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From the US to Nepal, author J. Bradley Wigger travels five
countries on three continents to hear children describe their
invisible friends-one-hundred-year-old robins and blue dogs,
dinosaurs and teapots, pretend families and shape-shifting
aliens-companions springing from the deep well of childhood
imagination. Drawing on these interviews, as well as a new wave of
developmental research, he finds a fluid and flexible quality to
the imaginative mind that is central to learning, co-operation, and
paradoxically, to real-world rationality. Yet Wigger steps beyond
psychological territory to explore the religious significance of
the kind of mind that develops relationships with invisible beings.
Alongside Cinderella the blue dog, Quack-Quack the duck, and Dino
the dinosaur are angels, ancestors, spirits, and gods. What he
uncovers is a profound capacity in the religious imagination to see
through the surface of reality to more than meets the eye.
Punctuated throughout by children's colorful drawings of their
see-through interlocutors, the book is highly engaging and
alternately endearing, moving, and humorous. Not just for parents
or for those who work with children, Invisible Companions will
appeal to anyone interested in our mind's creative and spiritual
possibilities.
Synopsis: Did Lucy know God? Could Neanderthals talk? Was Ardi
self-conscious? These are the strange new breed of questions
emerging as we discover more and more about our prehistoric
origins--questions about knowing. While fossil digs and carbon
dating tell a remarkable story about the bones and times of our
ancient ancestors, we cannot help wondering what they knew, and
when. Exploring such questions Original Knowing takes contemporary
science as seriously as religious tradition and searches for the
story behind this odd creature who senses more to the universe than
meets the eye. In limestone bluffs and butterfly migrations, from
Stone Age tool-making to Sumerian beer-making, clues are sought to
better understand this strange mind that ponders the origins of its
own existence. When do babies point, and why does it matter? What
does throwing a Frisbee reveal about our distant ancestors? Is
language the key to our minds as many believe? Or perhaps the heart
of knowing rests in something more basic, in a smile, and the
powerful social abilities at work allowing us to sense a depth to
life--to our own lives--a depth that our minds help us glimpse if
only through a glass darkly. Endorsements: "Wigger has written a
fascinating book dealing with ways of knowing. He recognizes the
questions we ask are critically important and we can't shut
ourselves off from the answers we find, even when they make us
uncomfortable. Join him on his exploration of religion and science,
and the intersection of the two. You won't be disappointed "
--Michael Zimmerman, Founder and Executive Director, The Clergy
Letter Project "In the Genesis creation story, Adam and Eve ate
from the tree of knowledge, and this changed them forever; their
'eyes were opened.' What does this mean in light of modern science?
This book presents an exciting journey through deep time, starting
with a 500-million-year-old trilobite and continuing through the
ways of knowing in humans, such as tool-making, music, education,
consciousness, and religion." --Helen De Cruz, Catholic University
of Leuven and the University of Oxford "With the deceptive
simplicity of a storyteller spinning tales around a campfire, and
the acumen of an astronomer pointing out the constellations, Wigger
unfolds the narrative of human consciousness: from where did
knowing emerge and why; what does it mean to know our origins,
ourselves, and one another; how does our capacity to know satisfy
our longing for communion? Sit beside Wigger and be amazed, both at
this wonder we call knowing and at his ability to illuminate its
mysteries." --Frank Rogers Jr., Claremont School of Theology "In
conversational prose that can at times be mistaken for poetry,
Wigger blends the fruits of scientific, literary, and religious
imagination to narrate the long story of how the capacity for such
forms of imagination arose in the first place. The combination of
sensitive reflection on personal experience, clear explanation of
relevant scientific theory, and thoughtful appraisal of spiritual
implications makes this book a joy to read." --Douglas L. Gragg,
Harvard Divinity School Author Biography: J. Bradley Wigger has
been a Professor at Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary
since 1997. He is the author of The Texture of Mystery (1998), The
Power of God at Home (2003), and Together We Pray (2005).
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