The Future of God

October 20, 2014
“Faith is in trouble,” bestselling spirituality author Chopra writes to open his newest, and one source of that trouble is “bullying behavior that seeks to crush the early shoots of personal spirituality” from prominent atheists such as Richard Dawkins. Chopra therefore writes “to make spirituality credible for modern people.” He says that atheists and religious fundamentalists have monopolized public discussion of spirituality and religion, but that they argue from a flawed understanding of God. For example, Dawkins’s atheism “positions itself as rational but cannot explain the source of rationality,” he writes. Chopra asserts that scientists, like believers, take truths on faith, but scientists are in thrall to scientific materialism and fail to see this. He recommends a shift in both scientific and human awareness that allows for materialism as well as invisible worlds, and will allow people to reach God. Chopra’s first-person viewpoint and clear, colloquial language help persuade readers to entertain the possibilities he raises. He won’t reach atheists, but spiritually inclined agnostics will find the ideas provocative. Agent: Robert Gottlieb, Trident Media Group.

November 15, 2014
The popular and prolific spiritual writer offers an engaging discussion describing the development from unbelief to faith to knowledge. He takes Richard Dawkins' arguments for atheism as a way into his belief of knowledge that has God contained in it, but Chopra does not confine himself to a debate. Instead, he is generous with Dawkins' formulations and uses them as scaffolding for his own counteranalyses. Science is no enemy to Chopra. He offers possible ways forward in spirituality at a time when science is both explaining life forces and provoking fearfulness on the parts of those who see it as antonymous to God in writing that is balanced, explicitly evenhanded, and accessible. Readers interested in exploring spiritual living without eschewing secular knowledge will find Chopra a knowledgeable guide through a sometimes thorny path.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)