I have been engaged in Christian philosophy, apologetics, and the reality of the "Nones" for a full decade at this point; this kind of book is right up my spiritual alley. These are the kinds of things that I think that we need to be talking about more. These are the things that I encounter every day in my own ministry.

That said, I'm not sure Rainer really hit it. I mean, he did, but then, he missed it. This book is extremely dense in that it has a very heavy message included, but the actual copy is extremely repetitive, even within just a few paragraphs of each other. Rainer says exactly the same things over and over and over again and instead of an invitation to exploration and consideration, it makes this book a hammer. That approach just doesn't work for me. And, as a writer, it seems like perhaps he doesn't have enough to say to make a full, well-rounded book if he has to repeat himself so often. From my own studies, I know that there is so much to say. And at the same time, I understand also that a very foundational understanding is often enough to spark a movement. I think Rainer tried to take that very foundational understanding, which is not very complex, and make it sound like very much to say, which seems complex, and it just became boring and insulting.

The charts and graphs in this book, though few, are not helpful. They are not mathematically sound and do not actually contribute any information or understanding, such as the graphs that show simply the rise in certain reports without indicating where they rose from (what the baseline is) or over what period of time. Saying, "This rose 97%" and making a bar graph that just says "97%" is not informative. My hope is that these graphs will be enhanced before final publication. (I was reading an advanced copy of this book.)

This book, by nature of its concept, has so much potential. And for some audiences, it may work very well. For someone like me, who has invested so many years in these questions and this type of ministry, it was not the strongest presentation of the material. But my prayer is that it will do good work in God's world. I know it will.