like to be considered to receive a free review copy of The Devils’ Gospels by Christopher Gasson* in return for a review on Amazon or an alternative platform then please fill out the form above.
Copyright 2024-2025 by Collective Ink & Christopher Gasson. All Rights Reserved.
Please fill in the form below to sign up to receive the Belief in Britain Report as soon as it goes live.
Please fill in the form below to request a review copy of The Devils’ Gospels by Christopher Gasson
