Book Review: 36 Arguments for the Existence of God: A Work of Fiction

Rebecca Goldstein’s novel plunks itself into the center of the current debate between God-believers and atheists, offering a new perspective on the heated controversy. “It often seems that people on one side can’t begin to grasp what the world is like, what it feels like, for those on the other side,” she remarked in an interview. Her main character, Cass Seltzer, a professor specializing in the “psychology of religion,” attempts to cover precisely that ground, seeking to understand what the religious experience feels like for believers. For his sympathetic efforts, he has been dubbed “the atheist with a soul.”

The arguments for believing in God’s existence, along with rebuttals for each one—ostensibly “Cass’s best-selling book”—are presented in an “Appendix.” In the foreground is the novel itself, a satire of academic life, complete with competition, backbiting, and egomaniacal, charismatic professors.

Juxtaposed to the secular kingdom of the university is an enclave of Chasidim, relatives of Cass’ mother that he sometimes visits, in upstate New York. In this community Cass befriends Azarya Sheiner, the young son of the Valdener rebbe, a mathematical prodigy who would have an astounding career outside of this insular environment. Cass hopes that Azarya will get the chance to develop his gifts.

Playing off the strengths and the drawbacks of these two worlds, Goldstein is content to leave the question of God’s existence to the Appendix. In this spirited parody of academic life, Goldstein seems to be more interested in how people treat each other in their chosen communities than in the theological debates that ostensibly frame this novel.

Bonny V. Fetterman is literary editor of Reform Judaism magazine.