Dawn: A Proton’s Tale of All that Came to Be

Physicist Dekker, novelist Oranje (Science Geek Sam and His Secret Logbook), and van den Brink (Reformed Theology and Evolutionary Theory), a theology and science professor at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, blend cosmology with Christian theology in this idiosyncratic fable. Pro, a proton born during the big bang, narrates 14 billion years of cosmic history, from the formation of the first atoms through to the space age, along the way explaining particle physics, supernovas, and evolution. Pro ends up a particle in Jesus’s walking stick and details Jesus’s incarnation and resurrection, then fast-forwards to a near future in which Pro and other particles on a space station lament that humans have subsumed religion to science. Then, Pro is ejected into space during a space walk, leaving Pro drifting toward the far reaches of the universe and guessing at humanity’s fate. The mix of faith and science is refreshing and the presentation bracingly unorthodox, though the characters come across mostly as mouthpieces for the authors’ philosophy (“It’s remarkable... that [humans] have discovered us, and they don’t realize they’re looking at the work of the Creator,” a neutron opines). Creative and unique, this is chock-full of heady ideas. (Sept.)