This essay presents a critical analysis and evaluation of God as interpreted in John Shea's Stories of God: An Unauthorized Biography. Human beings have always speculated about the
existence of God; however, down through the centuries God has
remained an ambiguous concept quite beyond any form of proof thus far. Faith has always been the ultimate standard upon which religion has depended for its endurance and credibility. There has never been a scientific or empirical way to prove the existence of God; therefore, God has been more of a derivative Being, whose existence seems a logical conclusion because of the apparent order and design of the universe and humanity's superior intelligence in comparison to other earthly creatures. Shea states: "The fact that the world had been created by a Divine Intellect meant that its ways were intelligible. And since the human person also possessed an intellect, he was capable of discovering these ways and harnessing them for the betterment of mankind. It is one of the strange ironies of the history of science and religion that the very God who encouraged scientific inquiry was eventually discredited by it" (Shea 23).
Shea somehow infers God from ourselves and ourselves from God. In other words, we are God's story, according to Shea's viewpoint. This is a very positive, optimistic interpretation of the human animal, and also of God. In fact, Shea sees both God and mankind as having a compatible situation. Shea asserts: "The conviction that we are God's story releases primordial impulses and out of a mixture of belligerence, gratitude, and imitation we return the compliment. We tell stories of God" (Shea 8).
But contrary to Shea's assertion that science has discredited religion, what we really have are two separate sources of knowledge. Science is mainly concerned with the phenomenal world, while religion is principally interested in spiritual concepts. However, it is certa...