Sensitive_Necessary7

It used to, when I was younger and had a poorer understanding of both.

One of the things I love about the Catholic Church is its total openness to scientific inquiry. There is no contradiction, for example, in being a faithful Catholic and believing in evolution or quantum theory or the big bang.

I grew up as an evangelical Protestant. Lost my mother to brain cancer when I was 16. After that, I went through a period of "devout atheism."

In college, I studied comparative religion, mainly with the hope that I could eliminate any remaining vestiges of faith.

I was drawn to the Catholic Church by the example of John Paul II, by its rich intellectual traditions, and by the nagging sense that the universe is deeply and intrinsically sacramental.

I ultimately converted after I married my wife.

It's set around 250 years in the future. A sectarian civil war in Nigeria has re-set the geopolitical table. There is a revived Holy Roman Empire that includes just a couple of Eastern European countries, most of Sub-Saharan Africa, S. America, and the Philippines.

There is also an Islamic caliphate streteching from Morocco to Pakistan.

The twist is that the Caliphate and the Holy Roman Empire are allies.

I LOVE both Simmons and Wolfe, along with Walter Miller, Frank Herbert, and Ursula LeGuin.

Thank you!

I'm not sure that my book is optimistic about the return of faith in western society. The Revived Holy Roman empire in OLotA is mainly a southern hemisphere, sub-Saharan African polity. Western Europe and North America are presented as secularized economic zones.

As far as what it would take to restore faith in Europe...I'm not sure that is in the cards at all. If anything, I'd subscribe to Pope Benedict's view that the Church will become small but cohesive. Perhaps after that happens, there will be a new evangelization.

Ah, ok. I read from a variety of translations, though I'm sure they are all flawed. The King James Version I grew up with, for example, is valuable for its poetic beauty even though it clearly had a "political" agenda. My favorite is the Douey-Rheims. My everyday go-to is the NLT.