Two Books

As part of my ongoing quest for truth, I'm doing a lot of reading. Confession time: I have a bad habit of not always finishing non-fiction books; all too often I dip into something, get a hold of the main idea behind it, and then skim read it to the end.

Bad me. :-(

But onto Book One. I'm currently re-reading a very good book, one I read years and years ago but which I had forgotten about until now. It's The Christian Agnostic by Leslie D Weatherhead. It seems I'm not the only one who remembers this book from way back then and who is re-reading it now. To quote one Amazon reviewer:

I read this book many years ago and recently decided to read it again. I am totally amazed at the willingness of Leslie Weatherhead to open the Christian Faith to open minded thinking. He says it's ok to be an agnostic about the doctrinal stuff, and still find great meaning and life in the core of the faith. He then proceeds to open mindedly deal with many issues in an "outside the box" kind of way. I did not agree with everything he says, but he does not require this. He gives the thinking Christian permission and blessing to think for himself or herself, and insists, that the truth of Christianity is that which we grasp and apprehend for ourselves, the rest can be stored in an imaginary file in the mind. He writes with warmth and humility. He was one of the great preachers and pastors of our time. Everyone, Christian or not, will be enriched by this special book. It was written many years ago, and dated in some respects, but the flavor of Weatherhead is a wonderful flavor indeed. I loved it.

Agreed, on all counts.

Book Two is one I discovered when googling something else altogether! I read the blurbs, the reviews, the home page of the author and something inside me just went YES! So I've ordered it and hopefully it will arrive in two to three weeks time (one of the joys of living in Africa....) but seeing as I have the Christian Agnostic to keep me busy, I'll be patient. So, Book Two is called The God Theory: Universes, Zero-point Fields, And What's Behind It All by Bernard Haisch, published in May 2006. The Amazon editorial review describes it thus:

Physicist Haisch thinks "Let there be light" isn't just a randomly chosen phrase for the Creation. Indeed, he believes that in the mysteries of light rest clues to the deepest mysteries of the universe, something he calls God, though he doesn't mean by that word the personification that some believers prefer. A scientist who has worked in astrophysics and theoretical physics, Haisch has retained his wonder at the universe from childhood, as he describes in the affecting memoir with which the book begins. Many scientists find no tension between their profession and the profession of belief in divinity, but Haisch goes one step further by attempting to find a scientific explanation for the phenomenon generally called God. Light, that familiar but utterly mysterious force, is the key to such an understanding. Readable and engaging, Haisch will be embraced by those concerned with finding ways of reconciling science and religion. Patricia Monaghan
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This is the coolest sounding book I've come across in a long time. I hope it gets here soon!