Reflections

My interest in philosophical theology began around the same time I first read the Bible. I had already been through a meandering spiritual journey involving forays into meditation, psychology, and enlightenment schools of thought, as recalled in The Philosophy of a Mad Man, which was my first book, is autobiographical, and captures my journey towards Jesus.

Not long after reading the Bible I decided to return to university to study Philosophy and Religion in a Catholic college, and this was an uncomfortable experience as I found the course content to be at times overly intellectual and cerebral, and admittedly, throughout the duration of the course I was struggling with my mental health, often walking out of lectures and at times sitting outside a cafe down the road from the college just to gasp some fresh air while others were discussing the Kazam Cosmological Argument and such, which did interest me, but which, due to the environment and delivery of the lectures, I was not able to relish and enjoy in the way I might have liked.

Outside of the lecture theatre I was buzzing with ideas. I wrote a short book titled Ultimate Truth: God Beyond Religion which expounded my thoughts on many important problems of philosophy, and it was around this time that that I was thinking through problems such is ‘What is causing our thoughts?’, ‘Who, what, and where is God?’ and ‘Do we truly have free will?’.

The free will problem in particular gripped my attention, and I examined the problem closely through studies of other writers and thought processes related to my subjective experiences. I came to an assured understanding that free will does not exist, or is at best an illusion, and I felt that this truth was not adequately reflected in much of the theological and social thought of the time.

Excited to shed light on a critical area of misunderstanding in theology, I proceeded to write God’s Grand Game, an imperfect book which nevertheless sheds light on the free will problem in a deep and enlightening way. The book was very successful for a niche work of theology, securing a BookBub Featured Deal, magazine reviews, and widespread blog coverage, as well as around 10,000 sales and downloads.

I still have debates about free will with people to this day, and it remains the case that not everyone is convinced by my chief argument that free will is impossible with an omnipotent and omnipresent God. However, I am just as convinced of the argument as I was when I wrote the book, and I honestly believe God’s Grand Game to be one of the most important books related to free will and religion ever written.

God’s Grand Game is available as a paperback and an ebook exclusively through StevenColborne.com on a ‘pay as you wish’ basis.