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Reternity
Reternity is the tale of Max, the esteemed (and only) child of Reverend and Mrs. Maxwell, a simple but hardworking family in the American Midwest who love their son. Their hearts, however, are heavy with trepidation as he embarks on the next chapter of his university, and worry about the effects of such a liberal environment on his Christian values. Their fears deepen as he cultivates his academic abilities outside of his planned seminary by enrolling in the campus-renowned class of Professor Nowak, a science teacher who proffers each semester the Near Impossible Assignment to anyone willing and brave enough to accept the challenge, for bonus points of course. Ready to put his intellect on the line, Max thrusts himself right into the scientific puzzle, and he serendipitously discovers something that even bemuses the professor himself, an invention that could change the world. But can Max push forth with his scientific investigation without alienating those he loves or compromising his Christian values? The professor and Max both embark on a quest whose destination no one around them could possibly have seen coming…
240 pages, Nook
First published May 31, 2011
1 person is currently reading
29 people want to read
About the author
Neal Wooten
63 books19 followersNeal Wooten grew up on a pig farm on Sand Mountain in the northeast corner of Alabama before being dragged kicking and screaming to the snow-infested plains of the American Midwest. He now resides in Milwaukee with his wife and three dogs.
He is a columnist for The Mountain Valley News, an author, artist, and a standup comedian. His work has appeared in several anthologies and magazines.
He is the author of Reternity, a sci-fi novel based on the Bible, which has won eight national awards and named to Kirkus Reviews Best of 2011. His new book, The Balance, a gay-themed sci-fi novel, will be released by Bold Strokes Books in April 2014.
He is a columnist for The Mountain Valley News, an author, artist, and a standup comedian. His work has appeared in several anthologies and magazines.
He is the author of Reternity, a sci-fi novel based on the Bible, which has won eight national awards and named to Kirkus Reviews Best of 2011. His new book, The Balance, a gay-themed sci-fi novel, will be released by Bold Strokes Books in April 2014.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
January 25, 2019
Usually one would not find similar aspirations between the proponents of religion and devotees of science fiction, but the authors do a good job crafting a science fiction plot built on a plausible, but fictional, quirk of science and a very credible appreciation of the influence of Christianity in the world. One of the authors, Neal Wooten, has impressive credentials. He is a successful journalist, blogger, illustrator of books, and author. He is a frequent contributor to an online magazine The Indie Times. He has written three books. This one, "Reternity", is his first work of science fiction.
Max, is a nineteen-year-old freshman in Cedarbluff University pursuing education in a seminary, although he does not feel a calling to the cloth. His science professor assigns his class annually an impossible experiment. This year it is try to make a ball of lead become magnetic. Max surfed The Internet to see how this might be done. He learned that lead is not magnetic because it does not have electron spin. For any metal to be magnetic, it must produce an electronic momentum to interact with the magnetic field. He thought maybe he could somehow, using electricity, manipulate the molecular structure of the lead to hopefully get electron spin. He constructed a series of experiments to do this and eventually was shocked to see the lead ball disappear.
Max invites his science professor to witness this experiment. The professor was astounded. He thought this a Noble Prize discovery. Max then began to doubt the wisdom of pursuing his discovery. Succumbing to the prejudice that science is evil, he visualized his discovery being applied to the detriment of humanity. He destroyed his apparatus and washed his hands of the whole matter. Later, in a conversation about the evils of science with his father who is a minister, his father opined that there is nothing evil about science. It is how humans use science that could be evil. They have the option to use it for good purposes, if they so choose or they can use it for evil purposes. So Max reappraised his opinion of his apparatus.
Max tells the professor that he regrets destroying the apparatus because he now sees it in a better light. The professor tells Max he has been theorizing on what happens when the lead ball disappears. He thinks the lead ball disappeared because it fell out of three-dimensional space into four-dimensional space through a wormhole. The fourth dimension is time, so the professor thinks the lead ball merely shifted its position in time. This is not so far fetched. There is a famous urban legend that the US Navy experimented with the interaction of magnetism and warping of space to make warships invisible. In October, 1943, The Philadelphia Experiment caused the USS Eldridge to vanish from its berth in the Philadelphia Naval shipyard and reappear in the waters off Norfolk, VA some 200 miles away.
The professor surprises Max by taking Max to a country home owned by the professor where the professor had spent all his savings and constructed a much larger apparatus and has been experimenting with it. Max joins the professor and the experiments get more interesting as Max and the professor conduct further experiment with new ideas and equipment until, finally, they embark on the biggest adventure of their lives.
All along, in the novel, Max has been wrestling with his Christian faith. He joined a bible study group when he first entered Cedarbluff University. Interacting with other students and monitored by the professor, Max is hearing views different from what he learned from his father, the Reverent Maxwell. The author has Max try to come to terms with some of the main issues that have divided Christians—does salvation come by faith alone or are deeds equally important, should Christians turn the other cheek in every circumstance, should Christians judge others, or what would eternity be like? I think Wooten has Max arrive at sensible positions on these topics.
The final seven chapters present a lot of food for thought on what Max and the professor experience and where the author skillfully ties religion and science together, taking the reader on an adventuresome journey the reader will not soon forget. I found this book interesting and stimulating. This is a different kind of science fiction novel. I am looking forward to more novels like this.
Max, is a nineteen-year-old freshman in Cedarbluff University pursuing education in a seminary, although he does not feel a calling to the cloth. His science professor assigns his class annually an impossible experiment. This year it is try to make a ball of lead become magnetic. Max surfed The Internet to see how this might be done. He learned that lead is not magnetic because it does not have electron spin. For any metal to be magnetic, it must produce an electronic momentum to interact with the magnetic field. He thought maybe he could somehow, using electricity, manipulate the molecular structure of the lead to hopefully get electron spin. He constructed a series of experiments to do this and eventually was shocked to see the lead ball disappear.
Max invites his science professor to witness this experiment. The professor was astounded. He thought this a Noble Prize discovery. Max then began to doubt the wisdom of pursuing his discovery. Succumbing to the prejudice that science is evil, he visualized his discovery being applied to the detriment of humanity. He destroyed his apparatus and washed his hands of the whole matter. Later, in a conversation about the evils of science with his father who is a minister, his father opined that there is nothing evil about science. It is how humans use science that could be evil. They have the option to use it for good purposes, if they so choose or they can use it for evil purposes. So Max reappraised his opinion of his apparatus.
Max tells the professor that he regrets destroying the apparatus because he now sees it in a better light. The professor tells Max he has been theorizing on what happens when the lead ball disappears. He thinks the lead ball disappeared because it fell out of three-dimensional space into four-dimensional space through a wormhole. The fourth dimension is time, so the professor thinks the lead ball merely shifted its position in time. This is not so far fetched. There is a famous urban legend that the US Navy experimented with the interaction of magnetism and warping of space to make warships invisible. In October, 1943, The Philadelphia Experiment caused the USS Eldridge to vanish from its berth in the Philadelphia Naval shipyard and reappear in the waters off Norfolk, VA some 200 miles away.
The professor surprises Max by taking Max to a country home owned by the professor where the professor had spent all his savings and constructed a much larger apparatus and has been experimenting with it. Max joins the professor and the experiments get more interesting as Max and the professor conduct further experiment with new ideas and equipment until, finally, they embark on the biggest adventure of their lives.
All along, in the novel, Max has been wrestling with his Christian faith. He joined a bible study group when he first entered Cedarbluff University. Interacting with other students and monitored by the professor, Max is hearing views different from what he learned from his father, the Reverent Maxwell. The author has Max try to come to terms with some of the main issues that have divided Christians—does salvation come by faith alone or are deeds equally important, should Christians turn the other cheek in every circumstance, should Christians judge others, or what would eternity be like? I think Wooten has Max arrive at sensible positions on these topics.
The final seven chapters present a lot of food for thought on what Max and the professor experience and where the author skillfully ties religion and science together, taking the reader on an adventuresome journey the reader will not soon forget. I found this book interesting and stimulating. This is a different kind of science fiction novel. I am looking forward to more novels like this.
February 4, 2017
Much to Think About
Reternity explores the belief in an inter-connectedness between science and faith. But within the context of the story, the author does more than that - he shows us what it looks like when people commit to respectful discourse about varying beliefs, how inquiry might look if we really committed to asking questions of the Scriptures, rather than waiting for some-great-learned-Someone to tell us what to believe.
What if we were encouraged to work out our own understanding of the scriptures, consider one another's reasoning, and make decisions for ourselves? And what if we actually respected that some people came to different conclusions out of those scriptures? What if we understood that, maybe, that's why God left things open to interpretation in the first place? So we would seek him? So we could sharpen one another's minds and soften our collective hearts in the process? So we could Know Him? What if we believed that the commitment to seeking the answers was more important than being "right"?
In one of my favorite Scriptures, King David expresses his chief desire - just to BE in God's house and to "inquire" in the temple. I think we have missed the mark in many of our churches - moving from inquiry to lecture and spreading the misguided concept that we are not to question God.
I believe we were made to question; I believe God invites and rejoices in our inquiry; when we really seek Him, we find Him. Neal Wooten does a beautiful job of giving us a glimpse into what that might look like for one bright and curious believer, whose father fears that he could lose is faith if he pursues his interest in science. Read it; I am giving it five stars because it does what I think all books should do; it gives us much to think about.
Reternity explores the belief in an inter-connectedness between science and faith. But within the context of the story, the author does more than that - he shows us what it looks like when people commit to respectful discourse about varying beliefs, how inquiry might look if we really committed to asking questions of the Scriptures, rather than waiting for some-great-learned-Someone to tell us what to believe.
What if we were encouraged to work out our own understanding of the scriptures, consider one another's reasoning, and make decisions for ourselves? And what if we actually respected that some people came to different conclusions out of those scriptures? What if we understood that, maybe, that's why God left things open to interpretation in the first place? So we would seek him? So we could sharpen one another's minds and soften our collective hearts in the process? So we could Know Him? What if we believed that the commitment to seeking the answers was more important than being "right"?
In one of my favorite Scriptures, King David expresses his chief desire - just to BE in God's house and to "inquire" in the temple. I think we have missed the mark in many of our churches - moving from inquiry to lecture and spreading the misguided concept that we are not to question God.
I believe we were made to question; I believe God invites and rejoices in our inquiry; when we really seek Him, we find Him. Neal Wooten does a beautiful job of giving us a glimpse into what that might look like for one bright and curious believer, whose father fears that he could lose is faith if he pursues his interest in science. Read it; I am giving it five stars because it does what I think all books should do; it gives us much to think about.
November 9, 2013
This was a far more compelling read than I expected. The pace is excellent, really draws the reader in. While the religious overtones are very definitely present, they aren't "in your face" and generated a lot of personal reflection for me. Overall, an excellent read that doesn't telegraph the ending from the start.
June 3, 2012
Good Christian fiction-- I like a book whose ending I can't predict.
September 11, 2012
Outstanding! Thought provoking! Safe for the growing minds!
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews