Does every effect have a cause? Is the universe deterministic? If so, free will is an illusion. Then what becomes of good and evil? If our thoughts are determined by the physics and chemistry of brain cells then wickedness and saintliness are equally unavoidable. If our thoughts are not determined then inspiration and creativity are accidental.

The counterargument to determinism is quantum theory, wherein reality is based on random events without preceding causes and the universe is governed by probability and chance. But if free means spontaneous and uncaused, and will means purposeful agency, how can a thought be purposeful if its origin is random?

The questions are unnerving, but answers, with unexpected comfort, can be found. This is the telling of a successful search, by a preacher's son who wanted to be a scientist-who wondered about atoms and nature, and human nature, about Heaven, and the heavens-and finally came to understand how science, ethics and theology converge in endless opportunities for further wonder.