Believing in Difficult Times by Juan Lozano Diez

The advance of science in the 20th century has led 21st-century man into a spiral of questions that has precipitated him to summarize his doubts simplistically: God does not exist because he is no longer necessary to justify the wonders of nature.

Today the confrontation between science and faith is clearly defined, as is society: divided between belief and disbelief.

will we turn our backs on science because it is perceived as a threat to God?

will we turn our backs on faith, admitting that science is cornering religion?

These are difficult times for the believer. But, perhaps for that reason, exciting times for the search for an authentic and dynamic faith. A personal, internalized and experienced faith, strong enough to engage in debate with a society that has stopped believing in transcendence.

The thesis defended by the author is that the crisis facing Christian faith in the 21st century is not fortuitous nor has it suddenly come upon us, without anticipating data that would have warned us. It was already present in the 20th century and its roots go back to earlier times. The elements that have led us to the current confrontation come from afar and have gradually developed. It is therefore convenient to know their history and analyze them thoroughly.

To face the current attacks of science, the author affirms that Christian faith must change its attitudes of the past, marked by statics, contemplation and mysticism, for a dynamic attitude of participation that brings concrete proposals to society. That is, for a contemporary evangelizing action that energizes the living of the gospel in the face of hedonism, the loss of values, indifference towards ideals of any kind and the egocentrism rooted in our society.

Making his own the words of the Christian scientist Frances Collins, director of the Human Genome Project, in his work The Language of God when he states: The God of the Bible is also the God of the genome. He can be worshipped in the cathedral and in the laboratory. His creation is majestic, awe-inspiring, complex and beautiful, and cannot, therefore, be at war with itself," the author provides coherent answers to the problems of faith in all its dimensions.

A valuable tool to help Christian leaders and educators when confronted by difficult questions from young students. But also when they themselves are besieged by inevitable crises of faith or by the dilemma posed by Benedict XVI during his visit to the Auschwitz extermination camp in Poland: Where were you, Lord, when all this was happening.

A well-written and well-documented book that provides a global, fresh and coherent vision of the problem of the confrontation between science and faith.