At the heart of scripture are rather simple ideas: There are a set of laws on how to treat God and neighbor; obey them and all will be well. Yet, living in unison with those laws in the face of temptations and aggressions from others can be a complex matter. In The God-Human Level Hypothesis, Sebastian Iyere attempts to simplify a number of conundrums that modern day Christian believers face: What is my true relationship with God? How does Satan act in the world? What is salvation? How can we better understand love?
The author uses a form of scientific modeling, a visual representation of abstract ideas, to help illuminate the nature of one’s relationship with the Almighty. His model uses what he calls five “dimensions” to illustrate the true nature of existence: SPIRIT, HEART, SOUL, MIGHT, and FLESH (imagine signposts that run north to south on a meridian). For the author, our spiritual history demonstrates the times when the bonds between the dimensions were strong as well as weak. For example, a human flawed by sin, Iyere states, has “SPIRIT-HEART-SOUL-MIGHT-FLESH disjointed…and [is] naturally disconnected from God.” The way to find connection is through the perfect unison of all these qualities: Jesus.
Iyere is a big thinker and has some interesting ideas (pages 82-87 on love offers some of his best insights). His choice of modeling religious concepts is intriguing, but it’s unclear what the takeaway is for the reader. How are readers supposed to act, in light of this information? This requires clarification.
Moreover, the book needs editing to help reduce repetition, for example: “This is a submission by our body that God should help us to feed, protect and keep healthy our body” (bolding added by reviewer). Editing would also help the author organize his ideas in a more user-friendly manner
Overall, while this is an interesting concept, the presentation needs more refining in order to effectively connect with readers.
Also available in hardcover and ebook.
