Taking Religion Seriously
Published on 27. November 2025
Book
Hardback
152 pages
978-1-64177-485-7 (ISBN)
Description
"The book is a highly personal and readable account of a profound change in the author's outlook: one that grew gradually over the course of decades but has lately blossomed..."
-The Wall Street Journal
"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."
-The Wall Street Journal
"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."
Reviews / Votes
"...an intellectual memoir in which the author, over many years of reading and arguing, thinks his way into religion... from scientific discoveries to supernatural evidence to New Testament interpretations."-The New York Times
"Charles Murray is a man who has repeatedly done the intellectual work that others do not want to do."
-Wilfred M.McClay, Victor Davis Hanson Chair in Classical History, Hillsdale College
"There are few, if any, bolder policy intellectuals than Charles Murray.... He has done more to provoke serious debate on subjects ranging from welfare to IQ than any of the million or so members of American academe."
-The Economist
"Arguably the most consequential social scientist alive."
-Jonah Goldberg, editor-in-chief, The Dispatch
"Charles Murray's social science is sometimes provocative, usually controversial, and always significant to the national debate."
-Robert Verbruggen, fellow, The Manhattan Institute
"Charles Murray will infuriate people. But if they read carefully, he will also make them think."
-Ken Auletta, New Yorker journalist and author of The Underclass
"Taking Religion Seriously, if nothing else, provides a neat catalog of the best apologetics works for anyone exploring the Christian faith today."
-Religion and Liberty Online
"If you think you know who Charles is from the way the MSM has described him for years, this conversation may surprise."
-Andrew Sullivan, The Dishcast
"Murray's addition to the conversation connects the theoretical discussion around the importance of religion in society, which he was already a part of, with the personal journey of faith. Perhaps this book will inspire more people to knock at the door of that brightly lit room of faith."
-Christianity Today
"To read Murray, agree or disagree with his analyses and conclusions, is to read an epically thoughtful and capacious thinker on some of the most important questions of our time and now, with Taking Religion Seriously, of all time."
-Claremont Review of Books
"Murray has a wonderfully clear and unassuming style, and his book is more convincing than the productions of many apologists."
-Compact
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Product notice
Cloth over boards
Illustrations
Illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 219 mm
Width: 142 mm
Thickness: 22 mm
Weight
382 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-64177-485-7 (9781641774857)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
CHARLES MURRAY is a policy analyst educated at Harvard and MIT. He first came to national attention in 1984 with the publication of Losing Ground, which changed the national conversation about the reforms of the Sixties and their aftermath. His best-selling 1994 book, The Bell Curve, coauthored with Richard Herrnstein, argued that the increasing role of intelligence over the twentieth century was transforming America's social structure. In 2012, Coming Apart documented the growing divide between a new lower class and a new upper class that foreshadowed the political polarization of the 2016 election. His other books include In Pursuit (1988), Human Accomplishment (2003), Human Diversity (2020), and Facing Reality (2021). He is currently the Hayek Emeritus Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.