Taking Religion Seriously

By: Charles Murray

Narrated by: Charles Murray

“Millions are like me when it comes to religion: well-educated and successful people for whom religion has been irrelevant,” Charles Murray writes. “For them, I think I have a story worth telling.”

Taking Religion Seriously is Murray’s autobiographical account of the decades-long evolution in his stance toward the idea of God in general and Christianity in particular. He argues that religion is something that can be approached as an intellectual exercise. His account moves from the improbable physics of the Big Bang to recent discoveries about the nature of consciousness, from evolutionary psychology to hypotheses about a universal Moral Law. His exploration of Christianity delves into the authorship of the Gospels, the reliability of biblical texts, and the scholarship surrounding the resurrection story.

Murray, the author of Coming Apart and coauthor of The Bell Curve, does not write as an expert. He acknowledges that those taking religion seriously for the first time, like himself, must grapple with topics and ideas that defy intellectual mastery. In this book, Murray offers his personal example of intellectual struggle toward religion.

“Maybe God needs a way to reach overeducated agnostics and that’s what I stumbled into,” he writes. “It’s a more arid process than divine revelation but it has been rewarding. And, if you’re like me, it’s the only game in town.”

©2025 Cox and Murray, Inc. (P)2025 Blackstone Publishing

Greater relationship between religion and science

intellectual and scholarly approach to Jesus, religion and the relationship between all religions and people.

An excellent journey.

This was very engaging and I loved it. It has so many parallels to my own experience in life. I am a traditional Catholic with physics, math, and geophysics educational background.

Honesty!

This guy is a heretic! Just like Jesus was… Well worth a trading! At age 78, I’m ready to meet my maker!

I enjoyed the first part of the book regarding the intentionality of the universe and near death experiences.

I appreciated hearing his own story. I was surprised that in his synopsis of the teachings of the world‘s great religions that he did not even mention Islam. It is a short and interesting book and a wonderful source for future reading suggestions.

A wonderful survey of one coming to faith.

this is a wonderful survey of one who is coming to Faith. I especially appreciate his acknowledgment of his limitations, skeptical nature, and the handicaps that being a high-brained academic can bring to something like the topic and substance of Faith. as he mentioned in his forward, if you get nothing else, you will get an incredible reading list. I also appreciate the fact that he didn't try to explain everything... But rather point to the reader to where they could explore for themselves and dig deeper. overall, I thought this was a fair treatment, even if the conclusion seemed to become more Unitarian than Christian. a very good work that I would commend for anyone, but especially those in academia and who hold themselves. too smart to believe in God or Jesus. God's blessings to you all.