A God that Could Be Real

Spirituality, Science, and the Future of Our Planet

By: Nancy Ellen Abrams, Paul Davies - foreword, Archbishop Desmond Tutu - foreword

Narrated by: Tara Sands

Length: 7 hrs and 37 mins

Publisher's summary

A paradigm-shifting blend of science, religion, and philosophy for the agnostic, spiritual-but-not-religious, and scientifically-minded listener.

Many people are fed up with the way traditional religion alienates them. Too easily it perpetuates conflict, vilifies science, and undermines reason. Nancy Abrams - a philosopher of science, lawyer, and lifelong atheist - is among these people, but she has also found freedom in imagining a higher power.

In A God that Could Be Real, Abrams explores a radically new way of thinking about God. She dismantles several common assumptions about God and shows why an omniscient, omnipotent God that created the universe and plans what happens is incompatible with science - but that this doesn’t preclude a God that can comfort and empower us.

Moving away from traditional arguments for God, Abrams finds something worthy of the name “God” in the new science of emergence: just as a complex ant hill emerges from the collective behavior of individually clueless ants, and just as the global economy emerges from the interactions of billions of individuals’ choices, God, she argues, is an “emergent phenomenon” that arises from the staggering complexity of humanity’s collective aspirations and is in dialogue with every individual. This God did not create the universe - it created the meaning of the universe. It’s not universal - it’s planetary. It can’t change the world, but it helps us change the world.

A God that could be real, Abrams shows us, is what humanity needs to inspire us to collectively cooperate to protect our warming planet and create a long-term civilization.

©2015 Nancy Ellen Abrams (P)2018 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“A fine addition to the growing library of alternative approaches to literalism in belief, this book is suitable for academic libraries, liberal churches, and individual seekers.” (Library Journal)

“A truly extraordinary read from beginning to end...Informed, informative, thoughtful, thought provoking, inspired and inspiring. Very highly recommended.” (Margaret Lane, Midwest Book Review)

“Like everything else in life, Gods die. And when they do, new Gods come to take their place. Ours is a time of new Gods birthing, and Nancy Abrams’s magnificent book A God That Could Be Real is a powerful act of midwifery. This is not a eulogy for the old Gods but a prophecy of the new.” (Rabbi Rami Shapiro, author of Perennial Wisdom for the Spiritually Independent)

Brilliantly written, horrible narrator

I love this book. It’s one of my all time favorite books of all time. It’s brilliantly written. I downloaded the audible version so my husband could hear it on a road trip we were taking together because I thought he would enjoy it but the narrator’s voice is so robotic and unpleasant to listen to, we couldn’t get past the first full chapter. I was super disappointed. Do yourself a favorite and by the actual book and read it. Don’t waste your time with the audible version.

A Local God?

The author deserves much credit for challenging most everything “church” has stubbornly and consistently tried to intimidate us with.
Crucial here and now questions are emphasized and we are more than encouraged to be the difference. Big questions linger but I’m better off for this very thoughtful and researched offering.
Thank you Nancy Ellen Abrams.

Great book, tough narrator to listen to.

I am going to finish this book eventually because the content is excellent. However, I wish the author narrated it, because the person they have reading it makes it difficult to sit through long listens. Bummer.

Horrid narration

I was really excited about this topic but can't get past the narration. This narrator would be fine for fiction but she's ruining this title. Will try to get a hard copy and read this one.