Reading
Often I am asked for suggestions on books to read. Most of the time, the requests are for books on Universalism. However, I have two favorites that I’m recommending this month. Below you’ll find my thoughts on them. If anyone reads them and wants to begin a book discussion group, let me know; I’d be glad to participate.
Why God Won’t Go Away is a book by Andrew Newberg, Eugene D’Aquili, and Vince Rause. It is a very good read. It is the kind of book that can be meaningful for every kind of theology one might hold—from mystics to secular humanists. It explores and offers a deeper understanding of the physiological roots of mysticism. In it we find:
"Logic suggests that what is less real must be contained by what is more real, just as a dream is contained within the mind of a dreamer. So, if Absolute Unitary Being truly is more real than subjective or objective reality—more real, that is, than the external world and the subjective awareness of the self—then the self and the world must be contained within, and perhaps created by, the reality of Absolute Unitary Being…
Again, we cannot objectively prove the actual existence of Absolute Unitary Being, but our understanding of the brain and the way it judges for us what is real argues compellingly that the existence of an absolute higher reality … is at least as rationally possible as is the existence of a purely material world. "
Another fantastic book on science and religion is Stephen Jay Gould’s Rocks of Ages. His premise is that science and religion are non-overlapping magisteria. In other words, one does not have anything to do with the other, and it is all right to believe in both! Gould writes:
"The magisterium of science covers the empirical realm: what is the universe made of (fact) and why does it work this way (theory). The magisterium of religion extends over questions of ultimate meaning and moral value. These two magisterial do not overlap, nor do they encompass all inquiry… To cite the old clichés, science gets the age of rocks, and religion the rock of ages; science studies how the heavens go, religion how to go to heaven."
Both books offer something to us for our spiritual journey. Both have very different ways of looking at science and religion. Neither can be called Universalist or Christian, yet I believe they can impact our faith life and religious yearnings.
See you in Church,
Pastor Lillie