Rebecca Goldstein (wife of Steven Pinker) has a new novel out, 36 Arguments for the Existence of God: A Work of Fiction:
36 Arguments for the Existence of God plunges into the great debate of our day: the clash between faith and reason. World events are being shaped by fervent believers at home and abroad, while a new atheism is asserting itself in the public sphere. On purely intellectual grounds the skeptics would seem to have everything on their side. Yet people refuse to accept their seemingly irrefutable arguments and continue to embrace faith in God as their source of meaning, purpose, and comfort.
Through the enchantment of fiction, award-winning novelist and MacArthur Fellow Rebecca Newberger Goldstein shows that the tension between religion and doubt cannot be understood through rational argument alone. It also must be explored from the point of view of individual people caught in the raptures and torments of religious experience in all their variety.
It has received great reviews so far:
“So extravagantly witty and smart that it’s making everything else I’ve read recently seem drab.”
Ron Charles, Senior Editor at the Washington Post Book Review“You do not have to perpetrate an act of faith to confront the question of why there is something rather than nothing. It is faith itself that consists of nothing. Rebecca Goldstein, on the other hand, is quite something.”
Christopher Hitchens
If you’ve read it, let us know what you think!
This sounds fresh. Dawkins has had his say. As has Hitchens and Harris. Now for something a bit different. When I don’t have so much dogdamn uni reading to do, I’ll try to find the time to get through this. For now, I shall read the reviews…
I’ve just read the first two (free) chapters of this book using Kindle and I’ve been disappointed unfortunately. The style is quite tedious and not really funny at all? I surely won’t buy the rest of the book at this time …
My faith, as irrational as it may be, is based on reason. Reason, as reasonable as it may be, is often irrational. Hey, haven’t you noticed that you can get a Harvard PhD to say just about anything?
Hey, haven’t you noticed that you can get a Harvard PhD to say just about anything?
No, I haven’t.
Yeah, I’m pretty much with ‘Nope on this one! To get an accredited PhD, you have to do original research and discover new knowledge. Otherwise it’s simply not a PhD, you see. New knowledge is a pretty tall order; people work a lot of years to find it.
Of course, if you’re judging by non-accredited correspodence bible-college (like the one where Kent Hovind got his “PhD”, or “Phoney Doctorate”) standards then I can see your confusion.
“Reason, as reasonable as it may be, is often irrational.”
Huh?!!
See, here’s the thing: I don’t need 36 or 95 arguments for the existence of any god. I just need ONE thing: PROOF. I could give you 79 arguments for the existence of a Vulcan named Spock; however, what a reasonable person is going to ask of me is proof of the existence of an extraterrestrial body named Vulcan (or Epsilon Eridani) that is Earth-like and contains humanoids like Spock, “arguments” be damned.
I could give you better evidence for Spock, Praise His Logicy Name, than any Christian can give you for their “God”! Spock is on video and everything!