The Evolution of God...

This is a book by Robert Wright. He taught philosophy at Princeton; and religion at Penn State. I indicated on my FB status when I started the book and caught hell for it...no pun intended.. :-)

Now that I'm finished I thought I'd organize my thoughts about it...over here on my blog.

Should I mention this on FB, with a link? Hmmm IDK

Here goes...

I would never accuse Robert Wright of being a Christian. At best he is an agnostic. The majority of the book reads like a history of religion outline...he deals primarily with monotheism; and examines the relationship between Islam, Judaism, and Christianity through time.

He contends that God "evolves". What he is really saying is the idea of god develops (intentional little "g", yes...because he does not end up anywhere near the notion of the one true God). He believes that god is an idea, which people have used and developed to help them integrate their lives, society, and culture. He does not address the very real notion that God is constant, and that society, and culture have developed as a response to His revelation and not vice versa.

So why did I read this book? First, I am interested in hearing opposing views to my own...(which is also true of my politics, within reason...politics can get crazy...crazier than religion in my experience...the land of the irrational thought...). However, as we know, God works in unusual ways. Wright ends up defending Gods existence in spite of himself. Since 9/11 we have been bombarded with a kind of pop atheistic intellectualism...(Dawkins, Hitchens, Harris, a film by Bill Maher etc.) They base their attack on God, and those who believe in Him upon the notion of the superiority of reason, and science.

Wright, in his conclusions shifts the debate. Basically, he says that just because you can't see, and measure something that it is not worthless to a worldview. He uses science against itself. He mentions the fact that we can't see electrons, we can't even conceive of them (check quantitative physics...crazy stuff). However, we can measure them, and observe their properties and their effects. This same principle applies to conceptualizing God. We can't see Him, or really conceive of Him adequately, (ie My (Gods) thoughts are higher than your thoughts) but we can observe His effect, and measure His properties. What are those effects/properties? Wright points primarily to a "moral order" which has always existed, no matter the culture or time. He sees God as a logical source of that moral order...(Gods measurable properties)

These arguments effectively short circuit the attack we have had from the pop atheists...he changes the ground rules for the debate in favor of Christianity...

I'm glad I read it.