The starting point for my new book Living in a Multiverse, is the fact that both fiction writers such as C S Lewis and scientists such as Stephen Hawking have explored the idea of multiple universes existing alongside each other. Currently there seems to be no scientific evidence to support the idea that there are multiple physical universes, but what cannot be denied is that people inhabit different mental universes.
All human beings have a world view, a way of understanding the world and their place in it. Because these world views differ, while everyone inhabits the same physical universe, mentally the universes they inhabit are very different. Thus, Angela may live in a universe in which there is one God, her Indian neighbour Bhavani may live in a universe with a multiplicity of gods, and their friend Charles may live in a universe with no God or gods but only physical matter.
The purpose of my book is to help Christians to live well in a world of multiple universes. Its overall aim is to do three things.
First, to explain the nature of the Christian universe and the reasons for believing that this universe exists not only as a mental concept, but as an objective reality.
Secondly, to introduce Christians to the other main mental universes inhabited by people in the UK and the reasons for their existence.
Thirdly, to explore what it means for Christians to live well in the midst of these multiple mental universes.
The book has eleven chapters.
Chapter 1 begins the book by describing the orthodox Christian universe, using the Apostles Creed as a starting point, and explaining the reasons for believing that this universe really exists as more than just a mental concept.
Chapters 2-4 then go on to describe three other mental universes that have emerged since the seventeenth century on the basis of a deliberate rejection of the Christian universe, and to
assess them from a Christian perspective. These are the Deist, Materialist and Postmodern universes. After that, chapters 5-9 look in turn at the Jewish, Islamic, Hindu, Buddhist and Sikh mental universes, also assessing them from a Christian perspective.
Chapter 10 addresses the question of why multiple mental universes exist by a giving a historical and theological overview of how and why different worldviews have developed since the first human cultures came into existence.
Finally, chapter 11 explores what it means to live well as a Christian in a country where these multiple universes now exist side by side. What is the right way for Christians to live in the multiverse? How should Christians relate to people who live in non-Christian universes? How should they go about trying to persuade them to come and inhabit the Christian universe instead?
The book is intended as an introductory guide. It will have done its job if it helps Christians to begin to think about how to live well in the mental multiverse and stimulates them to explore this key issue further.
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