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Part III

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 July 2019

James C. Zimring
Affiliation:
University of Virginia
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Summary

There is a whole series of books, including New York Times bestsellers, about how the little “coincidences” we experience in life do not occur by chance – they are actually God speaking directly to us and are called “godwinks.” After all, what other likely explanation could there be? One coincidence might happen by freak chance, but so many people have so many stories that seem so unlikely that this must reflect a greater thing, a greater force – this must be the voice of God speaking to us personally. More than 1 million copies of Squire Rushnell’s “godwinks” books have been sold, so clearly this idea appeals widely to people. Of course, I cannot rule out, nor can anyone else, that God is actually speaking to us by using coincidence as his language – maybe this is just the way that God communicates with humans. Indeed, such is the basis for a vast number of belief systems, the number of adherents to which exceed the number of professional scientists in the world by far (it’s not even close). Can it be possible that so many people are wrong?

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2019

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  • Part III
  • James C. Zimring, University of Virginia
  • Book: What Science Is and How It Really Works
  • Online publication: 04 July 2019
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  • Part III
  • James C. Zimring, University of Virginia
  • Book: What Science Is and How It Really Works
  • Online publication: 04 July 2019
Available formats
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Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Part III
  • James C. Zimring, University of Virginia
  • Book: What Science Is and How It Really Works
  • Online publication: 04 July 2019
Available formats
×