The Ghost in the Universe: God in light of Modern Science

The Ghost in the Universe: God in Light of Modern Science by Taner Edis
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Taner Edis attempts, in this book, to explore arguments for and against the existence of God.  He explores this question from the perspective of a scientific naturalism, bringing in arguments and evidence from history, psychology, scientific inquiry, philosophy, and literature.  He examines the claims of major world religions with a sympathetic style, giving due credit to claims of religious experience, and examining claims fairly and logically.

Edis explores God in terms of traditional notions of deity and explores the evolution of human concepts of deity from beginnings in myth and scripture to religious understanding of God in light of modern knowledge.  He explores religious experience both as evidence for a spiritual facet to the world and as a product of human evolution.  In the end he discusses the underpinnings of morality and explores attempts at forming (or discovering) an objective morality.  Finally he explores the importance of moral systems and the possibility not only of coexistence of competing philosophies, but of forming common moral bonds in a pluralistic society.

Now a warning, this book is dense.  It's not that it's overly verbose, or particularly hard to read, it's just dense with ideas to the point where I would find my mind pondering and exploring a particular point while my eyes read and re-read the same lines.  It took me a long time to get through the whole thing, but in the end I'm glad I did.

I'd welcome discussion with anyone else who has read the book and found value in any of the author's arguments.



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