The Faith of Christopher Hitchens

The Restless Soul of the World's Most Notorious Atheist

By: Larry Alex Taunton

Narrated by: Maurice England

2016 Winner of the Gospel Coalition Book Awards

At the time of his death, Christopher Hitchens was the most notorious atheist in the world. And yet, all was not as it seemed. “Nobody is not a divided self, of course,” he once told an interviewer, “but I think it’s rather strong in my case.” Hitchens was a man of many contradictions: a Marxist in youth who longed for acceptance among the social elites; a peacenik who revered the military; a champion of the Left who was nonetheless pro-life, pro-war-on-terror, and after 9/11 something of a neocon; and while he railed against God on stage, he maintained meaningful—though largely hidden from public view—friendships with evangelical Christians like Francis Collins, Douglas Wilson, and the author Larry Alex Taunton.

In The Faith of Christopher Hitchens, Taunton offers a very personal perspective of one of our most interesting and most misunderstood public figures. Writing with genuine compassion and without compromise, Taunton traces Hitchens’s spiritual and intellectual development from his decision as a teenager to reject belief in God to his rise to prominence as one of the so-called “Four Horsemen” of the New Atheism. While Hitchens was, in the minds of many Christians, Public Enemy Number One, away from the lights and the cameras a warm friendship flourished between Hitchens and the author; a friendship that culminated in not one, but two lengthy road trips where, after Hitchens’s diagnosis of esophageal cancer, they studied the Bible together. The Faith of Christopher Hitchens gives us a candid glimpse into the inner life of this intriguing, sometimes maddening, and unexpectedly vulnerable man.

“If everyone in the United States had the same qualities of loyalty and care and concern for others that Larry Taunton had, we'd be living in a much better society than we do.” ~ Christopher Hitchens

Excellent read!

This was an excellent read for anyone of any belief. Gives an in depth look at the much more humane and civil Christopher Hitchens than what is portrayed in the public.

Read the epilogue

To those who seek to destroy Larry by accusing him of the assumption that hitch had a deathbed conversion need only read the epilogue to draw an alternate conclusion. This book challenged me as a Christian and how I respond and we’re like those I with whom i disagree

A good book for those who loved Hitchens

Respectful, thoughtful, brutally love-filled. The tenderness with which the author speaks of Hitchens validates their friendship.

Private conversations.

For me, it didn’t get super interesting until the last half of the book but totally worth listening to. My heart breaks for unbelievers but especially for those who actively and openly oppose God, Jesus, and scripture. This book puts the humanity back into the opposition, and encourages me to pray more for the unbelievers in my life.

that's why I liked him.

I always liked Christopher, which may seem strange to some as I am a homeschooling mom from Alberta, this book explains why.