Beside Still Waters: Searching for Meaning in an Age of Doubt - Softcover

Easterbrook, Gregg

3.67

24 ratings by Goodreads

9780688172237: Beside Still Waters: Searching for Meaning in an Age of Doubt

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0688172237 ISBN 13: 9780688172237

Publisher: Harper Perennial, 1999

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"Fascinating, elegant . . . [Easterbrook] invests the timeless question of life's meaning with distinctly contemporary pertinence."--George Will, Newsweek

Yes, says Gregg Easterbrook in this provocative and probing new book. In the tradition of Jack Miles's God A Biography and the work of Karen Armstrong, Beside Still Waters ponders the question "Is there anything left to believe in?" Gregg Easterbrook persuasively argues that rationality and outright doubt are inevitable and indeed vital elements of spiritual faith. Other new and important ideas about spiritual thought include the challenging observation that the Bible never actually proclaims God omnipotent -- a concept, Easterbrook suggests, that arose through the sociology and politics of religion, nor Scripture. Bucking the current trend to undermine the Bible's historical value, he affirms that it is neither simple myth nor mere literature, but rather it records many genuine events that can be seen to chart a spiritual journey not only of man but also of God.

A thought-provoking book for anyone who believes that true faith can and should accommodate sincere doubt, Beside Still Waters addresses some of the central spiritual issues of a profoundly skeptical age.

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Review:

Gregg Easterbrook says the ideal readers of Beside Still Waters: Searching for Meaning in an Age of Doubt are "those who seek the spiritual center--whose hearts are open to higher purpose but whose heads are aware of the many valid objections." To these readers, Easterbrook offers the gift of his contemplative, witty, well-informed essays on questions such as "whether the wars and repressions staged in the name of religion invalidate the ideals that arise from faith; whether our increasing knowledge of history demonstrates spiritual thought to have begun in mythology or superstition; [and] whether faith is on balance an advantageous force for society." Easterbrook is a reporter, not a religion expert, but he's managed to float an extraordinary amount of erudition on his fluid journalistic style. Because his learning is passionate rather than professional, he's able to explore his questions with openness and zeal. Beside Still Waters concludes with a startlingly scriptural refutation of God's omnipotence and a strong, smart argument that monotheism is inherently opposed to rigid denominationalism. Yet with equal strength and good sense, he defends the value of denominations. Maybe you're a good Christian, or a good Jew, or a good atheist. The balanced, vigorous, loving thoughts contained in Beside Still Waters can help you become something better than all of those, and necessary for being any of them--a good person. --Michael Joseph Gross

About the Author:

Gregg Easterbrook is an award-winning journalist and the author of This Magic Moment and A Moment on the Earth. He lives in Washington, D.C.

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