In this short book, Sharon Dirckx provides a very helpful introduction to some extremely big topics. As she points out in the introduction, how we answer the question ‘Am I just my brain?’ has implications for free will, robotics, ethics and religion, so the stakes are high.
Whilst some readers might see the book as a condemnation of Christianity, and of the danger of a doctrine of revelation which requires submission to an ancient text. We note that in both these books Jesus isn’t mentioned and Bibles are locked up
I particularly liked the focus on our personal role ('Am I responsible for anyone else's suffering?' is one chapter heading), and the constant pointers back to Jesus' work on the cross ('Can a broken story be fixed?')
The Bible, he notes, urges us to pursue goodness, not happiness - but it turns out that "goodness is deliciously happy!".
The questions that drive this book are clearly heartfelt ones, from young people wrestling with faith, doubt, ethics and some very difficult personal situations. The first thing to note and commend about A.S.K. is that these young people have been given the chance to ask these questions, and to engage with serious answers.
As an expert in mathematics, including probability and chaos theory, Lennox analyses and explains the fine tuning of the physical forces and constants of the universe, and the information richness of the genetic code. These facts point to intelligent input
Mair helps us understand so clearly the struggles and contradictions at the heart of our culture’s relationship with truth
In conclusion, then, this is a great little book and should form part of an armoury of resources that will give Christians greater confidence in the reasonableness of their faith.
500 pages of unremitting present tense action and powerful description. I was taken with it and found it hard to put down, but ultimately it is frustrating.
BY SARAH ALLEN - Harari’s rejection of meaning offers no hope for this chaos, but unintentionally points us in the right direction. We humans desperately need meaning because we are cooperating and communicating persons made in the image of the personal three-in-one God. We need to know that our values of love and justice and our feelings of pain and compassion are not part of a lifeless algorithm, or a convenient myth, but have significance beyond our brain chemistry