Beside Still Waters is a nonfiction book by Gregg Easterbrook

Gregg Easterbrook

Gregg Edmund Easterbrook is an American writer, lecturer, and a senior editor of The New Republic. His articles have appeared in Slate, The Atlantic Monthly, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, Reuters, Wired, and Beliefnet. In addition, he was a fellow at the...

. In it he defends religion

Religion

Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...

 against its critics. He expounds a theory of religion and Christianity based on his reading of the Old

Old Testament

The Old Testament, of which Christians hold different views, is a Christian term for the religious writings of ancient Israel held sacred and inspired by Christians which overlaps with the 24-book canon of the Masoretic Text of Judaism...

 and New Testaments, in which God is not an omnipotent omniscient being, but rather a limited and perhaps awesomely powerful being who learns and grows over time. In this way, Easterbrook seeks to explain the ravages and evil of the Old Testament God and to bring back Jesus

Jesus

Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...

's original teachings of charity and of love for God and for fellow humans.

The title of the book comes from Psalm 23

Psalm 23

In the 23rd Psalm in the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, the writer describes God as his Shepherd. The text, beloved by Jews and Christians alike, is often alluded to in popular media and has been set to music....

, which begins with "The Lord is my shepherd" and includes the line, "He leads me beside still waters."