A Beautiful Song in a Minor Key

Like Solomon in America 

By Dave Bliss 

I’m a sucker for allegory. My favorite book (apart from the Bible, of course) is C. S. Lewis’ The Great Divorce. I'm also a fan of John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress. Both books contain clear biblical teachings presented in the form of a story. 

Chris Palmer’s A World Without God is similar, in which the reader is taken through the fictional town of Novemberton. Whereas Lewis wrote about heaven and hell, and Bunyan wrote about the Christian walk, Palmer’s allegory brings to mind the teachings of Ecclesiastes, like King Solomon coming to America and commenting on what he saw. 

Drawing parallels to western civilization and contemporary events, Palmer paints a bleak picture of where we are in our godless world. Taking brakes from the allegory, he repeatedly steps back to consider how we got here as a culture. He draws on teachings from long dead philosophers such as Plato and Descartes, while also interspersing thoughts from contemporaries such as Ricky Gervais, Jordan Peterson and yes, even Gordon Lightfoot. 

The town of Novemberton is strikingly familiar. Palmer describes it well. It was as if I had been there before. At one point as I was going through the book, I took a break and walked around town, reflecting on what I had been reading. As I watched people pass by, I realized something: I live in Novemberton. I have lived there for years without knowing it. 

Palmer is clearly a professor. The book is written to teach, and it does so in an engaging way. He artfully and poetically weaves together topics that many might consider dry on their own into a lesson that teaches just how important the thoughts and beliefs of centuries of philosophers have been in shaping our daily lives. In doing so, he makes it clear that the long road to the godless society we live in has brought us to a place where we really do not want to be. 

A World Without God is not the most uplifting of books. Like its biblical inspiration, Ecclesiastes, it points to the meaninglessness in the lives we lead. Yet it is a beautiful song written in a minor key. The honest emotions of the town of Novemberton are what gives this book its appeal. 

Among my agnostic and atheistic friends, Ecclesiastes is the book of the Bible to which they tend to be most drawn. As such, I would love to go through A World Without God with someone who does not yet know Jesus and is searching for meaning. Written at the level that an undergraduate student could pick up for light reading, the book challenges worldviews without challenging mental ability, and it could be a steppingstone to deeper discussions. 

Should anyone want to go deeper, Palmer—like the teacher he is—provides plenty of material in his suggested reading at the end of the book. It is my hope that A World Without God may be used to help lead people to a life with Him. 

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Hope Built on Nothing 

by Tyler Stauffer 

In 17 years of military and church ministry, I have witnessed profound joys: the elation of weddings, adoptions finalized, newborns dedicated to the Lord, beloved saints laid to rest in the sure hope of eternity, addicts finding freedom and most of all, new believers coming to faith. Being there when hope is realized is one of the best parts of being a pastor and a chaplain. But increasingly, I have become aware that hope realized is in decline—more troubling still, hope itself is rare. 

I have counseled hundreds, and one thing is abundantly clear: We are all philosophers, often unwittingly. How we think about what is, what matters and why it matters shapes how we live and what we feel. We all have some kind of foundational philosophy that drives us. In A World Without God, Chris Palmer claims that, for many of us, the foundational philosophy is one of meaninglessness—or nihilism—which surfaces in almost every area of our culture, and the only way to find meaning is to look to God.  

This book struck me as what would happen if Peter Kreeft had written Blue Like Jazz. It is a creative, cultural narrative that raises many questions and prompts reflection. Palmer unpacks the historical and modern sources of despair, disdain and hopelessness we see around us and feel inside us, and he clearly articulates how what we do flows from what we believe. This struck a chord. 

Some of the struggle I have with apathy stems from a subtle “passive nihilism” that comes from what he calls “infobesity,” where there is too much information to care about any one thing properly, mixed with a sense of being able to handle things myself. The subtle shift to nihilism I saw in myself—and I hazard you might see in yourself, too—Palmer traces back to our demand for certainty. It leads us away from simple faith because there are many things in life we simply cannot be certain about, which pushes us into nihilism. It is quite literally killing us.  

So, what are we to do? Palmer suggests we look for meaning in God, recognize that religion is not merely man's construct and feel the profundity that God truly became man to redeem us. It is well thought out and genuinely helpful for someone navigating a meaningless life, but it stops short of where true redemption and ultimate reconciliation are found. Jesus Christ was not only born; He died, rose and now intercedes for His own. Palmer omits this. I wish he had included one more chapter describing the fullness of our hope in Christ, where ultimate meaning and purpose actually rest. 

This is an excellent resource for understanding why our meta-modern world is the way it is, and why people are the way they are. If you love someone who outright claims to be a nihilist (something increasing in my circles recently), you should read this book. It would help counselors identify areas where their counselees have adopted ungodly philosophies and what they are after. I think it would be wise to consider how to bring the hope and purpose found in Christ into any discussion of this book, but ultimately this book will help anyone recognize the inner longings of the soul. As Palmer writes: "The soul gnaws for God."