3 min. read
Below you can see a little blurb about my first book and some highlights from an interview I had with my publisher (Wipf & Stock).
Short Blurb About the Book
Something Beyond Nothing?: The God We Don’t Yet Know uses questions from the book of Ecclesiastes as a lens through which to investigate how we question, what we question, and why we question. Creatively incorporating some of history’s great questioners—Qoheleth, Socrates, Jesus, Erasmus, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Chesterton, Woolf, Camus, and others—into an experiment of making and finding meaning, Something Beyond Nothing? focuses on the unpredictable journey of living with questions. This book is a mix of storytelling, theological analysis, philosophical investigation, poetic meditation, biblical interpretation, drama, non–fiction and fiction: a format which suggests that modes of meaning may be as significant as the meaning that might be found. If there is something beyond nothing, it may not be quite like what we think we know; and what we don’t yet know may surprise usl
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An Interview with the Author, Brian Niece (that’s me!)
The title of your book is posed as a question. So why a question?
The book really is an exercise in questioning. When using the book of Ecclesiastes as a lens, there will be no easy answers. So I could have just tried to provide answers which shortcut the process of questioning. Or I could embrace the questioning. I chose to embrace the process.
This book is hard to categorize. There is philosophy, biblical exegesis, drama, fiction, and other things. How would you categorize it?
Well it will probably be labeled “Spirituality” for ease of categorization. But, yes, there is fiction, nonfiction, poetry, a short scene script, memoir, philosophy, and all that you mentioned. If there were a bookstore category labeled “Odd” or “Quirky” my book would be at home there.
Why jump around in all those genres and styles?
The process is the point isn’t it? We seek to get at meaning in life by any means necessary. If this book is ultimately about the process of questioning, is in the final analysis an exercise in finding meaning, then I wanted to play with ways we seek meaning through words, images, thought patterns. Yes, this is a playful book.
The subtitle of your book is “The God We Don’t Yet Know” and yet you do not describe in detail much about God, but deal mostly with God in poetic interludes throughout the book. Why?
If the writer of Ecclesiastes—Qoheleth—is my guide, lens, and example, then that’s the only way to process God in this book. Through poetic impressions, daydreams, images rather than rote description. It allows the reader to participate in the meaning-making.
You have included several well-known historical writers and thinkers in your book: Socrates, Chesterton, Woolf, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, and others. Why did you do so in a fictional way, using them as characters?
When we have the writings, or potentially recorded sayings, of actual people it is easy for us to assume we understand exactly what they meant. In theatre, we have something called sub-text which is the meaning beneath the spoken, or written, words. I wanted to play with the sub-text of these great minds as they wrestled with questions themselves. It made it more interesting for me in writing; and hopefully more engaging to read.
Who is this book for?
Ah, there’s the question I might not have an answer for! Anyone who questions, who lives in questions, who approaches life, faith, things beyond the everyday with a sense of play and wonder will find something in this book. Professors of theology, philosophy, biblical studies, and humanities will find some rich things to dive into with their students here. Leaders will find great fodder for getting folks to challenge themselves and color outside the lines. But any individual who doesn’t think they have it all figured out yet will want to spend time with this book.
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Keep an eye out for some short excerpts from the book, and how you can order your own copy soon!