Collins recalls the day in the year 2000 when US President Bill Clinton announced the completion of the human genome. The president called the genome “the language in which God created life” (2)—a phrase that leads Collins to reflect on the religious implications of the genome project and the increasing antagonism between science and faith.

Collins recalls his upbringing in rural Virginia after World War II. While his family fostered a “remarkable culture of ideas,” including a love for science and the performing arts, religious faith “just wasn’t very important” (11). By the time he began college, Collins had a strong interest in science, especially chemistry, but had settled into a basic agnosticism in religion.

After college, his scientific horizons widened; he pursued a Ph.D. in physical chemistry at Yale, and then abandoned this path for studies in medicine. As he cared for patients with serious or terminal illnesses, he was struck by the strength of their spiritual beliefs in the face of their suffering. Collins reached a spiritual crisis when an older patient asked him what he believed. Realizing that he had never “seriously considered the evidence for and against belief” (20), Collins decided to delve into the study of religions.