Big And Small Purposes: Why Do We Exist?
Unsplash photo
(REVIEW) Both rightly-named football matches and their American cousins have halftimes. The kind of “football” dominant in the United States is poorly-named because in it only one person on the field, a kicker, uses his feet, and that only at specialized times. In both varieties, though, players at halftime get a short rest and coaches offer rallying words.
Books that try to answer why we exist should not have halftimes. Authors should offer a consistent vision. Philip Goff in “Why? The Purpose of the Universe” (Oxford, 2023) shows evidence for God such as the universe’s “fine-tuning.” If the strength of “dark energy,” for example, was a tiny bit greater or smaller, stars and planets could not exist.
This is new information: “For a long time there was no evidence for cosmic purpose, so it was quite right that the scientific community rejected its existence … but the evidential situation has now changed.”
READ: Bringing In The Sheaves
Goff’s first half eviscerates alternative explanations, such as the theory of multiple universes. He emphasizes that “the probability of getting fine-tuned constants by chance is way-more-than-astronomically low.” Then comes half-time, and the rest of Why? has chapter titles including “Why the Omni-God Probably Doesn’t Exist” and “Cosmic Purpose without God.” Goff argues for an impersonal, panpsychic “cosmic purpose” that is vague and unconvincing. Those who buy Why? should ask for half their money back.
Readers will find better answers in Stephen Meyer’s “Return of the God Hypothesis: Three Scientific Discoveries That Reveal the Mind Behind the Universe” (HarperOne, 2021). Scientists and mathematicians wanting more should read “The Design Inference” by William Dembski and Winston Ewert (Discovery Institute, second edition, 2023). John West’s “Darwin Day in America” (Intercollegiate Studies Institute, 2015) shows the cultural impact.
Donors to political candidates who conflate Christianity and politics should ask for all of their money back. The danger can come from either the right or the left, but Tim Alberta’s “The Kingdom, The Power, and The Glory” (Harper, 2023) provides specific detail about Donald Trump’s impact. He offers terrific mini-profiles of operators like Ralph Reed and courageous Christians such as Russell Moore and David French.
Alberta’s reporting from a Trumpist church in Michigan, near where he grew up, won him in 2022 a Zenger Prize, and his new book should be a candidate for other awards. He nails spiritual sickness and quotes a healthier perspective from Australia native John Dickson, now a Wheaton College professor: Evangelicals in America (maybe Australia as well?) should understand that we’re a minority, “eager dinner guests at someone else’s banquet. We are happy … to share our perspective. But we are always respectful, always humble, because this isn’t our home.”
Politics won’t save us, but what Justin Brierly describes in “The Surprising Rebirth of Belief in God” (Tyndale, 2023) will help. He readably shows “why new atheism grew old and secular thinkers are considering Christianity again.” Christian compassion can also change lives, and Glen Scrivener’s “The Air We Breathe” (Good Book Company, 2022) explains how Bible-reading leads to help for the poor and the use of persuasion rather than power to change thoughts and actions.
A focus on politics and power distorts Christianity, and Mark Talbot’s series on “Suffering and the Christian Life” shows that the “prosperity gospel” does as well. The first of a planned four-volume series, “When the Stars Disappear” (Crossway, 2020), skillfully examines the Bible’s teaching about sadness, hope and help in the lives of Naomi, Job, and Jeremiah. Talbot, partially paralyzed from the waist down at age 17 when he fell 50 feet off a Tarzan-like rope swing, has taught philosophy at Wheaton for three decades: The second book in the series, “Give Me Understanding That I May Live” (Crossway, 2022), shows how suffering works within God’s redemptive plan.
Briefly noted: Edgar Sandoval’s “The New Face of Small-Town America” (Penn State U. Press, 2010) gives a great sense of what it’s like to be a Latino immigrant in Allentown, Penn. Matt Peacock’s “Unexplained Connections” (Iridescent Press, 2020) shows how Christian nonprofits can rewire communities to fight social isolation. John Piper’s “Foundations for Lifelong Learning” (Crossway, 2023) shows why we should study both the Bible “and the whole organic complex of nature and history and human culture.”
K. Alan Snyder and Jamin Metcalf’s “Many Times & Many Places” (Winged Lion, 2023) summarizes well why C. S. Lewis thought history worth studying. P&R in 2023 continued to expand its excellent Reformed Expository Commentary series by hitting the beginning and the end — commentaries on Genesis and Revelation — while filling in the middle with 2 Corinthians and others. “The Augustine Way” by Joshua Chatraw and Mark Allen (Baker, 2023) expanded my thinking about apologetics.
Marvin Olasky, editor in chief of World from 1992 to 2021, reviews books on religion here and books on other subjects at Discovery Institute’s Olasky Books Newsletter.