About the Author

    I (Matthew Grivich) received a B.S. in physics from Santa Clara University, and an M.S. and a Ph.D. in physics from UC Santa Cruz. Around the time I was completing my physics masters, I switched to a neuroscience project, so my Ph.D. is as much in neuroscience as it is in physics. I am currently working as a scientific programmer at the University of California in beautiful San Diego. This work primarily consists of developing software applications to assist in the study of neuroscience. My background allows me to see theological topics from a different perspective than is common. For philosophical questions, I am able to base my arguments in correct and current science. For scriptural questions, I demand a degree of rigor and structure that is rare in works of this type.

    In addition to my formal education, I have a lifelong avocation to philosophy and theology. I was born into a Catholic household, but I absorbed the instinctive atheism of the wider culture at a young age. I have also always been a natural skeptic. That is, I error on the side of disbelief on most topics, both natural and supernatural. I demand rigorous arguments and strict structure before I believe anything. As time passed (about thirty years) I thought about God, read others' thoughts about God, starting writing this book, and eventually came to the understanding that the Catholic Christian faith is fundamentally rational. During the course of my journey, I have gone from atheist to strong agnostic to weak agnostic to deist to Christian to Catholic Christian. Even though I never stopped attending church, it is difficult to say that I was always a true believer. Now, I am back where I started, but sure that I made the correct decision. I recorded this journey in book form for three reasons: The first is so that if my work has real value to others, they will have access to it. The second is to keep me honest. I have to make the arguments good enough so that other people will accept them. Finally, there is nothing quite like trying to explain something to the world to motivate you to really understand it yourself.

    First and foremost, I relied upon God in the writing of this book. I would also like to thank Bernadeane Carr, Br. Brain Coe, and Ann Grivich for detailed readings with significant insights and corrections. I would also like to thank Joe Morse and Eric Morse for their support and comments regarding the publishing process. In addition, I received assistance (in some cases unintentional) with various details from Jim Grivich, Chris Scott, Phillip Beaver, Joshua Emmanual Layton-Wood, Blair Reynolds, Ingrid van Welie, and Sam Maghsoodloo. Finally, I could never have produced a book such as this without substantial written sources, which I have referenced throughout the book.

    Feedback is a critical part of the learning and writing process, and I encourage you to contact me with comments, questions, objections and corrections, whether they be slight or significant.

This page was last changed on 2011/08/28