User's Guide--The Sequel

Gruning returns with a follow-up to his earlier work, A User's Guide to Our Present: What Everyone Should Know about Religion and Science. The book asks whether religion and science are doomed to remain separate worlds, and it considers the strain of trying to belong to both at once. It takes a current look at how each field stands today.

The discussion ranges widely. It addresses Jesus and family values, door-to-door evangelism, discrimination and racism, and the darker side of religious life. It then turns to the fragile balances that shape human society and the planet, including climate change and the pandemic, and to the question of whether ancient monuments such as Stonehenge and the pyramids could have been built for scientific purposes.

The later chapters examine the theological consequences of modern physics, particularly relativity and quantum theory. The author argues that scientific paradigms often fail to fit with traditional Christian doctrine, and he raises the possibility that scientific revolutions may call for a matching revolution in theology itself. He anticipates that readers from both camps may find the argument provocative.