As if anyone were paying attention, it sure isn’t at the forefront of my mind, I have not completed my list of five books. Well, the time has come. Maybe it has come too soon; for once I mention that special book number five, my time of reminiscing over the many great books of my past will come to an end. Actually, it probably won’t come to an end, but I won’t feel obligated to put it to paper or screen for my wife to see. And come to think of it, I really don’t feel all that obligated. How’s that for an intro? Dull enough to make any mention of any title seem fascinating by contrast.

First, I hope I don’t repeat a book title that I mentioned in numbers one through four. It’s been a while and my memory isn’t what it used to be. The finalists for this last spot are many (it should have been a top ten list.) I seriously considered a book by Cheryl Forbes entitled Religion of Power, written back in the 80s, but I haven’t been able to find it on my shelves of late and thus cannot glance through it to see if truly merits distinction as number five. I do remember being surprised by the number and caliber of endorsements on the jacket even though she stepped on more than her share of toes throughout the pages of the book.

And then the first book I received as a gift from my loving wife, written by Peter Kreeft and entitled Between Heaven and Hell, was in the running. It is a fascinating fictional conversation taking place between C. S. Lewis, John F. Kennedy, and Aldous Huxley as they first arrive in a purgatory type place immediately after death. They all died on the same day in 1963, November 23rd. It’s an engaging discussion that touches on three very different world-views.

And, of course, there were actually some books that I was forced to read in college that could be classified as favorites. But because I do not know the measure to which my free will was involved in the reading process, they will be left out of the list.

So now for the anti-climax after the big build up: Assumptions and Faith by Wayne Roberts. I found this book in a used book store for one dollar. The cover is not flashy. It is out of print. I doubt that many outside of his collegiate influence have heard of him, unless you count family. It is published by a house that I’ve never heard of. But it’s a great book.

For starters, it is short. At 97 pages, it wins my heart. James Joyce’s Ulysses and Tolstoy’s War and Peace may be great works, but don’t expect me to plug away at something for that long. Succinctness is a gift. (I know that you’re thinking right now that I sure don’t have that gift.) But this Roberts character is a math and science guy. He teaches at a college where I actually attended a short interim term back in the late 70s, sporting a lime green leisure suit. During a January “between semesters period,” I took a class studying the works of the late, southern U.S., Catholic novelist and short story writer Flannery O’Connor. (I suppose I could have named her collection of short stories as my number five book.) But anyways, the campus of the college is beautiful, their football team is lousy, but they had good heat. I believe the school was founded by Presbyterians with a Scottish heritage, but nowadays (as it was in the 70s) its ties to any religious body are not very evident. Out of this environment came a simple, yet profound book. It’s a book about faith, written in language understandable and approachable for those with any kind of background, from the framework of a scientist, that spoke to me deeply.

We so often set up a false dichotomy between science and religion, and pit “facts” against “values or beliefs.” His message in a nutshell is that science, and mathematics specifically, starts with unprovable assumptions to the same degree that religious faith does. The challenge is to find an assumption that appears true and build upon it, testing it, living it. It’s too easy to get stuck trying to find a perfect, complete explanation for all of life (e.g. a foundation that cannot be questioned) and in turn never live out a life of faith in God.

I think that’s what he was trying to say. But you’ll never know, because you’ll probably never be able to find the book, and probably have no desire in doing so. So there. But it was a book that definitely struck a chord with me back in 1991, and I should probably give it another look soon.

And now that I think about it, it reminds me of another book which I believe has a similar message. That one was written by Dan Taylor, an English professor that I sat under in college. The title of the book is The Myth of Certainty. This is yet another great book, and this is one that might still be in print.

Yes, it is in print. I just checked. IVP has republished it. They probably gave it a fancier cover and doubled the price. But it is still worth it.

I suppose that if I applied what I think I read many years ago within the pages of those two books by Roberts and Taylor, I would actually post this blog right now and not spend any more time trying to come to a perfect understanding of what they were attempting to say last millennium. So I will.