Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand and John Piper

I've known about the book Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand for a long time. I finally bought a copy and started reading it. I can't put it down. I'm only a little over half way though it's more than 1000 pages. I've also watched Part 1 of the recent movie adaptation of the book.

Atlas Shrugged was written in 1957, but has gained a new popularity in the past few years.

Ayn Rand was an atheist/philosopher/novelist. She explained that she wrote the book for herself, not her readers. It's her world as she sees it and how she wants it to be. To Rand, those that buy and read it are "voyeurs".

I found that I was drawn to much of her philosophy of "Objectivism".

Rand defined Objectivism as "a philosophy for living on earth," grounded in reality, and aimed at defining man's nature and the nature of the world in which he lives."

An acknowledgement of God or a higher power is left out of Rand's philosophy. This can be seen in a letter she wrote to Sylvia Austin in 1946 about Christianity where she refers to Jesus as "one of the first great teachers". You can read the full letter here.

I found a critique of Ayn Rand written in 1979 by John Piper that I believe would be helpful to a Christian reading her books. Piper had mixed emotions about Rand's philosophy.

He even sent his critique to her before she died in 1982. I hope she read it.

You can read Piper's full critique here.