95 North. . . The Newspaper

I recently read Finding God in the Waves , a spiritual memoir by Mike McHargue. In Waves  McHargue explores the story of his own Christian faith, documenting his journey from good ol' Southern Baptist boy to atheism, all the way back to Christianity again.  The book is peppered with neuroscience, as McHargue attempts to square his spiritual experiences with what we know about the brain. The book is largely divided into three parts: McHargue's upbringing and comfortable evangelicalism, his subsequent (secret) conversion to atheism, and finally, his merging of science and faith, brought on by a mystical experience early in the morning on the beach. Needless to say, I recommend this book for anyone who has struggled to square religion with doubt, science, and what we know empirically about the world. My favorite quotes are below: On Prayer : "These days, my intercessory prayers are an act of surrender- a way to voice my hopes and my hopelessness, my power and ...

Recommend reading/Book Review: Bob Dylan: A Spiritual Life  by Scott Marshall Even before Bob Dylan preached the gospel under the bright lights of 1980 in stages across the world, he was a man who valued Jewish and Christian traditions over the course of his lifetime. Bob's consistent interest in spirituality is made clear in a recent book entitled  Bob Dylan: A Spiritual Life by Scott Marshall. Indeed, while the music during the gospel-era might of taken on another flavor due to some personal revelations Bob had in the late 1970s, the spi ritual has always been a priority for Bob.  All this leads me to believe that Bob Dylan is not a person who is trapped in "enlightenment" thinking, constantly using left brain rationality. He is right brained: interested in images, poems, and meanings that extend beyond rational and into the spiritual.  Bob Dylan's emphasis on the spiritual has peaked my recent interest in reading about the relationship between s...