A God That Could Be Real: Spirituality, Science, and the Future of Our Planet

Nancy Ellen Abrams

A paradigm-shifting blend of science, religion, and philosophy for the agnostic, spiritual-but-not-religious, and scientifically minded reader Many people are fed up with the way traditional religion alienates them. Too often it perpetuates conflict, vilifies science, and undermines reason. Nancy Abrams-a philosopher of science, lawyer, and lifelong atheist-is among these people, but she has also found freedom in imagining a higher power. In A God That Could Be Real, Abrams explores a radically new way of thinking about God. She dismantles several common assumptions about God and shows why an omniscient, omnipotent God that created the universe and plans what happens is incompatible with science-but that this doesn't preclude a God that can comfort and empower us. Moving away from traditional arguments for God, Abrams finds something worthy of the name "God" in the new science of emergence: just as a complex ant hill emerges from the collective behavior of individually clueless ants, and just as the global economy emerges from the interactions of billions of individuals' choices, God, she argues, is an "emergent phenomenon" that arises from the staggering complexity of humanity's collective aspirations and is in dialogue with every individual. This God did not create the universe-it created the meaning of the universe. It's not universal-it's planetary. It can't change the world, but it helps us change the world. A God that could be real, Abrams shows us, is what humanity needs to inspire us to collectively cooperate to protect our warming planet and create a long-term civilization.

CONTENTSForeword by Archbishop Desmond TutuForeword by Paul DaviesIntroductionPart IChapter 1 God EvolvesChapter 2 A God That Can’t Be RealChapter 3 A God That Could Be Real Part IIChapter 4 Is There a Spiritual World?Chapter 5 Does God Answer Prayers?Chapter 6 Is There an Afterlife?Part IIIChapter 7 Renewing God, Renewing ReligionChapter 8 Planetary God, Planetary MoralityChapter 9 A Big Picture for Our TimeAcknowledgments