University Press of America
Pages: 164
•
Trim: 6 x 9¼
978-0-7618-6582-7 • Paperback • May 2015 • $40.99 • (£35.00)
978-0-7618-6583-4 • eBook • May 2015 • $38.50 • (£30.00)
David W. Nelson teaches religion and Jewish studies, and serves as campus rabbi at Bard College in Annandale on Hudson, New York.
Chapter One: In Search of God’s Consciousness
Chapter Two: The Brain, the Mind, and Consciousness
Chapter Three: The Emergence of God
Chapter Four: Emergent God and Mitzvot/Commandments
Chapter Five: Scrutinizing the Model
Chapter Six: The Ultimate Mitzvah
Chapter Seven: Exploring Loneliness
Epilogue: A Brief, Final Thought: But What if I’m Wrong?
Index
David Nelson boldly tackles the question of what a life of faith could possibly mean in the light of new scientific discoveries. I am deeply moved by the author's willingness to face up to theological issues raised by science. This book deserves the close attention of everyone struggling to understand what the word "God" means in the age of science.
— John F. Haught, Georgetown University
David Nelson addresses a difficult subject with honesty: How can there be God, given what we know about the world? His answers provide a surprising and extraordinary new way to think about God and Judaism. . . . We searchers are on a new path and David Nelson guides us with scholarship, wisdom, and spiritual sensitivity to the searcher as well as to the doubter.
— William Cutter, professor emeritus of literature and human relations, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, Los Angeles
A rigorous scientific worldview can seem incompatible with profound religious faith. In this surprising and creative book, David Nelson shows us how quite the opposite could be the case: how modern emergence theories of consciousness might support a theology of personal faith intimately interconnected with community. This book is an ambitious attempt to craft a compelling theology that is at once firmly grounded in Judaic tradition and simultaneously respectful of modern scientific understanding.
— Lynn Andrea Stein, professor of computer and cognitive science, Olin College of Engineering