A cranky, atheistic philosophy professor loves to shred the faith of incoming freshmen. He is chosen by a group of scientists to create a philosophy for a computer-generated world exactly like ours. Much to his frustration every model he introduces-from Darwinism, to Existentialism, to Relativism, to Buddhism-fails. The only way to preserve the computer world is to introduce laws from outside their system through a Law Giver. Of course this goes

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A stunning first novel about a young girl's coming-of-age in the 1950s. Tamara Anderson's father is a landscape artist who quickly tires of the scenery, so every year her family seeks out new locations for his inspiration. When the Andersons move to a farmhouse in Sherman, New York, in the spring of 1954, fifteen-year-old Tamara and her mother want to settle down and make it home. Sherman begins to work a strange magic on Tamara and her siblings:...

"Jonathan Stiles is a 14-year-old atheist who is coping with his first day of ninth grade at the fervently religious St. Soren's Academy when his idolized older brother Ryan is found dead. As his world crumbles, Jonathan meets an eccentric stranger who bears an uncanny resemblance to Jesus Christ... Jesus Jackson, as he calls himself, offers to provide faith to Jonathan. He also suggests that Ryan's death may not have been an accident after all"--From...

Atheist Jill McGavock, struggling to cope with her mother's slow death due to a degenerative brain disease, turns for counseling to philosophy professor Sam Bakalis who challenges her to make "Pascal's wager" and live as though God exists.