Meaning and Mystery: What it Means to Believe in God

Meaning and Mystery offers a challenge to the way Philosophy has traditionally approached the issue of belief in God as a theoretical problem, proposing instead a form of reflection more appropriate to the practical nature of the issue. It makes use of abundant illustrative material, from both literature, such as Les Miserables , Edwin Abott’s Flatland , Yann Martel’s Life of Pi and Leo Tolstoy’s A Confession , and popular culture, such as advertisements, the television series Joan of Arcadia and the film Stranger Than Fiction . It uses imaginative scenarios to offer explanations of central concepts. It incorporates theories on human thought and behavior in exploring the formation of religious belief. It is written in a style that is accessible to readers with little background knowledge of philosophy.