Congregational Libraries Today reviews Waiting for God
August 25, 2008
Lawrence Bush is an atheist, the son of atheists, who has worked within the heart of the Jewish community for decades. He is a baby boomer who has observed the varieties of spirituality embraced by his fellow Woodstockers, as he calls them. In this book he reflects on these spiritual movements and on his own religious struggle.Bush's critique is engaging. He considers the forces that shaped his generation: the impact of the nuclear bomb, experimentation with psychedelic drugs, the growing environmental movement, and the interplay of science with mysticism. He explores the thought of three contemporary theologians—Matthew Fox, Mordecai Kaplan, and Starhawk—each of whom holds some attraction for him. In the end he reaffirms his atheism, but along the way he challenges us to test our own beliefs.
Aware that the atheistic position can be understood as a negative stance, Bush offers five sources of spirituality that inform his own being in the world: personal interconnection, the "wonderworld of nature the revelations of science, great works of art, and political activism. He describes himself as a spiritual atheist, and in the end you understand that for him those two words fit together quite neatly.
These personal reflections merit the thoughtful consideration of many readers. —Rabbi Louis A. Rieser
(Congregational Libraries Today, July/August 2008, p.10-12)
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