ANYONE who has read Rebecca Goldstein’s novels knows her remarkable knack for combining abstract philosophical ideas with the all-too-concrete dramas of everyday life. In 36 Arguments she has done it again.
The story begins with Cass Seltzer, a psychologist of religion, being thrust into the spotlight after the publication of his book The Varieties of Religious Illusion. Considered an antidote to the Dawkins’s of the world, Cass is the “atheist with a soul”. His understanding of religious experience is a nuanced one, honed from years of living as an exiled Hasidic Jew and from studies under a religious philosopher.…
