The Celestial Proposal
Our Invitation to Join the God Kind
This mash-up of Bible plus sci-fi plus metaphysics introduces new lines of thought for meditation and consideration.
Identifying faith as a force for shifting manifest reality, Jane Catherine Rozek untethers Bible verses from their historic, traditional moorings. Calling the Bible an “empowering formula for activating faith as a power source,” she reboots scripture to read like a science-fiction thriller with God as an extraterrestrial collective of “Great Ones” and Jesus as our “Superhero.”
Her metaphor, that humanity is in a game of life, features the Bible as rule book and the author as its interpreter. She asks, “Can we still write this off as just some imaginable science fiction? No, this is twenty-first-century Christianity!” In bringing this fresh perspective to the scriptures, the author’s take may step on some toes. She starts, in chapter one, by extracting an updated understanding of spiritual faith from historical Christian doctrine. The literal interpretations of the biblical passages sampled throughout will likely put off the new-age spiritually (not religious) minded. Traditionalists might resonate with the discussion of Satan and evil ruling the world. Might they take exception to hearing Jesus called “immortal crossbreed”?
The author’s inspiration and personal backstory appear late in the book and would have provided beneficial context had they appeared earlier than chapter twelve. When homesteading one hundred miles from the nearest town, Rozek says, “My personal experience while ranching in the wilderness of central British Columbia … required that I build just this kind of faith to withstand the physical trials and concerns of safety for my children, my husband, and myself … I desperately needed to be in connection with a higher power of some sort. I developed a deeper understanding of a metaphysical kind of faith and began to see it as a tangible source of power situated just at the edge of my physical reality.”
Sci-fi and superheroes aside, some of *The Celestial Proposal’*s concepts are not out of place on a New Age shelf. Glossing Luke 17:21, “the kingdom of God is within us,” the author says, “Like a strong electrical current, creative power can be channeled through our lives by our own faith-filled thoughts and words.”
Updating humanity’s understanding of the Bible is a thankless task, so taking on this particular challenge requires courage. That it falls short of a fully coherent reframing does not reflect badly on the author. This mash-up of Bible plus sci-fi plus metaphysics introduces new lines of thought for meditation and consideration.
Reviewed by
Bobbye Middendorf
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. No fee was paid by the publisher for this review. Foreword Reviews only recommends books that we love. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
