THE BOOK
Faith: Full Circle - the Religious Journey of a Baby-boomer Afrikaner, began as an essay (My Religion Story) I wrote at the beginning of 2020 when we entered the first lockdown of the Covid-19 pandemic. I shared the essay with Professor Izak Spangenberg, Emeritus Professor of Old Testament Studies at the University of South Africa and the founder of the Nuwe Hervorming Netwerk (New Reformation Network). He encouraged me to post it online and expand it as an autobiography. I published the first edition in December 2021 and the Updated Edition in April 2023.
FAITH: FULL CIRCLE is a story of dedication over the best part of a lifetime, born from an intense yearning to search, explore, discover and commit to a worthy cause.
This dedication resulted in high expectations based on the Trinity God of the Bible's promises to the crown of his creation.
The story takes root in 1951 under the African sun. It expands, intensifies and reaches a climax before it changes course, slowly and hesitantly at first, but then with a "born-again" conviction that balloons to this day.
It describes a personal journey in a profound search for the rational God of the Bible, which – among other things – results in a divine revelation of mathematical proof of the afterlife.
The journey covers a wide spectrum of Biblical engagements: studying, leading, teaching, preaching and converting. These eventually lead to a recognition of the true status of the Trinity God.
It then explores history, evolution and an expanding universe and how God created everything – atoms, molecules and organisms, including the first-ever "life" molecule (the replicator), and finally, Homo sapiens and its rise to the top of the food chain, speculating on its near-term demise.
The journey finally considers religious history - the origin of the religious impulse, the first (and changing) image of God, the God-of-the-Gaps phenomenon and ethics and morality in a modern and rational world.