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Former professor of astronomy & space sciences and former director of the Laboratory for Planetary Studies at Cornell University Dr. Carl Sagan (Nov. 1934 to Dec. 1996) has risen from the dead to write a book on his search for God!!
Well, not quite. Sagan's third wife & widow and his longtime collaborator Ann "Annie" Druyan has turned his 1985 lectures (formally entitled the "Gifford Lectures on Natural Theology") that he presented at the University of Glasgow in Scotland into a fascinating book. Astronomer and the Sagans' dear friend Steven Soter wrote scientific updates that appear in the book's footnotes and, as well, he made "many editorial contributions."
The purpose of these lectures as Druyan tells us is as follows:
"Carl saw these lectures as a chance to set down in detail his understanding of the relationship between religion and science and something of his own search to understand the nature of the sacred."
But exactly why did Druyan turn these lectures into a book (which she edited)? Here's her answer:
"In the midst of the worldwide pandemic of extreme fundamentalist violence and during a time in the United States when phony piety in public life reached a new low and the critical separation of church and state and public classroom were dangerously eroded, I felt that Carl's perspective on these questions was needed for than ever."
Thank goodness that she thought this way because she has given all of us a valuable book to be cherished, "a...stunningly valuable legacy left to all of us by a great human being." For those who have followed Sagan's writings in the past, the science he presents will be familiar and easy to follow. He does though illuminate his discussion with examples from such disciplines as cosmology, physics, philosophy, literature, psychology, cultural anthropology, mythology, and theology. What was especially new and unexpected to me were the religious viewpoints that he presents. I have never read these before and this is what makes this book a treat to read. These religious viewpoints are especially prominent in the last 5 chapters or lectures. They are entitled:
(1) Extraterrestrial folklore: implications for the evolution of religion
(2) The God hypothesis (an excellent chapter!!)
(3) The religious experience
(4) Crimes against creation
(5) The search
Sagan emphasizes an important point right at the beginning of the book in the "Author's Introduction" that he wrote in Glasgow, Scotland on Oct., 1985:
"I want to stress that what I will be saying are my own personal views on [the relationship] between science and religion...I hope only to trace my own thinking and understanding of [this relationship]."
This book has more than 35 figures or illustrations (mainly in the form of color photographs). The bulk of the photographs occur in the first four chapters that have the following titles (I have also included the number of illustrations per chapter):
(1) Nature and wonder: a reconnaissance of Heaven (14 illustrations)
(2) A retreat from Copernicus: a modern loss of nerve (5)
(3) The organic universe (13)
(4) Extraterrestrial intelligence (2)
After presenting all the lectures, the book ends with selected transcribed questions from the audience. Sagan answers these questions with his trademark style of elegance and style punctuating his answers with reason and rationality. I found this section most interesting.
Finally, a note on the photographs. Druyan explains:
"[I and Steven Soter] felt sure that Carl would not have wanted to use the 1985 slides from the lectures. Astronomers have seen farther and more clearly since then. Steve found the gorgeous [and more recent color] images that replace them."
I can validate Druyan's statement. All the photographs ARE gorgeous and a sight to behold.
In conclusion, this book presents the scintillating lectures of the relationship between science and religion by the late scientific icon, Carl Sagan. I leave you with Sagan's final words in the last lecture presented in this book:
"I think if we ever reach the point where we think we thoroughly understand who we are and where we came from, we will have failed. I think this search does not lead to a complacent satisfaction that we know the answer, not an arrogant sense that the answer is before us and we need only to do one more experiment to find out. It goes with a courageous intent to greet the universe as it really is, not to foist our emotional predispositions on it [as religion does] but to courageously accept what our explorations tell us."
(first published 2006; editor's introduction; author's introduction; 9 lectures or chapters; main narrative 220 pages; selected Q & A; acknowledgements; figure captions; index; figure credits)
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