Two More Books

[shakatany]

I just finished Deliverer by C.J. Cherryh, one of my favorite SF writers. I read very little SF these days compared to years ago but she is one of a handful of authors whose works I still read. This is the 9th book in her Foreigner series dealing with human/atevi interaction. I love her carefully thoughtout creation of the culture of an alien planet that was disrupted centuries ago by a shipload of lost humans and how the two species found a way to deal with each other. There is still much to be explored in this 'verse and hopefully Ms Cherryh is plotting it out as I write this.

 

I've also finished The Varieties of Scientific Experience by Carl Sagan based on his Gifford lectures. One of my favorite quotes is: And in fact a general problem with much of Western theology in my view is that the God portrayed is too small. It is a god of a tiny world and not a god of a galaxy, much less of a universe...a problem, I believe, that theologians have not adequately addressed.

 

That's my problem with the Biblical god in a nutshell - he IS too small (J.B. Philips once wrote a book called Your God is Too Small and then proceeded to dispute that to his satisfaction though not mine). The universe is estimated to be about 14 billion years old with a diameter of 156 billion light-years containing about 200 billion galaxies each containing billions of stars with uncounted planets orbiting them. Would a god who can see the sparrow fall on Earth and a planet in the Andromeda galaxy worry if we combine linen and wool? Or that women are wearing pants? If the god of the Bible is real he comes across as just a local Earth god not the God of all 200 billion galaxies. And if there is a God who encopasses all that immensity - would he be the deity across the entire multiverse or just this universe? Current theologians are so Earthbound their thinking - is anyone seriously addressing the implications of all that astronomers and physicists are discovering?.

Comments

[stretfordditto.livejournal.com]

I shall continue to be deferential...I'm taking no chances. :D How do they know the dimensions of the universe?! That's daft!! I once read a sci fi book where God was called the Principle and he wasn't bad but he was like that huge God and so we were like ants in the garden ie I try not to hurt them, but a few get squashed occasionally. Wish I could remember what book that is...

[shakatany.livejournal.com]

It's not really dimensions (of which there are supposedly 11 most of which are locked up in truly tiny spaces and which I don't truly understand) but more like parallel universes. In some of them the laws of physics would allow life of some sort to develop and others would be incompatible to life. It's all just theory but it's very interesting and makes my inquiring mind want to speculate as to it's theological implications.

Shakatany