3.25 "unifying, hopeful, conciliatory" stars !!

Thank you to Netgalley, the authors and Monarch Books. This was released December 2020. I am providing my honest review.

Every four to six weeks I take a Quiet Spirit Day where I spend the day praying, meditating, do contemplative walking and spend some time either with a Christian or Buddhist text. I decided to take the opportunity and spend the day with this collection of essays put out by The Farraday Institute of Science and Religion at Cambridge University. The theme for this collection was Disaster, Rebuilding and the roles of science and Christian faith.

An awful lot was covered in this collection and over-all I found it helpful, clarifying, some of it a bit naive but will provide a lot of fodder for further reflection and contemplation.

The essays were written by theologians, religious practitioners, scientists, a medical doctor, and some survivors of disasters

Topics included

-are disasters natural or human made
-what role does God play in human suffering
-utilizing faith and prayer to heal from disaster and trauma
-a wonderful essay by a doctor's experiences in treating Ebola and casualties in Haiti's earthquake and the role of faith and prayer in her own resilience and ability to heal and serve
-a powerful testimony of a minister who lost his daughter in the lockerbie air bombing over Scotland and his experience of healing and forgiveness
-a Haitian mother and daughter talk about their traumas, losses and healing over four years after the Haitian earthquake in 2010
-a Haitian pastor gives testimony to that same earthquake, Haitian history and culture and his Christian faith in rebuilding his spiritual community
-a pastor in New Orleans talks of rebuilding church and community after Katrina
-a scientist gives a primer on climate change and Christians' responsibility to steward the earth in honour of God
-a "Christian" perspective on Covid 19

This will be my Christmas Read of 2022 and I hope to use these ideas to help mitigate future disasters and provide comfort to my fellow humans.

There is nothing new about humans pondering the dilemma of how can we trust in a beneficent God in the face of natural disasters, and their attendant death, destruction and misery.. This well written book has arisen out of a workshop run by The Faraday Institute For Science and Religion in 2014, and represents the work not just of academics in the field, but also victims and survivors themselves.
it is a powerful book , and one of the most moving chapters comes with an exploration of the experiences of the family of a young woman murdered in the Lockerbie tragedy, and how they rely on their Christian faith to make sense of their devastating loss.
There is nothing trite about the messages here. The authors present unequivocal evidence that disasters, natural or otherwise, always have a disproportionate effect on the poor, and the already marginalised. Equally the most life threatening aspects of climate change impact disproportionately on poorer societies despite having their roots in the actions of the wealthy.
The book most powerfully argues for an alliance of faith and science as a way forward , and its message is ultimately of hope and confidence.
Fascinating and insightful.