Introducing My Book: Its Finally Here!

Friends, it is with immense pleasure that I announce that my book, Flat Earths and Fake Footnotes: The Strange Tale of How the Conflict of Science and Christianity Was Written Into History is out NEXT WEEK! Preorders are up on the Wipf and Stock website (I am publishing specifically with their premier imprint called Cascade Books), where you can purchase either the beautiful softcover version, or the coffee-table sized hardcopy which is absolutely gorgeous in my opinion. Preorders are also currently available on Amazon. Orders on Barnes & Noble and Powell's Books are forthcoming, as is the electronic Kindle edition which should be out in two or three weeks.

It has been a long time coming, with the initial book proposal coming at the end of 2017. Though, as I mention in the preface, this book ended up being only about a third of what I originally envisioned (which goes to show how ridiculously ambitious I was trying to be), I am very pleased with what made it in (and the book weighs in at a respectable 354 pages included what I am proud to call a rather extensive bibliography).

Plans are in the (still very initial stages) for two more books related to this one. The first is a "sequel" of sorts, looking at the self-fashioning narratives of the rise of atheism, secularism, disenchantment, and the disappearance of God. Tentatively entitled Gods, August and Otherwise: The Theologies of Atheism. Originally this material was meant to be the final third of Flat Earths and Fake Footnotes. But when it was apparent the material that made it in to the book was quite large on its own, it was decided to remove the material and hopefully use it for a sequel.

A second book is envisioned as a companion to Flat Earths and Fake Footnotes, comprising short histories looking in more detail at the theological contributions to the sciences. I haven't decided if it would be best to include this material in Gods, August and Otherwise or have it as a freestanding volume. The tentative title for this companion volume is God of the Gaps: A Brief History as I intend to show that the idea that God is only an explanatory gap filler represents only a very late and very minute subsection of the Christian tradition. 

Exciting times! In the next week I will post some more selections from the book, as well as some musings on the writing and researching process. In the mean time I will leave you with Dr. Peter Harrison's very generous endorsement of my book:

“Flat Earths and Fake Footnotes offers a comprehensive and compelling demolition of the tired myth of an enduring conflict between science and religion. Peterson not only
exposes the historical bankruptcy of this familiar story, but also shows how it became a foundational narrative for Western modernity and why it persists. Beautifully writtencand impeccably researched, this book deserves a wide readership.”