This is the last full chapter of thought, and Brooks makes a clear point - Christianity is growing here in America, and around the world, and it is really interesting; nominal Christianity (traditional and rigid religious practicing Christians) is actually shrinking, but evangelical Christianity (faith based on wisdom, truth, passion, and philosophy) is growing.  Another way to say it would be, faith that is based on ‘the Bible says’ is shrinking, but faith based on research and thought is growing.  This is a good thing; the growth side at least.  The problem is that those with a faith based on ‘the Bible says’ is hollow and brittle, and these people are a victim of an institutionalized faith that hasn’t prepared her people well.

There are countless stories of people coming to faith in Jesus, and there are so many different paths people have taken to great there.  But what we seem to miss are the volumes of people that come to faith through examination.  That is, there are many people who actually come to faith through science, through philosophy, and through which the very lines of argument that many ‘the Bible says’ Christians leave.

The takeaway for me from today, and kind of pulling the contents of this book together as a whole, would be that faith based on research and science and investigation is strong and is it is achievable and even reasonable.  It just requires some effort on our part.