Lauren Green. Lighthouse Faith: God as a Living Reality in a World Immersed in Fog. Nashville: W Publishing, 2017. See here to purchase the book.
Lauren Green is a religion correspondent for Fox News. Many know her
from her awful interview of Reza Aslan, in which she seemed baffled
that a Muslim would write a book about the founder of Christianity.
That interview never comes up in her book, Lighthouse Faith,
and that is probably for the best. Rather than defending her interview
and responding to critics, she shares her faith, and she does so in an
intelligent, thoughtful, and eloquent manner.
Many of her points have been made in other books and evangelical
Christian settings: we can only love others when we are secure in God’s
love; we look to people and things for fulfillment when we should be
looking to God; the universe had to have a cause; and God gives us free
will because God wants us to love God freely. That last one was rather
ironic because she has long attended Redeemer Presbyterian Church, which
has been pastored by Timothy Keller. Keller leans in the Reformed
direction, which tends to reject the idea that humans have libertarian
free will.
While her points have been made elsewhere, Green’s book was still an
enjoyable read. Her prose was vivid and compelling, and her personal
stories were genuine and heartfelt. The book was also educational on
account of its scientific element. Green discusses such topics as
nature vs. nurture and the God particle, explaining these concepts in a
lucid manner. Green draws from philosophers and scientists in such
discussions. Green also ties musical theory into her faith, which could
get tedious to me as a reader, and yet Green should not be faulted for
being passionate about her area of expertise (music). Plus, her story
about Handel was inspiring!
A compelling point that Green makes in this book is that God’s truth
is built into the fabric of nature and who we are as people. Within
nature, we see that death can lead to life, and that life can follow
death, which can remind one of Jesus’ death and resurrection bringing
life. That reminded me of a scene in Catherine Marshall’s Christy,
in which Pastor David Grantland tried to reconcile a belief in the
afterlife with his liberal seminary training. Green also notes evidence
that early man was religious, before human beings settled and became
agriculturally-oriented.
Green elsewhere in the book talks about the Fall in Genesis 3, and
she does not rigorously attempt to reconcile its historicity with her
belief in early man and death being integral to nature rather than a
product of the Fall (or such is my interpretation of her latter
stance). While her connection of the Pythagorean Theorem with the cross
struck me as rather far-fetched, I appreciated her stance that God’s
truth is a part of nature, as well as her acknowledgement that we have
to decide for ourselves whether we find what she says to be convincing.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher through Cross Focused Reviews. My review is honest!