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A review by nrt43
Finding God in the Waves: How I Lost My Faith and Found It Again Through Science by Mike McHargue
4.0
About the first half of Finding God in the Waves is an autobiographical faith story - his testimony, more or less. The second half is an exploration of returning to God and the process he took, primarily of writing definitions (or axioms) for God, then prayer, then Jesus and sin, the church, and finally the Bible. These axioms are kind of like a trellis for rebuilding your faith or providing some intellectual structures you can stand on when everything feels like it's crumbling around you.
Also - if you were raised in a conservative church environment and haven’t been exposed to many of the critiques on faith/God/the Bible, this may be a particularly troubling read. Mike honestly goes through many of these critiques, detailing the struggle it caused him, so be ready.
Science Mike takes a systematic, rationale approach to faith that he self-identifies as founded on empiricism (ie. what we can gather scientifically/ through our senses). Science Mike will concede that his conclusions fall a good ways from orthodox belief, which many have found troubling, and it seems like the subtitle to the book is a little misleading. Rather than returning to faith (as defined by orthodoxy) Mike has built a sturdy platform to view Christian faith. We still must make the “leap of faith” as Kierkegaard famously described. Empiricism can only take us so far.
Further Science Mike did not address the idea (at least that I remember) that there's a "leap" regardless of our beliefs, where we believe things that cannot be proved whether they are religious or not - one example is human rights. Tim Keller’s Making Sense of God and Reason for God perhaps complete the argument for making such a leap.
Finally, without a doubt, Science Mike works from the desire or motivation of "I want to have faith" and felt a profound loss when he "lost God." So those who have no desire for faith, probably won't read the book, Ha!, and I wonder if they would relate to it very well. Anyone coming to the argument with the desire “I don’t want faith” will have no trouble coming up for reasons to continue down that road. Science attempts to approach life and observations without bias. Yet McHargue doesn't pretend such objectivity, which I appreciated.
Before reading this book, I was fully acquainted with Science Mike, having listened to dozens of his podcasts, notably the Lost and Found 2 part-er on the Liturgists. So, there was little I had not encountered before reading it. Nevertheless, I loved the book. Here are some of my favorite ideas:
1. Understanding God cosmologically as the Singularity (or theologically as the Prime Mover) before the Big Bang, and from astrophysics, the energy that sustains the universe (the "ground of Being"). God is at least the set of forces that created and sustains the universe.
2. Alien hand syndrome, the severing of the corpus callosum, and split brain theory. Loved this part! The basic idea is that the two halves of our brain function with some degree of independence, which creates different and sometimes opposing ideas - which is how we might struggle to believe in God but still feel connected. We can be a logical atheist and experiential Christian at the same time. I think this also helps explain our co-occurring desires for adventure and stability, sadness and joy, or fear and excitement.
3. Learning from neuroscience about the literal power and benefits of prayer/meditation - it lowers blood pressure, helps reduce stress, makes you more focused, more compassionate, and less likely to be angry or frightened. Woohoo! What's not to like about those things?!
Four types of prayer suggested: basic prayer - talk to God; meditation - focus on compassion; centering prayer; and Lectio Divina. - All scientifically backed to be good for you.
4. Lastly, I thought his chapter on the Bible was beautiful - honest, poignant, insightful and so helpful. He compares the Bible to Vincent van Gogh, telling his tragic and beautiful story, and the creation of The Starry Night. "Is The Starry Night infallible?" "Is it true?" Those are the wrong questions to be asking of the Bible too, a grand example of missing the point.
I wanted:
- more on his chapter for Jesus. If you've studied the historical Jesus much, it's pretty introductory.
- a fuller explanation on his axiom for sin, specifically a description of the "lower and higher brain functions."
Toward the end of the book McHargue tells the story of "coming out of the closet" as an ex-atheist and being more honest with his home church on controversial topics. It was so sad. It doesn't sound like he had any option, and he made the best decision he could. And yet, my question is: how do we keep churches from morphing completely into spiritual/religious consumerism? Churches shouldn't be filled with simply others we agree with. We need diversity. And the ever-continuous fracturing in new denominations seems a clear contradiction of the unity Jesus assumed in John 17.
Nevertheless, there is plenty to discuss, such as how we reconcile the "Angry God" verses "Loving God" that we experience in scripture with the negative consequences of the angry god discovered through neuroscience.
Of note, Science Mike (along with so many others) preach the profound mysterious benefits of contemplation in faith, something Richard Rohr noted in his endorsement: "An essential, unprecedented read on the role contemplation plays in how we can know God, even in an age of skepticism."
This is a great book in particular for "recovering evangelicals," the science-inclined Christian, or really anyone who wants faith but lacks the "scaffolding" for where to begin. Highly recommended.
Also - if you were raised in a conservative church environment and haven’t been exposed to many of the critiques on faith/God/the Bible, this may be a particularly troubling read. Mike honestly goes through many of these critiques, detailing the struggle it caused him, so be ready.
Science Mike takes a systematic, rationale approach to faith that he self-identifies as founded on empiricism (ie. what we can gather scientifically/ through our senses). Science Mike will concede that his conclusions fall a good ways from orthodox belief, which many have found troubling, and it seems like the subtitle to the book is a little misleading. Rather than returning to faith (as defined by orthodoxy) Mike has built a sturdy platform to view Christian faith. We still must make the “leap of faith” as Kierkegaard famously described. Empiricism can only take us so far.
Further Science Mike did not address the idea (at least that I remember) that there's a "leap" regardless of our beliefs, where we believe things that cannot be proved whether they are religious or not - one example is human rights. Tim Keller’s Making Sense of God and Reason for God perhaps complete the argument for making such a leap.
Finally, without a doubt, Science Mike works from the desire or motivation of "I want to have faith" and felt a profound loss when he "lost God." So those who have no desire for faith, probably won't read the book, Ha!, and I wonder if they would relate to it very well. Anyone coming to the argument with the desire “I don’t want faith” will have no trouble coming up for reasons to continue down that road. Science attempts to approach life and observations without bias. Yet McHargue doesn't pretend such objectivity, which I appreciated.
Before reading this book, I was fully acquainted with Science Mike, having listened to dozens of his podcasts, notably the Lost and Found 2 part-er on the Liturgists. So, there was little I had not encountered before reading it. Nevertheless, I loved the book. Here are some of my favorite ideas:
1. Understanding God cosmologically as the Singularity (or theologically as the Prime Mover) before the Big Bang, and from astrophysics, the energy that sustains the universe (the "ground of Being"). God is at least the set of forces that created and sustains the universe.
2. Alien hand syndrome, the severing of the corpus callosum, and split brain theory. Loved this part! The basic idea is that the two halves of our brain function with some degree of independence, which creates different and sometimes opposing ideas - which is how we might struggle to believe in God but still feel connected. We can be a logical atheist and experiential Christian at the same time. I think this also helps explain our co-occurring desires for adventure and stability, sadness and joy, or fear and excitement.
3. Learning from neuroscience about the literal power and benefits of prayer/meditation - it lowers blood pressure, helps reduce stress, makes you more focused, more compassionate, and less likely to be angry or frightened. Woohoo! What's not to like about those things?!
Four types of prayer suggested: basic prayer - talk to God; meditation - focus on compassion; centering prayer; and Lectio Divina. - All scientifically backed to be good for you.
4. Lastly, I thought his chapter on the Bible was beautiful - honest, poignant, insightful and so helpful. He compares the Bible to Vincent van Gogh, telling his tragic and beautiful story, and the creation of The Starry Night. "Is The Starry Night infallible?" "Is it true?" Those are the wrong questions to be asking of the Bible too, a grand example of missing the point.
I wanted:
- more on his chapter for Jesus. If you've studied the historical Jesus much, it's pretty introductory.
- a fuller explanation on his axiom for sin, specifically a description of the "lower and higher brain functions."
Toward the end of the book McHargue tells the story of "coming out of the closet" as an ex-atheist and being more honest with his home church on controversial topics. It was so sad. It doesn't sound like he had any option, and he made the best decision he could. And yet, my question is: how do we keep churches from morphing completely into spiritual/religious consumerism? Churches shouldn't be filled with simply others we agree with. We need diversity. And the ever-continuous fracturing in new denominations seems a clear contradiction of the unity Jesus assumed in John 17.
Nevertheless, there is plenty to discuss, such as how we reconcile the "Angry God" verses "Loving God" that we experience in scripture with the negative consequences of the angry god discovered through neuroscience.
Of note, Science Mike (along with so many others) preach the profound mysterious benefits of contemplation in faith, something Richard Rohr noted in his endorsement: "An essential, unprecedented read on the role contemplation plays in how we can know God, even in an age of skepticism."
This is a great book in particular for "recovering evangelicals," the science-inclined Christian, or really anyone who wants faith but lacks the "scaffolding" for where to begin. Highly recommended.