Sylvester L. Steffen

Primary Scripture: Cosmic Religion's First Lessons Sylvester L. Steffen

In Primary Scripture, author Sylvester Steffen gives a scientific perspective of the great catholic mandate 'to love God and to love one's neighbor as oneself.' In Steffen's view, science documents the essential continuity of energy and matter, soul and substance, spirituality and materiality - the natural source of rationality. Steffen finds validation for new age consciousness in the wisdom of the ages. Primary Scripture is a helpful first reader for anyone confused by the wave of new books seeking to connect science and religion. The inspiration behind Primary Scripture is Steffen's recognition that science and religion are understood as separate and adversary realms by most people. In the author's view, personal and societal misdirection and incivility are root causes of global societal crises. But what is civility? And how does one live a civil life? Answers to both questions can be found in the successful bridging of the cultured rift between science and religion. Faith, hope, and love enable personal and public conscience to motivate personal living in service to one another. Witnessing faith, hope, and love is Steffen's idea of civil living. The most common means for correcting misdirection are communication, consciousness, and conscience - what Steffen calls the 'trimorphic resonance of evolved rationality.' The fundamentally rational mandate to live altruistically, to love God and to love one another, evolves from what Steffen sees as the 'logical' continuity between cosmic energy/matter and self-aware soul/body. The progressive deepening of public scientific knowledge seems to be driving a new rush to find the connection between science and religion. Primary Scripture is ideal for anyone seeking a religiously and scientifically harmonized worldview that has room for new age insights.