The God Problem

by Wuthnow, Robert

• ISBN13: 9780520274280
• ISBN10: 0520274288
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2012-10-01
• Publisher: Univ of California Pr

Summary

The United States is one of the most highly educated societies on earth, and also one of the most religious. In The God Problem, Robert Wuthnow examines how middle class Americans juggle the seemingly paradoxical relationship between faith and reason. Based on exceptionally rich and candid interviews with approximately two hundred people from various faiths, this book dispels the most common explanations: that Americans are adept at keeping religion and intellect separate, or that they are a nation of "joiners." Instead, Wuthnow argues, we do this--not by coming up with rational proofs for the existence of God--but by adopting subtle usages of language that keep us from making unreasonable claims about God. In an illuminating narrative that reveals the complex negotiations many undertake in order to be religious in the modern world, Wuthnow probes the ways of talking that occur in prayers, in discussions about God, in views of heaven, in understandings of natural catastrophes and personal tragedies, and in attempts to reconcile faith with science.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. vii
Introduction	p. 1
Dangerous Dogma	p. 7
Talking to God	p. 45
Big Scary Catastrophes	p. 93
Heaven Is a Wonderful Place	p. 154
Jesus Sets You Free	p. 213
Billions of Galaxies	p. 248
Conclusion: Don't Be Spooky or Weird	p. 283
Appendix	p. 305
Selected Bibliography	p. 311
Index	p. 325
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.