He’s not a genius but he played one on TV. Well not exactly, but there are a lot of people who remember Connecticut College Professor Andrew Pessin as part of the “brains” team in a series of skits on the David Letterman Show. The skits were about problem solving as done by the brawny as opposed to problem solving by the brainy. Pessin, a graduate student at the time, auditioned for the “brainy” team and got the part.

“That was a dozen years ago,” said Pessin, at a book signing at Borders Book Store last Friday, “but people still come up and tell me they remember me from the Letterman Show.”

But Pessin is not a comedian, or, more precisely, his field is philosophy, even if he does find a lot of humor lying around in that field. Pessin is the chairman of the Philosophy department at Connecticut College and the author of two books that take a light-natured but informative approach to philosophy.

“The God Question: What Famous Thinkers from Plato to Dawkins Have Said About the Divine” is in bookstores now and Pessin has been doing the talk shows and book signing that is the real drudgery of writing books. But you wouldn’t know that from meeting Pessin, who has a quietly enthusiastic and inviting presence. But he is capable of some very deep thinking and he invites you to share that with his books. “The God Question” is a hugely complex issue that Pessin hopes to simplify for general readers. But, unlike Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens, he didn’t write his book to convince people of faith there is no God, or assure atheists that there is no God.

“You know, at the beginning of each semester at school, my students ask me what my position is about the question and whether I believe in God,” said Pessin. “I always refuse to say, which is not being cute, because I hope to remain completely neutral about the existence or non-existence of God. At the end of the course, they are still asking me what I believe. I consider that a success because I want the students to make up their own mind about the question and not be swayed by what I say.”

“The God Question” is designed to be accessible. The chapters are all very short: no more than 600 words apiece, readable in just a few minutes. Each chapter is self-contained, so it’s not necessary to refer backwards or forwards in order to understand a chapter. Pessin said the book is not claiming to offer the complete philosophical systems of any of the thinkers it covers.

“People write extremely long books about Aquinas, and Descartes, and Heidegger, trying to make detailed and dense sense of all the detailed and dense things these great thinkers have to say,” he explained. “‘The God Question’ is not that. Rather, it distills out one or two of the most interesting, important, or sometimes even strange things that each of its thinkers has said about God, and presents that thing clearly and succinctly.”

The book starts with Plato – the father of western philosophy, who was born 2,500 years ago – and works its way chronologically through the great periods of medieval philosophy and early modern philosophy, through 20th-century philosophy. As “The God Question” gets into contemporary times, it looks at the ideas of such thinkers as Friedrich Nietzsche, Sigmund Freud, Ludwig Wittgenstein and Martin Heidegger, and includes the ideas of the Islamic thinker Averroes and the very Jewish rabbi, Maimonides. It concludes with a discussion of the arguments made against the existence of God presented by Dawkins and Hitchens. “Pretty much every single thing said about God by the great thinkers has been simultaneously interesting, important, and strange,” said Pessin. “In fact when I teach the philosophy of religion I often begin the semester by suggesting that of the many billions of people who have adhered over centuries to the western religions of Christianity, Islam, and Judaism, most of them would not even recognize the idea of God as it has been developed and defended by the leading philosophers of those religions.”

Pessin includes challenges to ordinary religious thinking by bringing up the ideas that have attempted to reconcile the subject of omnipotence.

“For instance, if God can do anything, why does God allow so much misery when he could prevent it,” said Pessin. “And if God knows and can change everything we do, how can we have free will?”

Pessin says those are the kind of things that people of faith should be thinking about.

“And, if you are an atheist, you should have a lot of good reasons to explain how you came to that conclusion,” he said. “I don’t mind if people don’t believe in God but I do think they should be able to explain that belief.”

That’s why Pessin likes to talk to groups in church and service organizations. He wants to get everybody thinking about their belief in God, which has been and remains one of the most war-provoking subjects known to man.

“I think it’s important, in a general way, for people to consider the questions surrounding the idea of God,” he said. “Most people never think about their reasons, or where their faith comes from.”

On a lighter note, “The 60-Second Philosopher: Expand your Mind on a Minute or so a Day” will be in bookstores soon and it will be a relief to leave “The God Question” alone for a while and pick up “The 60-Second Philosopher,” which briefly asks for answers to questions you never asked but should have.

The pocket-sized paperback explains why, philosophically, there is no path not taken, a rose by another name wouldn't be a rose, the proof isn’t in the pudding and intolerance is a virtue. The book covers a broad range of topics and ideas that have kept philosophers busy over the millennia. It challenges readers to question common sense and recognize truth in the bizarre. And that, Pessin says, is the point.

“You really can’t cover any subject in philosophy in a minute and I don’t claim to. The purpose of the book is to provide you with questions about ordinary things and to prompt you to think about them deeply.”

Pessin said it’s about time that philosophy came out of the ivory towers of universities and insinuated itself into our everyday lives.

“Philosophy makes you deeper, richer and more interesting,” Pessin says. “It may or may not bring you happiness, but it will bring you greater appreciation for whether happiness is something ultimately to be valued.”

For more information about Pessin and his books, visit www.andrewpessin.com. To arrange a speaking engagement for your church or club, e-mail Bec Zajac at bzajac@oneworld-publications.com or e-mail Pessin directly at apessin@conncoll.edu.