A science student's intellectual battle to unite himself to his religious parents.When his Jewish family invites Nicodemus to move with them to Jerusalem, he asks a religious scientist how faith and science can combine; but when fast answers are in short supply, he must both learn that faith requires serious study and that there is more to faith than knowledge alone, or his family's convictions will remain beyond his reach forever. Daan van Schalkwijk studied theoretical biology at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam; this is a combination of biology, mathematics and statistics. He completed his PhD in medical biology and systems biology at the research institute TNO and the University of Leiden, on the topic of mathematical modeling of cholesterol metabolism. Currently he teaches and advises academically at Amsterdam University College. The courses he teaches include "Big Questions in Science", "Introduction to Health and Wellbeing", and "Basic Research Methods and Statistics". He is also the director of Leidenhoven College, a small-scale collegiate hall of residence in Amsterdam. He regularly writes poetry for Omega magazine, as well as occasionally writing non-fiction with a fictional slant for popular websites like Mercatornet.
