Message from the author

Roy Abraham Varghese

God exists. The soul is a non-physical reality separate from the brain. The
human mind can know truth. These are not convictions that depend on any claim
of divine revelation or a particular religious system. Rather, they are instinctive
insights. Their denial is counter-intuitive, self-contradictory and irrational.

Now the questions of what God's inner being is like or why we were created
by God or what happens to us after death are questions answered differently
by each creed and claim of divine revelation. Thus theistic Hinduism, Mohism,
Judaism, Islam, Christianity all offer radically distinctive and mutually exclusive
answers to these questions. But the differences in these answers should not
blind us to their underlying consensus on the existence of a transcendent Reality
who brought all other things into being -- God!

The Wonder of the World addresses precisely this
dimension of human thought and experience that lies outside the bounds of revelational
and institutional religion. The work seeks to show that (1) the scientific enterprise
and nature as a whole inescapably testify to an infinite Intelligence that created
and conserves all things and (2) this awareness of God's existence is
not to be restricted to any one religion and, technically, can even be accepted
by someone who professes no religion. This latter point is highlighted by the
differing religious heritages of the two dialoguers, Judaism and theistic Hinduism.
The book has, in fact, received commendations from eminent Jewish, Hindu, Islamic
and Christian (Protestant and Catholic) scholars -- and even from agnostic
and atheist thinkers.

Now the adherent of a particular religion might be concerned that the book
is ambiguous about the truth of one or the other religion. In point of fact,
the book does not seek to enter into the discussion of religious truth-claims
at all. This is not to say that such a discussion is not important or proper.
Rather it is a matter of putting first things first. Neither theistic Hinduism
nor Christianity, Judaism nor Islam, make the claim that God's existence
can only be known through divine revelation. Quite the opposite. These religions
hold that the reality of God and the soul can be recognized by any normally
functioning intellect. Like Wonder, the greatest thinkers
of these religions, in fact, sought to show that God's existence can be
known to human reason independent of divine revelation.

So which God is it that emerges at the end of the book's journey through
modern science? Is it the Hindu or Jewish, Christian or Islamic God? The answer
quite simply is that it is the God known to all human beings rather than by
any specific religion or theology. This "pre-religious" awareness
of God is well described by Christianity's Apostle Paul: "For what
can be known about God is evident to them, because God made it evident to them
[all human beings]. Ever since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes
of eternal power and divinity have been able to be understood and perceived
in what he has made." (Epistle to the Romans, Chapter 1, Verses 19-20).
As universally understood, God is an omnipresent, omniscient, eternal, immutable,
infinitely perfect, personal, simple Spirit. These are the attributes of God
that must be accepted by adherents of any theistic religion. Hence the book
ends simply with this Theos who is common to every theistic
creed.

Once the reader accepts God's existence and infinite being, the next
step is a discussion of claims of revelation from God. Which such claim is persuasive
and valid? The Wonder of the World does not delve
into this discussion but enables it to commence. There's no point talking
about God's revelation if you don't first accept God's existence.
Wonder tries to show that God's infinitely
perfect existence makes sense of our experience and fulfills rationality. Modern
science is often portrayed as challenging and refuting any claim of God's
existence. Wonder points out that science presupposes
and confirms the reality of an infinite Intelligence. At the end of the day,
the work is a resource for theists of every stripe. At the very least, all theists,
regardless of their other differences, have an obligation to jointly glorify
the infinite Source of all being ("They have no excuse," as Paul
forcefully puts it, "For although they knew God they did not accord him
glory as God or give him thanks." Romans 1:20-1). Wonder
facilitates this edifying celebration of Creator and creation while opening
the door to the next round of fruitful dialogues on the divine Plan for humanity.