A Secret of the Universe: A Story of Love, Loss, and the Discovery of an Eternal Truth

This is the story of two high-school pals from the Midwest for whom a personal tragedy sets in motion a journey of inquiry that spans a lifetime of cruel and glorious twists, and culminates in an astonishing discovery. Ian wants answers his faith can’t provide, so he abandons traditional religion and its magic, mysticism, and supernaturalism, turning instead to science and reason. Bill’s path has become that of a devoted Christian who sees the bountiful harvest that can be achieved through spirituality and faith. When profound revelations lead each friend to uncover shocking historical “secrets” in support of his own worldview, their odyssey plays out on a global stage, with tragic consequences. Only by embracing the inherent mystery and pain of their quest do Ian and Bill make the discovery that really matters—a genuine secret of the universe.



As emotional and hopeful as it is hard-hitting and brutally honest, Gibson’s dramatic allegory is fundamentally about beliefs. It's about how we come to form "knowledge" about the big questions in life: God, sexual ethics, morals, political ideology—even which medical treatments we will choose to fight our cancers. More importantly, it's about how those beliefs affect our actions, our lives, and the world around us! Told through two friends’ struggle to make sense of life’s triumphs and tragedies—which they interpret through very different religious filters—A Secret of the Universe is both a mirror through which each of us can view our human fallibility, and an illuminating path out of the dogmatism and violence that ail us.