Overview

"The book starts by considering mankind's role in the complex ecological system of our planet and then considers the place of mankind in the cosmos while also looking inward at our own microcosm. It then explains how these scientific insights lead to the ontological search for God. The good, the bad, and the ugly sides of religious beliefs are considered and it is suggested that we are looking for """"God"""" in the wrong place. The book then explains a justification for the author's apparent cognitive dissonance of retaining a Jewish identity whilst denying the existence of a God with the attributes of man. The author then argues that we should look for """"God"""" in the infinitely small spaces within ourselves instead of the infinitely large spaces of the universe. His """"God"""" would not mind whether individuals believed in """"him"""" or not, so long as they practiced their life as the author practices his medicine: in a never-ending quest to improve the length and quality of the lives of his patients. This book should improve the reader's knowledge of the philosophers who wrote on the ontology of God. It also rediscovers that Baruch Spinoza had already reached the conclusions of modern-day thinkers more than 350 years ago."

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9781666723021

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Reviews

This is not merely a hugely ambitious book but a courageous one. Baum invites readers of all faiths and none to accompany him on his extraordinary and deeply personal spiritual journey in quest of the essence of God and the nature of Jewish identity. The result is an exhilarating and rewarding intellectual adventure. Hold on tight and enjoy. --David H. Stone, University of Glasgow, emeritus This most-readable, impressive, and challenging account of the mysterium tremendum that reveals itself to Baum through the sciences he has mastered and the moral philosophy he has embraced gets mightily close to a religious odyssey. His blistering critique of the numerous atrocities that are perpetrated in the name of religion is most timely, and his basic thesis that 'we are looking for God in the wrong place' resonates strongly with some Jewish mystical ideas. --Jeffrey M. Cohen, author of The Book of Psalms: Poetry in Poetry A thought-provoking memoir. . . . Baum has internalized the Royal Society's motto--'Take nobody's word for it'--as a directive to study and refine medical treatments and to wrestle with God's teachings . . . in a continuing attempt to heal the world. I would love to be his next-door neighbor, sharing experiences and insights and debating our obligations to this world and its people. --Avrum Z. Bluming, University of Southern California, emeritus

This is not merely a hugely ambitious book but a courageous one. Baum invites readers of all faiths and none to accompany him on his extraordinary and deeply personal spiritual journey in quest of the essence of God and the nature of Jewish identity. The result is an exhilarating and rewarding intellectual adventure. Hold on tight and enjoy. --David H. Stone, University of Glasgow, emeritus This most-readable, impressive, and challenging account of the mysterium tremendum that reveals itself to Baum through the sciences he has mastered and the moral philosophy he has embraced gets mightily close to a religious odyssey. His blistering critique of the numerous atrocities that are perpetrated in the name of religion is most timely, and his basic thesis that 'we are looking for God in the wrong place' resonates strongly with some Jewish mystical ideas. --Jeffrey M. Cohen, author of The Book of Psalms: Poetry in Poetry A thought-provoking memoir. . . . Baum has internalized the Royal Society's motto--'Take nobody's word for it'--as a directive to study and refine medical treatments and to wrestle with God's teachings . . . in a continuing attempt to heal the world. I would love to be his next-door neighbor, sharing experiences and insights and debating our obligations to this world and its people. --Avrum Z. Bluming, University of Southern California, emeritus

Author Information

Michael Baum qualified as a doctor in 1960 and was appointed to the chair of surgery in 1980 at Kings College London and later appointed Professor of Surgery at the Institute of Cancer Research and then to a chair of surgery at University College London in 1997. When he retired from clinical work as a surgeon at the age of sixty-seven, he was appointed as visiting professor in Medical Humanities.

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