Book review "God's Mechanics"
Nov. 24th, 2010 08:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rhuI recently read God's Mechanics by ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
brotherguy Consolmagno. In this book, Brother Guy attempts to explain why it is no contradiction for a "techie" (his word) to subscribe to religion in general and Catholicism in particular. It is a memoir of sorts, expressing his personal experiences and viewpoints as well as those he collected in discussions with other "techies."
[I feel funny posting this review here, sincebrotherguy and I are "mutual LJ-friends", and some of what I'm about to write is negative. But one of the central themes of "God's Mechanics" is the way that "techies" talk to each other about God, and so if this posting ends up sparking a fruitful conversation in the comments thread, that seems fitting.]
On some levels, the book succeeds. It got me thinking about my own framework (about which I've posted before under the taglist "What I Believe"). It explains Brother Guy's framework. And for some readers, it may help them to understand that science/engineering and religion don't need to be reconciled because they are not necessarily antagonists.
But on other levels, the book disappoints. When Brother Guy constructs a taxonomy of "techie" approaches to the problem posed by the existence of multiple religions, I didn't find myself in any of his categories. He makes some assertions about religion in general and the three Abrahamic religions in particular that I think are actually specifically Christian (such as that the world needs salvation)[1] or so general as to be anodyne (such as that a sin is an action that causes one to fail to be "the best you that you can be").[2]
More seriously, when (in a section clearly labeled as personal reflections) he repeats the canard that Judaism lacks a central expression of God's love, I don't recognize my religion in his book. (The Shema, the twice-daily essential declaration of faith, is immediately preceded in the morning by the blessing "With love abounding you love us...." and in the evening by the blessing "With eternal love you love your people Israel....")
Brother Guy has done a fine job of setting out how at least one techie relates to his religion. (We're all techies here; I have to restrict myself to the case of n=1 because that's all I can prove, although I'm sure the value of n is actually larger. :-) And, to be fair, he explicitly claims that this is all he is doing, although he blurs that a little bit by waiting until about two-thirds of the way through the book before narrowing his focus from religion in general to Christianity and then Catholicism.
Yet his real audience are the spiritual yearners who have so far rejected religion because they think it's incompatible with their scientific/engineering/techie weltanschauung. And I fear he may do them a disservice, because some of them will read this book and, not finding the answer that would speak to them, will conclude that the schism is real and unsurmountable. (For an excellent Jewish view on why science and religion don't require compromising either set of beliefs, I recommend Rabbi Natan Slifkin's excellent book The Challenge of Creation, which is largely based on the writings of Maimonides.)
In sum, I think that this is a book that needed to be written; Brother Guy did a fine job writing it; but I wish it had included more viewpoints.
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Notes
1 - Judaism teaches that the world needs repair, which is a task that God has assigned to humanity. The term salvation rarely occurs, and it usually is in regard to asking to be saved from a physical danger in this world, such as drought and famine. That isn't to say that Judaism lacks a concept of an afterlife; it's just that for the most part the afterlife is an afterthought.
2 - My understanding of the Jewish concept of "sin" is that a sin is an action by which one rejects God's immanence. The Talmud's expression is "kicking at the footstool of God" and "causing the Shekhina to withdraw." By choosing to disobey God's commands, we cause God to diminish God's omnipresence; "free will" is a way of saying that God has granted us this otherwise inconceivable power.
brotherguy Consolmagno. In this book, Brother Guy attempts to explain why it is no contradiction for a "techie" (his word) to subscribe to religion in general and Catholicism in particular. It is a memoir of sorts, expressing his personal experiences and viewpoints as well as those he collected in discussions with other "techies."[I feel funny posting this review here, since
brotherguy and I are "mutual LJ-friends", and some of what I'm about to write is negative. But one of the central themes of "God's Mechanics" is the way that "techies" talk to each other about God, and so if this posting ends up sparking a fruitful conversation in the comments thread, that seems fitting.]On some levels, the book succeeds. It got me thinking about my own framework (about which I've posted before under the taglist "What I Believe"). It explains Brother Guy's framework. And for some readers, it may help them to understand that science/engineering and religion don't need to be reconciled because they are not necessarily antagonists.
But on other levels, the book disappoints. When Brother Guy constructs a taxonomy of "techie" approaches to the problem posed by the existence of multiple religions, I didn't find myself in any of his categories. He makes some assertions about religion in general and the three Abrahamic religions in particular that I think are actually specifically Christian (such as that the world needs salvation)[1] or so general as to be anodyne (such as that a sin is an action that causes one to fail to be "the best you that you can be").[2]
More seriously, when (in a section clearly labeled as personal reflections) he repeats the canard that Judaism lacks a central expression of God's love, I don't recognize my religion in his book. (The Shema, the twice-daily essential declaration of faith, is immediately preceded in the morning by the blessing "With love abounding you love us...." and in the evening by the blessing "With eternal love you love your people Israel....")
Brother Guy has done a fine job of setting out how at least one techie relates to his religion. (We're all techies here; I have to restrict myself to the case of n=1 because that's all I can prove, although I'm sure the value of n is actually larger. :-) And, to be fair, he explicitly claims that this is all he is doing, although he blurs that a little bit by waiting until about two-thirds of the way through the book before narrowing his focus from religion in general to Christianity and then Catholicism.
Yet his real audience are the spiritual yearners who have so far rejected religion because they think it's incompatible with their scientific/engineering/techie weltanschauung. And I fear he may do them a disservice, because some of them will read this book and, not finding the answer that would speak to them, will conclude that the schism is real and unsurmountable. (For an excellent Jewish view on why science and religion don't require compromising either set of beliefs, I recommend Rabbi Natan Slifkin's excellent book The Challenge of Creation, which is largely based on the writings of Maimonides.)
In sum, I think that this is a book that needed to be written; Brother Guy did a fine job writing it; but I wish it had included more viewpoints.
----
Notes
1 - Judaism teaches that the world needs repair, which is a task that God has assigned to humanity. The term salvation rarely occurs, and it usually is in regard to asking to be saved from a physical danger in this world, such as drought and famine. That isn't to say that Judaism lacks a concept of an afterlife; it's just that for the most part the afterlife is an afterthought.
2 - My understanding of the Jewish concept of "sin" is that a sin is an action by which one rejects God's immanence. The Talmud's expression is "kicking at the footstool of God" and "causing the Shekhina to withdraw." By choosing to disobey God's commands, we cause God to diminish God's omnipresence; "free will" is a way of saying that God has granted us this otherwise inconceivable power.