"But the sparrow still falls," Felipe said.
I'm not sure I've got it right, but the book seems to juxtapose the Jewish concept of God with the Christian. Ms. Russell wants to discourage the idea that God micro-manages humanity, that all the faith and/or good works, all the ritual and prayer are pretty much irrelevant.
The book is a before and after narrative of the first mission to a civilization in the Alpha Centauri system, sponsored by the Catholic church and manned by four Jesuit priests and four lay people. The trip is inspired by Father Emilio Sandoz, a man that entered the priesthood for a number of reasons none of which were a belief in God. But he believes he may have found God when a friend of his, working at the Arecibo radio telescope receives a radio transmission from the Alpha Centauri region, and inspires the Vatican to fund the mission. But the story opens as a horribly broken Sandoz is secreted out of the hospital by the church so that he might avoid even more bad publicity.
Mary Doria Russell has written an extremely thought provoking first novel and it's not just good ideas, but good writing that makes this book an excellent read.
It does nothing, however to shake my own belief that God's existence, itself, is irrelevant. I find the idea that we are players on a stage that God has set the rules for and keeps a constant watch upon, but cannot interact with, somewhat distasteful. Are we entertainment? An experiment? Thanks, but I prefer to believe that we are entirely on our own and responsible for our own fate.
-- Doug _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
