Science and the Search for God [Paperback]

Gary A. Kowalski (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 2003

Harvard-educated theologian Gary Kowalski argues that many of the ills of the modern world—from the rise of fundamentalist intolerance to secular society’s endless (and empty) search for thrills—stem from the mistaken view that science and faith are antagonists rather than natural allies. Both science and faith, the author suggests, compel us now to move beyond materialism toward an understanding of the world that includes the realities of consciousness and spirit.

In the twenty-first century, human beings have less reason than before to feel they hold a privileged or special position in the cosmos, but more cause than ever to feel connected and akin to all that is. Christians and Jews, skeptics and seekers alike will find that this brief, persuasively written volume sheds new light on the old questions, Who are we? Where do we figure in the larger scheme of things? And what can we honestly believe?

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Gary Kowalski is a Unitarian Minister and the author of The Bible According to Noah (Lantern, 2001) and The Souls of Animals. He lives in Burlington, Vermont.

Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Lantern Books (March 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590560450
• ISBN-13: 978-1590560457
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #207,058 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Reverend Gary Kowalski is the author of bestselling books on animals, nature, history and spirituality. A graduate of Harvard College and the Harvard Divinity School, his work has been translated into German, French, Spanish, Japanese, Chinese and Czech and been voted a "Reader's Favorite" by the Quality Paperback Book Club. Whether investigating the moral instinct in animals, de-mystifying faith of America's Founding Fathers, unpacking the Bible or pondering the frontiers of modern physics, Gary's work centers on the connection of spirit and nature ... acknowledging our kinship with each other and with a universe that is passionate, evolving and alive. Gary currently serves as interim minister to the First Parish of Sudbury, Massachusetts. Visit his website at www.kowalskibooks.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Science and the Search for God", April 10, 2003

By 

Jerrold M. Packard (Burlington, VT United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Science and the Search for God (Paperback)

Review - "Science and the Search for God"

As a boy, I often pestered my grandmother for answers to the Great Mysteries - "What came before time," "Who made God," "What's outside the universe." She said I'd just have to wait until I got heaven to find out. Then, she promised, I could just walk up to God's throne and ask him. In other words, don't worry about it.

At some point, I simply started putting the two incompatibles - science and God - into separate mental compartments. Not willing to accept religious stories as serious explanations for life, yet equally unwilling to renounce some kind of godly First Cause as responsible for life, it seemed better to keep the matters mentally, and emotionally, apart.

The Reverend Gary Kowalski, minister of the First Unitarian Universalist Society of Burlington, Vermont, makes a good argument that such segregation isn't needed. In "Science and the Search for God," the author gives us a gentle and gracefully written book in which he contends that faith and science should coexist on friendly, non-exclusive terms. "There is no reason that science should make us blind to the sacred in its prolific expression," he writes, "God is in the details - the lavishness and extravagance that bless every niche, nook and cranny of creation..."

It seems to me that I can live very nicely with that. I view as unarguable that wiggly creatures are our ultimate ancestors. But on the other hand I regard the mind as something far more than an evolutionary happenstance. Kowalski's book suggests the two views aren't contradictory, that the intellect that requires the former can live perfectly well with the faith that supports the latter.

Furthermore, Kowalski strengthened this reader's belief that religious faith doesn't require credence in the concept of a vengeful God, one who spends his time calculating the balance between our rights and our wrongs. Instead, we can see God as Life and Love, an altogether healthier way at looking at things we can't add up mathematically, but that a great many of us certainly suspect. I highly recommend this life-affirming book.

Jerrold M. Packard
Author, American Nightmare - The History of Jim Crow (St. Martins Press, 2002)