Original Knowing: How Religion, Science, and the Human Mind Point to the Irreducible Depth of Life

Did Lucy know God? Could Neanderthals talk? Was Ardi self-conscious? These are the strange new breed of questions emerging as we discover more and more about our prehistoric origins--questions about knowing. While fossil digs and carbon dating tell a remarkable story about the bones and times of our ancient ancestors, we cannot help wondering what they knew, and when. Exploring such questions Original Knowing takes contemporary science as seriously as religious tradition and searches for the story behind this odd creature who senses more to the universe than meets the eye. In limestone bluffs and butterfly migrations, from Stone Age tool-making to Sumerian beer-making, clues are sought to better understand this strange mind that ponders the origins of its own existence. When do babies point, and why does it matter? What does throwing a Frisbee reveal about our distant ancestors? Is language the key to our minds as many believe? Or perhaps the heart of knowing rests in something more basic, in a smile, and the powerful social abilities at work allowing us to sense a depth to life--to our own lives--a depth that our minds help us glimpse if only through a glass darkly.

J. Bradley Wigger has been a Professor at Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary since 1997. He is the author of The Texture of Mystery (1998), The Power of God at Home (2003), and Together We Pray (2005).