Finding God in the Waves
How I Lost My Faith and Found It Again Through Science
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Average rating4.5
A story about having faith, losing it, and finding it again through science—revealing how the latest in neuroscience, physics, and biology help us understand God, faith, and ourselves. Mike McHargue, host of The Liturgists and Ask Science Mike podcasts, understands the pain of unraveling belief. In Finding God in the Waves, Mike tells the story of how his Evangelical faith dissolved into atheism as he studied the Bible, a crisis that threatened his identity, his friendships, and even his marriage. Years later, Mike was standing on the shores of the Pacific Ocean when a bewildering, seemingly mystical moment motivated him to take another look. But this time, it wasn't theology or scripture that led him back to God—it was science. Full of insights about the universe, as well as deeply personal reflections on our desire for certainty and meaning, Finding God in the Waves is a vital exploration of the possibility for knowing God in an age of reason, and a signpost for where the practice of faith is headed in a secular age. Among other revelations, we learn what brain scans reveal about what happens when we pray; how fundamentalism affects the psyche; and how God is revealed not only in scripture, but also in the night sky, in subatomic particles, and in us.
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What a fantastic book. I may be in a different place in regards to my precise theological convictions, but this book guides people through deconstruction into a path forward. It gives one hope for how to find a faith in the 21st-century that is mystical but also rooted in the real world. Read this book. Share this book. This is perhaps the best book to give for those exvangelicals in your life or those on their way to that place. It just may help them keep their faith and find a way forward.
I found the story portion of the book (Part 1) much more engaging than Part 2. As is often the case, I think the value lies in seeing his personal journey and how he worked through things.
Part 2 was interesting for seeing where he landed at the time of publishing. Those ideas weren't new (or shocking) to me, but I felt they were starting to bleed into the realm of faith. Personally, I don't think you can explain and have an answer for everything, but that really doesn't bother me. I'm probably lower on some theoretical level of unknowability discomfort. I actually think this is just what you get when a science nerd is an Enneagram 9.
Getting to the foundation of things is super important, and it was interesting to see his process/axioms, which I could see being incredibly helpful for people who relate to his journey.
A fantastic book on faith and science that believers and non-believers alike should read but both sides will find a reason not to. Cannot recommend it enough if you have trouble reconciling the two.
If you're a fan of Science Mike, you'll be a fan of the book.
