The Flight of Peter Fromm

by Martin Gardner

Book Overview

The Flight of Peter Fromm is a novel of ideas disguised as the biography of a young man from a Pentecostal fundamentalist background in Oklahoma, who loses his faith while a student at the University of Chicago Divinity School. His spiritual odyssey is narrated by his mentor, a professor at the divinity school - who is actually a humanist who believes neither in God nor in an afterlife. Although Peter never abandons his theism or his admiration for...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0879759119
• ISBN13: 9780879759117
• Release Date: October 1994
• Publisher: Prometheus Books
• Length: 280 Pages
• Weight: 2.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.4" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

There is a little of Peter Fromm in everyone that questions religion

In the minds of many people, there is religious belief and there is scientific belief and nothing in between. This mutually exclusive dichotomy leads to the evangelical movement expounding a complete belief in the Christian Bible and creation and the hard science belief that the universe simply exists and God is an emotionally comforting delusion. Fortunately, there is a vast middle ground of people who accept evolution as scientific fact and question the role of God in our lives, while believing that "he" exists. In my opinion, they form the logical, intelligent middle and Martin Gardner is one of the most prominent members of this group. This book is somewhat autobiographical in that the primary character of Peter Fromm is from Oklahoma, served in the navy in World War II and attended the University of Chicago. Gardner studied philosophy while Fromm attended divinity school. The main theme is the evolving religious beliefs of a young man that grew up in a fundamentalist environment yet his studies for the ministry lead him to have many doubts about religion. Fromm is a very intelligent man and voraciously reads material written by religious commentators. In some ways he reminds me of a comment I heard once about a student studying religion. "He has read the bible enough to recognize and be puzzled by the internal contradictions." Those contradictions lead Peter along several paths, to the point where he most likely goes insane. The climactic scene is when Peter is giving an Easter sermon and he suddenly strips off his clothes and urinates on the organist. Needless to say, I hope that event is not part of the factually accurate biography. This is a most interesting book; it is "narrated" by Homer Wilson, a faculty member of the University of Chicago Divinity School and an active minister. It describes the thinking person's quest for religious truth. Peter can be considered a synopsis of all people who grew up in religious households and begin to question once they are on their own. As always, Gardner tells his story well, there is a little part of Peter Fromm in all people who question the tenants of religious fundamentalism.

a fun theological novel

With all the Christian fiction out there (much of it horrible) it's refreshing to read a novel like "The Flight of Peter Fromm." It's a powerful comming of age novel as Peter, a divinity school student at U of Chicago, slowly sheds his Fundamentalist skin and journeys away from the Christian faith. As the story goes on--as Peter goes deeper into contemporary theology--he considers these new theologies, only to reject them. By the novel's end, as Peter talks to his major professor (an atheist) Peter is a philosophical theist: he still holds to a vague notion of God but it's not the God of orthodox Christianity. This novel was a joy to read. I found that Peter's journey paralleled my own journey as a young divinity school student. More Fundamentalist Christians won't like it (except to see the route one can take in losing one's faith). But for those Christians who no longer stand within the orthodox fold, and who want to make better sense of their faith journey, reading about Peter's journey can be helpful. Also recommended: How to Lose Your Faith in Divinity School

Peter Pious Loses Faith

Gardner's book captures what the ordinary reader misses. The letter-writing form, to a beloved colleague, imitates the epistles of the early apostles, both in form and in content. Peter Fromm (the German form is Peter Pious) travels the gamut of 20th Century theology, with a crisis moment on Easter Sunday. The krisis is at once Kierkegaardian and Barthian.Our primary interlocutor skeptic is Homer, the Odyssean hero of travel and disaster. When the Pious One sends letters to Homer, we can expect some major fireworks. The major irony of the work is that Homer sits at home, while Peter (like the Apostle Paul) travels the world on a big boat, sending letters back home to Homer.The chapter on the "Molecules of Jesus" is the center-piece of the work, alongside Peter's Easter Crisis. For anyone who has read the New Testament, the issue of the resurrection and the current question of the intellectual credibility of such a faith claim is still stunningly appropos. Resurrection is ever the stumbling block to faith.The discussions of Barth and Tillich, from the viewpoint of theological students is unparalleled. Peter's/Gardner's musings on "Who will meet me at the Pearly Gates?" are simply genius in their articulation. I am a theological prof who uses this novel to introduce theological students to the gravity of their beliefs. I press them to decide whether to be Truthful Traitors or Loyal Liars, as does our "hero" Peter Pious.The New Testament Peter denied Christ three times. I am not altogether sure that Martin Gardner's Peter has met his match. Peter Fromm's denial is overt, but not necessarily sure, deep, or three-fold. I found the easy skeptism of the Carlos Castenada Peter on a beach chair the least credible part of the book. I can't imagine that Our Peter would have given it all up so easily. If so, he had little faith at the start.Cocka-doodle-doo,The Div Prof Chick

Outstanding - a must read for believers and unbelievers

Gardner's only fiction as far as I know, and what a beauty! Gardner follows the young Fromm on his journey from religious fundamentalism to skeptical enlightenment. Fromm is a student in a liberal Chicago seminary who discovers for the first time in his life that alternative explanations exist for much of the dogma he's accepted since his youth. This story is phenomenal and should be read by anyone having a religious background, regardless of where you are in your spiritual journey now.

A satisfying exploration of religious faith and reason.

Gardner's exploration of religious passion and faith-shattering reason is beautifully conceived. A minister, turned athiest, envies the naive religious passions of a theology student who is undone when he tries to use reason in defense of his fundamentalist convictions. In the end, Gardner reconciles these seemingly irreconcilable views. Or does this exhaustive battle of intellect and emotion simply reach an impasse? The paradox of human emotion and reason is embodied in this tale of religious passion and faltering faith. Though decidedly a rebuke of religion, Gardner does not disparage the passions that drive religious belief but rather attempts to reconcile these contradictory qualities of human nature.