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Dinner party hostesses used to be warned to steer the conversation away from politics and religion. I used to wonder why, but I don’t anymore. There are some differences that reveal rifts so deep that dialogue breaks down. Among these are the current debates that have been raging between God-believers and the so-called new atheists. It often seems that people on one side can’t begin to grasp what the world is like, what it feels like, for those on the other side. When the person with whom one is conversing appears utterly opaque, then mistrust and contempt are easily aroused: How can he be saying that when the opposite seems so obvious to me? Is he stupid, dishonest, maybe just a touch evil? These are not the sort of suspicions that the gracious hostess wants intruding at her candle-lit dinner table.
But for me, as a novelist, it’s differences like these, indicating entirely different orientations toward the world, which are the most tantalizing to explore. Arguments alone can’t capture all that is at stake for people when they argue about issues of reason and faith. In the end, I place my faith in fiction, in its power to make vividly present how different the world feels to each of us and how these differences are sometimes what is really being expressed in the great debates of our day on the existence of God.
The title of the book is 36 Arguments for the Existence of God: A Work of Fiction. I meant the subtitle to be understood as a sort of joke, but as a serious one, too. --Rebecca Goldstein
(Photo © Stephen Pinker)
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Book Description Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. Psychologist Cass Seltzer's book, The Variety of Religious Illusion, has become a surprise bestseller, and has him rubbing shoulders with Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens on the bestsellers lists and chat show circuit. Dubbed 'the atheist with a soul', Cass's sudden celebrity has upended his life and brought back the ghosts of his past, including a lover in pursuit of immortality, a mentor with a suspicious obsession with messianism, and a six-year-old mathematical prodigy, heir to the dynasty of a strict fundamentalist community. Over the course of one week, Cass's theories about the inescapability of the religious impulse are born out in ways he could never have imagined. 36 Arguments for the Existence of God is a remarkably original novel, which explores the varieties of the human religious experience in a story of obsession, consuming love, and divine genius. By turns hilarious, moving and devilishly clever, Goldstein's novel is an exhilarating romance of heart and mind. Rebecca Goldstein's brilliant international bestseller is now available in paperback. 'A rare find among contemporary novelists: she has intellectual muscle as well as a tender emotional reach.' Ian McEwan Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability. Seller Inventory # 9781848871557
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Book Description Condition: New. Rebecca Goldstein's brilliant international bestseller is now available in paperback. 'A rare find among contemporary novelists: she has intellectual muscle as well as a tender emotional reach.' Ian McEwan Num Pages: 400 pages. BIC Classification: FA. Category: (G) General (US: Trade). Dimension: 198 x 157 x 33. Weight in Grams: 384. A Work of Fiction. 400 pages. Rebecca Goldstein's brilliant international bestseller is now available in paperback. Cateogry: (G) General (US: Trade). BIC Classification: FA. Dimension: 198 x 157 x 33. Weight: 388. . 2011. Paperback. . . . . Seller Inventory # V9781848871557
Book Description Paperback. Condition: Brand New. 400 pages. 7.80x5.08x1.18 inches. In Stock. Seller Inventory # __1848871554
Book Description Condition: New. Rebecca Goldstein's brilliant international bestseller is now available in paperback. 'A rare find among contemporary novelists: she has intellectual muscle as well as a tender emotional reach.' Ian McEwan Num Pages: 400 pages. BIC Classification: FA. Category: (G) General (US: Trade). Dimension: 198 x 157 x 33. Weight in Grams: 384. A Work of Fiction. 400 pages. Rebecca Goldstein's brilliant international bestseller is now available in paperback. Cateogry: (G) General (US: Trade). BIC Classification: FA. Dimension: 198 x 157 x 33. Weight: 388. . 2011. Paperback. . . . . Books ship from the US and Ireland. Seller Inventory # V9781848871557
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Book Description Paperback. Condition: Brand New. 400 pages. 7.80x5.08x1.18 inches. In Stock. Seller Inventory # zk1848871554
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