The first couple of books by Greg Bear that I read were Blood Music and Moving Mars. Actually, I listened to these books, as I did later with Queen of Angels and Darwin's Radio. I got through print versions of The Infinity Concerto, The Serpent Mage, and Eon.
After those first two books I was stirred up to take a different look at my faith. Bear doesn't address Christianity in these books, but that's where they pointed me. Admittedly to a fairly odd take which I'm told is nonsense.
In Blood Music the idea that observing a thing changes the thing being observed is taken to an extreme where an extremely dense, populous, and organized group of observers are able to remake reality as they wish. The scientists in Moving Mars are able to tweak the underlying data of the universe in order to effect impressive feats. The easy biblical connection is to faith like a mustard seed giving the ability to throw mountains into the sea.
At the time I was also in the middle of some investigation of Reformed theology. If I use that term improperly, sue me.
So, here I am with the theologians telling me that everything is circumscribed, and the scientist telling me there are shortcuts: miracles.
I tried to create my own theology. My mind wasn't up to the task. Yet I'm still enamored of some of the ideas. I bet someone could get away with using them in a novel for the Christian market. Lord knows there's some flimsy theology in that genre.
Anyway, here's the basic concept. We're dead in our sins: We are locked into this universe and its rules. The spirit in us gives us access to the spiritual realm wherein we can effect changes to our mundane world. Of course the Jesus catch ("Follow me and you can do whatever you want... as long as you want what I want") still applies.
I think there was more about the nature of God and so forth, but I've really mostly let it go. I don't even know if I've got the pages where I was trying to outline it anymore.
As I read more of Bear, I began to understand him as a revolutionary. Like Abby Hoffman or some 60's communist hopeful, what he really wants and believes in is change: a new consciousness, power in the hands of the morally deserving, a fresh playing field. It's hard not to think of Heinlein's The Moon is a Harsh Mistress when you read Moving Mars. After all they both throw big rocks around in an attempt to liberate themselves from an overbearing Earth.
I enjoy what Bear does to my brain, but I have a hard time recommending his books because they're rarely what I'd call pleasurable reading. Those that are, aren't as worthy of recommending for what's unique about Bear. There's an inverse proportion in his work between ease of reading and ideas which stick with you and work on your head. Darwin's Radio is probably the easiest and most accessible novel, but it's ideas, while neat, aren't terrifically deep. On the other end is Queen of Angels which is not only difficult (think Foucault's Pendulum) but not very satisfyingly resolved. Yet I find myself wanting to go back to that as one of the most interesting studies of identity and intelligence wrapped in voodoo and poetry that I've ever come across. Not many, thanks for asking.
Dad got through Moving Mars. I remember him saying that he didn't follow all the science stuff, but enjoyed it nonetheless. Maybe I'll try him on the fantasy books. Mahler gets the kind of props in these that Bach got from Dirk Gently.
I read moving mars. I didn't see as deeply as you.
This post has got me thinking about applying what little I know of the paradoxes of quantum mechanics to the theological paradox of free will and predistination. I do love paradoxes. I think those are the places where God's fingers are sticking into creation and nothing makes sense anymore.