ESSSAT-News

14:4 (December 2004)

European Society for the Study of Science and Theology

ESSSAT News 14:4

December 2004

From the President

In this issue: From the Editor From the President Forthcoming conferences Reports of meetings Special note Book reviews Index of book reviews, 2003-4 ESSSAT contact details 2 2 4 5 6 7 15 16 Dear members of ESSSAT, May I wish you a Merry Christmas and all the best for 2005, professionally and personally. We had a wonderful conference in Barcelona, in April of the year now ending. Next year will be a year between, in the life of ESSSAT shaped as it is by its conferences. The year between conferences is the one in which we prepare the next conference. A call for papers, nominations for the prizes, and applications for scholarships, may be expected sometime in the Spring of 2005, with some reflections on our conference title, Sustainable Diversity. Abstracts of proposed presentations, nominations, and applications will have to be in by October 1. Thus, when summer comes again you will have to think hard. In the mean time, as reported briefly in the last ESSSAT News by our Secretary, EvaLotta Grantn, the Organizing Committee made a visit to Iasi. We are currently busy developing the programme. Details will be in the next issue of ESSSAT News. But let me here report briefly on Romania and on the conference theme, while also informing you about the books that may soon be expected from ESSSAT. Iasi, Romania When I first heard from Iasi as the town where our next conference will be, my mind went blank. No idea where it was, what the town looked like, what the country was like. With some fear and trembling a bit like the old maps of the Mediterranean that had South of Egypt and Algeria a white territory, there are lions here Europe has been divided throughout the lifetimes of most of us, and this division has had major consequences for our familiarity with those on the other side. After being there, I am ashamed at my initial ignorance and the concerns that elicited. There are no lions there! Instead, there are kind people, who have shown

From the Editor This issue resumes the standard 16-page format, from which all previous issues this year have departed, upward or downward. Official ESSSAT business is brought before readers in a substantial letter from the President, starting on this page. Following notices of forthcoming events and reports of activities in several countries, I am happy to offer six book reviews. Alongside one of our most established reviewers, ESSSAT Treasurer Chris Wiltsher (UK), it is a pleasure to welcome four new volunteers to the reviewing panel: retired engineering professor and Teihardian, Bill Cranston (UK); young pastor completing his doctorate, Andreas Losch (Germany); former palaeontologist now working in the church, Gerard Willemsen (Sweden); and lastly the most theologically professional of all, Philip Luscombe, Principal of Wesley House theological college (UK). I thank each of them for their contributions of time and effort to the ESSSAT community. Finally, p. 15 completes the index of recent book reviews, begun in the previous issue. May Christmas 2004 be free of dreadful events, and a time of joyful renewal for all readers. Deadline for next issue: The next issue of ESSSAT News will appear in time for Easter. Material should reach me by March 7. Neil Spurway

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enormous hospitality. We had excellent food, a safe trip, wonderful company, mobile phones worked, and so on. Even the architecture was far more familiar than I had expected buildings had many of the typical features of Central Europe, as the Hapsburg legacy is evident not only in Austria and Hungary, Spain and the Low Countries, but also further East. Eiffel designed not only a tower in Paris, but also a hotel in Iasi! Throughout its history, there were other powers in the region too. As someone said to us, when you in the West were building the cathedrals and founding the universities, we were defending Europe against the Turks. It has been an area where the Ottoman Empire exerted its influence, while the Russian empire was not far away either. Thus arose a Latin country (Romania) which had drifted to the East, but with old ties to other Roman countries as well as to many other areas in Middle and Western Europe. Romania will join the European Union in 2007, the year after our conference. This shows itself in an active programme of development, e.g. of airports and other facilities. Thus, the number of international connections to Iasi will increase, even though the trip by air via Bucharest (through which the non-local members of the Organizing Committee travelled) worked fine as well. As Metropolit Daniel, a remarkable ecumenical leader who offered us a generous lunch in his Metropolitan Palace, said to us, with the entry into the EU Romania should not become merely the new boundary of Europe, but also its gateway towards the East the Ukraine and other Slavonic countries, and even to the countries of Asia. The capital, Bucharest, is of course, the city best known by outsiders. However, ESSSAT has had other conferences in cultural centres that rivalled their own capitals in heritage and significance Krakow in Poland, Lyons in France, Barcelona in Spain, Geneva in Switzerland. Going to the lesser known treasures may well be a journey of discovery. Iasi, the second largest city of Romania, is a former capital with the

countrys oldest university. Not too far from Iasi are the painted monasteries of the Southern Bucovina, some of which we will visit during the excursion, Treasures of the Orthodox tradition. That will be another discovery for many of us: experiencing directly the cultural richness of Eastern Orthodoxy. Romania has its Catholic and Protestant minorities, and these will be most welcome to our conference as well, but the Orthodox form of Christianity has been the most prominent one in Romania for a thousand years, and this shows interestingly. Books & publications The year between conferences will not be a year of inactivity, not only because we prepare the next conference, but also due to the follow-up from previous ones. Two books may be expected to reach you, our members, namely Issues in Science and Theology, volume 3 (based on the Nijmegen conference) and volume 4 (with the plenary lectures and some essays from the Barcelona conference). The next book in our other series, Studies in Science and Theology is also in preparation. All who submitted manuscripts after the Barcelona conference should have had a response from Hubert Meisinger some months ago. Though he recently became the proud father of a son, he is eager to catch up and have all books published before the next conference. The editors of the books faced difficult choices this time, because about twice as many papers were submitted as could be published. We look for original papers, which are well argued, where relevant with good references, both on the theme of the conference and on some other aspects of religion and science. It is, of course, wonderful that so many of the papers presented at the conference were submitted for publication. Thus the painful process of selection indicates also the enthusiasm and dedication people bring to the discussion. In November, many participants and members received an e-mail announcing a new science-and-religion journal. As the message used e-mail addresses from our

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last conference, invited the submission of papers presented in Barcelona, and was easily associated with our next conference, some of you may have read this message as if the plan for the journal was an initiative of ESSSAT. The text suggested that we published only 10 % of the papers available. However, 50 % of those submitted is a more appropriate way to state the number accepted for publication. In any case, ESSSAT for the time being focuses its efforts on the two series of books; producing a solid book every year is a serious achievement for an organization of volunteers. The Council may come to discuss new initiatives, but so far has no such plans. Of course, everyone is free to initiate new activities in religion-and-science; we merely need to be clear as to what is and what is not a project we as ESSSAT have committed ourselves to. The conference provides a platform to explore new ideas and enter new territory; it may be a good thing that we allow presentations, whether they lend themselves to publication or not. Again, have a good year. Let us hear from each other via ESSSAT News, e-mails, abstracts, books, and whatever else will come in 2005. Yours, Willem B. Drees President ******************************** Forthcoming conferences THEOLOGY AND SCIENCE: NEW APPROACHES IN RESEARCH AND DIALOGUE June 20-22, 2005 Bonn, Germany The dialogue between theology and the sciences has expanded and strengthened in recent decades. The variety of themes has enormously increased. Propositions, models and methods of physics and biology perhaps figure most prominently e.g. neuroscience raises themes such as

subjectivity, personality, freedom and religious belief, which have attracted increased attention from theologians. However, the relationships between science, technology and society are also reflected. The focus in these fields lies on ethical, social and political problems such as those arising from developments in medicine, biotechnology and nanotechnology. Beyond these, students of social and cultural matters examine the history and public contexts of science and theology and open up new areas of investigation as to themes, contents and methodology, going far beyond older apologetic schemes. Even renaissant philosophies of nature have been taken up by theology. Thus, in the dialogue between theology and science not only a thematic, but also a disciplinary and methodological pluralization is taking place. This research conference will explore such insights by bringing different approaches and perspectives into dialogue with each other. It will be organized by the Protestant Academy in the Rhineland, which has long placed emphasis on the dialogue between science and theology; by the Villigst Protestant Scholarship Foundation, an interdisciplinary forum for students which has mounted science and theology seminars throughout its existence; and by ESSSAT. During the last ESSSAT conference, a group of representatives of these three organisations decided to organise this meetinge as a first step to creating a platform for dialogue between the next and "next-but-one" generations of scientist-theologians in Europe, and those prominent in the field at the moment. The focus of the meeting will be on up to 24 ongoing research projects. In accord with the conference title the presentations will concentrate on methodological approaches. Younger scholars in science and theology from Europe, working on specific problems in science or technology and theology, are invited to attend. A few places will also be allocated to students and scholars interested in this field who

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have not yet begun to work in it. In addition, two established contributors to the field have been invited to give plenary lectures and to share in discussion of the other presentations. Those currently under invitation are Prof. Dr. W. B. Drees (ESSSAT President) on The Present Status of the Dialogue between Science, Technology and Theology, and Visions for the Future, and Prof. Dr. I.-O. Stamatescu (FEST, Heidelberg) on Religiosity and Scientific Knowledge. The conference will take place from lunchtime on Monday, June 22, to lunchtime on Wednesday, June 24, 2005, at the Protestant Academy in the Rhineland, Bonn, Germany. Languages will be German and English. Enquiries to either Dr. Frank Vogelsang: (frank.vogelsang@akademie.ekir.de) or Dr. Hubert Meisinger: (meisinger@esg-darmstadt.de).

Reports of m eetings SCIENCE AND ORTHODOX THEOLOGY in the presence and under the blessing of Mgr. Joseph Pop, Romanian Orthodox Metropolitan for Western Europe Knowledge in Theology and in Science. Purposes and methodological guidelines Second meeting 1-2 October 2004, Paris, France The work of this conference was structured in three modules. The aim of the first module, the SCIENCE one, was to propose a perspective concerning the way that science produces knowledge and to build a bridge towards theology. After a brief introduction performed by Dimitri Cadere, who is working in a research laboratory in physics, about the way we are dealing with the concept of knowledge in science, Pierre Perrier, general delegate of the French Academy of Technology and secretary of the French Academy of Sciences, presented a paper about the building of scientific knowledge and the confrontation between science and theology. Then followed a round table with three contributions: Jean Franois Lambert, psycho-physiologist and lecturer at Paris VIII University talked about the dialogue between science and theology: conditions and limits, Viorel Stefaneau, professor in comparative literature at Paris XII University, talked about language and its competences, and a professor of medicine, Dan Wanjek, talked about the structure of scientific language. The THEOLOGY module was divided into two sections. The first one was conducted by Jean-Franois Colosimo, professor in Patrology at Saint Serge Theological Institute, Paris. He talked about the distinctions between the theological and scientific methods of knowledge. The reverend father Marc Antoine Costa de Beauregard, Dean of the Romanian Orthodox parishes in

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SCIENCE, IDEOLOGY & RELIGION March 30 - April 2, 2005 St. Petersburg, Russia The St. Petersburg Educational Center for Science and Religion (SPECRS) together with the St. Petersburg School of Religion and Philosophy (SRPh), are pleased to announce this conference. Applications will January 15, 2005. be accepted until

Contact Greg Sandstrom, Secretary for International Relations at the SRPh office: Tel: Tel/Fax: E-mail: or Web site: +7 (812) 326-8603, or +7 (812) 103-7279 sirconference@mail.ru, office@srph.spb.ru http://www.srph.ru

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France, presented several gnoseology guidelines.

patristic

The third module, SCIENCE and THEOLOGY, considered the bridge suggested by the first two modules conclusions. Jean Kovalevsky, member of the French Academy of Sciences, compared antinomies and concepts in the physics of particles with theological apophatic language. Doctor Adrian Lemeni, engineer and assistant at the Faculty of Orthodox Theology in Bucharest, Romania, talked about several guidelines of the patristic theology that could nourish the modern ScienceTheology dialogue. Finally, father Razvan Ionescu, doctor in medical imaging, concluded by offering several guidelines concerning the methodological rapports in terms of competence between science and theology today. Razvan Ionescu ****** PIETRO MAFFI AND SCIENCE AS AN INSTRUMENT FOR DIALOGUE Meeting of the Italian-Russian Foundation to develop science, culture and the arts 10-11 December 2004, Pisa, Italy This event commemorated the first centenary of the 1904 enthronement into the diocese of Pisa, the city of Galileo, of Bishop Pietro Maffi, an astronomer of the school of Virgilio Schiaparelli. The meeting was in two parts. The first recalled the doings of Pietro Maffi as President of the Vatican Observatory. It was thanks to his decisions that this observatory became one of the most important in the world. His contribution was described by George Coyne S.J., the present-day director. Then Lodovico Galleni outlined the main events from Fibonacci through Galileo to Maffi, when Pisa was a key city for the dialogue between science and faith. But Bishop Maffi also used science as a tool for the dialogue between religions and culture. For this reason a bilateral colloquium on science and faith between

Roman Catholic and Russian Orthodox representatives was the second part of the meeting. This colloquium, partially supported by the National Service for the Cultural Project of the Italian Episcopal Conference, was about Creation knowledge and creation care - considering two priest-scientists: Pierre Teilhard de Chardin and Pavel Florenskij The various aspects of these two scientistthinkers were presented by a dozen or so scholars, with particular attention to their relationships and their contributions to the renewal of theology in their churches. The speakers not named above were: F. Fiorenzo Reati, O.F.M., Fiorenzo Facchini, F. Vincenzo DAscenzi S.J., Silvana Procacci, Fabio Mantovani and Natalino Valentini (Italy) and A. Grib, Yuri Romashev, Evgeni Arinin, A. Klestov and K.G. Isupov (Russia). Lodovico Gallemi ******************************** Special note Another doctorate for Helmut Reich Helmut Reich, a member of ESSSAT who was the key organizer of our conference in Freising near Munich (1994) and has been present at all or almost all other ESSSAT Conferences, a most friendly critic and discussion partner for many others, has earned a further doctorate. After a fruitful first career in physics and engineering, including many years (1955-1983) at CERN, the international physics laboratory, he turned to the religion and science dialogue, with a special interest in styles of thinking and hence in issues in the psychology and pedagogy of religion. At the age of 83, on November 16th, 2004, he defended at Utrecht University, before a committee from its Department of Theology, a dissertation entitled The Role of Cognition in Religious Development: The Contribution of Relational and Contextual Reasoning (RCR), based on six papers previously published. Continued on p. 14

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Book reviews IN WHOM WE LIVE AND MOVE AND HAVE OUR BEING Panentheistic Reflections on Gods Presence in a Scientific World Philip Clayton and Arthur Peacocke (eds.) Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans (2004) xxii + 322 pp. 0-8028-0978-2 (pbk) 24.99 What account can be given of divine presence and action in the world, which respects the insights both of religious traditions and contemporary science? This book is a valuable and stimulating resource for current attempts at a plausible and coherent response to that question. The eighteen contributors share the view that the approach of panentheism offers the best way forward. They agree that panentheism could be summarised as God is in the world and the world is in God. There the agreement ends, as they struggle to interpret the little word in from their own perspectives. The foreword by Arthur Peacocke sets the scene, drawing attention to the range of ideas which nestle under the umbrella term panentheism. Philip Claytons afterword offers a constructive systematic evaluation of the contributions, pointing out common themes, but also noting differences and setting something of an agenda for further work. In between we have eighteen diverse presentations of panentheism, with a very useful summary of the contributions. Some contributors have a background mainly in science, some mainly in theology. They represent a variety of theological standpoints, and there is an attempt to engage with non-Christian traditions. As a preliminary, Michael Brierley reviews the use of the term panentheism in theological literature, from an historical and analytic perspective. He isolates eight themes which he regards as key elements of the thought of panentheistic writers, and then helpfully examines some of the other contributors adherence to those themes, thus illustrating the varieties of panentheism.

Thereafter the book is helpfully divided into three sections. The first is entitled Panentheistic Interpretations of the GodWorld Relationship, and includes papers by Niels Gregersen, David Griffin, Christopher Knight, Keith Ward and Philip Clayton. All five authors attempt to relate contemporary panentheism to past discussions: in Christian theology (Gregersen, Knight), Indian religious traditions (Ward), Western philosophical theology (Clayton) and process thought (Griffin). Given the writers diverse views on panentheism, this section provides an interesting exploration of the roots of contemporary panentheistic thought which complements the essay by Brierley. Section two, Scientific Perspectives on the God-World Relation, presents papers from writers with predominantly scientific backgrounds. Drawing on their scientific expertise they present different reasons for suggesting panentheism as the approach best suited to developing a theology which is scientifically sophisticated. Paul Davies explores the implicit teleology of laws of nature; Russell Stannard discusses time and creation; Robert Herrmann looks at continuity and complexity; Harold Morowitz relates emergence in nature to ideas of immanence and transcendence; and Arthur Peacocke sees the unity, complexity and unbroken causality of the natural world as requiring a strong doctrine of divine immanence. Section three presents Theological Perspectives on the God-World relationship. It opens with papers written from an Eastern Orthodox viewpoint, by Kallistos Ware, Alexei Nesteruk and Andrew Louth. All three relate panentheism to the writings of the Greek Fathers, finding in their patristic sources ideas which they suggest can contribute significantly to the modern discussion of the presence, even involvement, of God in the cosmos. Then follow four papers written from within the traditions of Western trinitarian Christianity. Denis Edwards draws on ideas of trinitarian communion to construct a trinitarian panentheist theology; Joseph Bracken uses process thought to develop a fieldoriented model which, he claims, justifies

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belief in a triune God; Ruth Page raises some sharp questions about panentheism and offers pansyntheism as an improved model; and Celia Deane-Drummond insists that panentheist theology needs the ancient idea of Sophia/Wisdom if it is to remain properly incarnational. Even this brief summary of the contributions shows the range of perspectives brought together in this volume. The book is the outcome of a conference on panentheism, supported by the John Templeton Foundation: it must have been a lively affair! For these writers disagree about much, and within the essays sharp questions are posed to other contributors. This is debate in progress, about fundamental ideas. The great strength of this volume is that the debate is very well-informed. These contributors are experts. Nevertheless, the essays are generally clear and remarkably free from professional jargon; they are also well-written and readable. Those who are familiar with recent work in the science-religion dialogue will find little here that is new: for them, the great benefit of this volume is the opportunity to easily compare and contrast different arguments and approaches. Others, perhaps seeking to establish a foothold in the discussion of divine action, will benefit greatly from the lucid expositions of a range of perspectives. This book raises many questions. Is a term which can shelter such a range of perspectives really useful? How can one identify divine acts on a panentheistic view? What does it mean to say that a loving God is in, say, a landslide which follows a volcanic eruption and causes apparent devastation? How significant or necessary is it to uncover panentheist ideas in the past of religious traditions? This volume gives few answers, but at very least it helps clarify the questions and the bounds of the answers; and for some it will help to shape them. For all readers, it will make stimulating, challenging and enjoyable reading - a rare book indeed. Chris Wiltsher

JOHN MACQUARRIES NATURAL THEOLOGY: The Grace of Being Georgina Morley Aldershot, UK: Ashgate (2003) ix + 201pp ISBN: 0-7546-3039-0 (pbk) 16.99 To a generation of Christian ministers and theological students educated in the 1970s and 80s, John Macquarries Principles of Christian Theology, remains for good or ill a landmark in their formation. For those of us training a generation ago in Britain Macquarrie provided an alternative to the alarmingly academic and complex and in most cases lengthy German theologians about whom our teachers enthused and warned, but whose theology never quite seemed to fit the atmosphere of the British churches. Macquarrie, on the other hand, was a Scottish Presbyterian who had converted to the Anglican communion, and whose writing showed a deep concern for both church and sacrament. There was, however, a problem. Macquarries writing was deeply marked by his early immersion in existentialist philosophy, especially that of Martin Heidegger. Few of my generation had the courage to reject existentialism out of hand, but even then we were hazily aware that its centring upon the individual was deeply flawed as a completely satisfying description of the world in which humans lived, and even more seriously, inadequate as a basis for any Christian philosophy. Georgina Morley performs a useful service by demonstrating that Macquarries own engagement with existentialism was far more critical and questioning than many of his early readers assumed. She also demonstrates that Macquarries concerns move in increasing concentric circles of relationality, from anthropocentric focus on the individual (albeit moderated in emphasis), through social and ecclesial relationality and embodiment in the shared public realm, to attention to the role of the human being within the organic wholeness of the cosmos. It had seemed to many a curiosity that in Principles of Christian Theology, a systematic theology grounded in existentialist philosophy, so much space

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was devoted to a loving treatment of church and sacrament from a comparatively catholic perspective. Morley paints a persuasive picture of the grace of being (her key summation of Macquarries theology) gradually broadened out in his thought to take account of individual, social and cosmic dimensions. John Macquarries own foreword to the book suggests that he largely agrees with her exposition of his thought. Macquarries theology has relevance for those interested in the study of science and theology in two main respects. Firstly, Macquarries mature work attempts to present an integrated picture. Perhaps precisely because of his own early roots in existentialism, Macquarrie knows the importance of holding together the individual, social and cosmic dimensions. His theology will not allow that one is given priority over the other, or that one can be simplistically understood in terms of the other. Morleys concentric circles do not imply that the outer rings are of any less importance than the inner, although Macquarrie perhaps never quite departs from the assumption that human understanding proceeds from individual experience. Whether or not this is the case, Morley rightly insists on the importance of the whole cosmos in Macquaries later theology. She does not explore the connection but this is surely linked to Macquarries insistence, a point he reemphasises in his foreword, that natural theology and revealed theology (both inaccurate terms in his view) are closely linked parts of a single enterprise Secondly, and again we should look to Macquarries deep debt to existentialism, he understands the force of the modernist criticism of religion, the seductiveness, at least until recently, of a positivistic account of religion and religious experience. Despite this, Morley shows that from early in his work, Macquarrie argued against Bultmanns programme of demythologization, understanding that something important was lost when method was allowed to dictate possible results. For Macquarrie, the kerygma has a real content. Precisely because Macquarrie

understands the issues at stake so well, he could provide an acute theological partner in dialogue for the work of engagement between science and theology. Georgina Morleys book is far more readable than most work which originates from an authors doctoral research, although she devotes too much time to the influences on Macquarrie and too little to exposition of and dialogue with his work. Will Macquarries work become important in the current debate? Sadly, probably not. As Morley notes, despite providing a model of both Anglican restraint and postmodern contextualisation he is rarely cited today. The current generation of students use different textbooks and have different priorities. Nonetheless, Morley does a service in reopening some important concerns which merit continued consideration. Philip Luscombe

GOD AND REALISM Peter Byrne Aldershot,UK: Ashgate(2003) xi + 187 pp. ISBN 0 7546 1467 0 (pbk) 16.99/$ 29.95 Although the literature in the philosophy of religion and theology is full of discussions of realism, the author of this book, Senior Lecturer in the philosophy of religion at Kings College (London), is convinced that there is not much order in these discussions. According to Byrne, talking about God in a realist fashion should be the primary object of concern in the philosophy of religion. Further, one has to distinguish between anti-realist interpretations of theistic talk based on global grounds and those based on contrastive grounds (asserting that while theories of other areas of human enquiry such as science can be taken to intend to refer to realities, theistic theories by contrast cannot). Finally, one has to distinguish between theistic discourse as an object of interpretation and theology as an object of interpretation. While the main part of Byrnes book deals with theism as the object of a realistic interpretation, only one chapter tackles the issue of science and theology.

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What are the distinctions made for? Byrne hopes that, liberated from confusions between global and contrastive forms of anti-realism, the student of religion or theology can appreciate the essence of religion in general and of theism in particular as the attempt to refer to realities existing beyond human representations (which he elsewhere seeks to connect to the moral order of the world). The antithesis to Byrnes thinking is what he calls magic, the theme that language creates the world and that human words have the power to create and alter what is so. Byrne perceives this attitude as childish wishful thinking, and renders it a survival of an ancient magical belief one of the consequences of the linguistic turn taken by philosophy and allied disciplines. To counter these post-modern distortions, he develops his own concept of a minimal theistic realism, which holds that the governing intent of a theistic concept is to refer to a reality which is epistemically independent of human beings, ontologically distinct from them and transcendent (ch. 2). The stance so developed is equated by Byrne with a position of Susan Haacks which she calls innocent realism. Chapters 3 to 5 prove the stability of this stance against antirealist arguments from different fields (positivism, feminist theory, the writings of Don Cupitt), finally also against contrastive anti-realism (viz. D.Z. Phillips). However, the most interesting chapter for an ESSSAT reader will be the very last one, where Byrne deals with realist interpretations of science and theology. Byrne advocates a realist interpretation of science. According to him, the progressive, cumulative development of science strongly suggests real-world cognitive contact and influence. Realists will hold that there is an asymmetry between how we explain thought and activity directed at the discovery of the truth and thought and activity not so directed only science shows, through its cumulative character, that it is successfully directed at the discovery of truth. Even across theory-change in science, existential knowledge (of chemical atoms,

bacteria, genes, subatomic particles) is preserved while our ideas as to the constitutions and capabilities of these entities develop. In contrast to that, theology does not show any equivalent accumulation of truth and discovery. When it comes to theology, Byrne therefore adopts a purely sociological point of view (which in connection to theism he is emphatically rejecting): the stock of reliable beliefs about the Christian God has not increased one iota in 2000 years. The manner in which mainstream Christian theology settled on the Trinitarian dogma shows that it was simply power which defeated Arius and his followers. Byrnes theism-coloured dislike focuses on a noted feature of all religions: their ability to split into sects once doctrinal issues surface. Of course, God is not an object of shared investigation in the way physical objects are. But are there really no agreed canons for interpreting the data, so that theology is doomed to interminable discussions of the same issues? Anyone who is convinced of this must be a theological agnostic and sceptic - which is how Byrne labels himself. No doubt there is a critical component to realism. Nevertheless I do not want to consider the many authors who would have been helpful, at least as contrasts, to a further development of Byrnes assessment of the comparison between science and theology (and those presented by Byrne would themselves have been worthy of more fully argued consideration). For instance, take Whiteheads influential claim that both the dogmas of religion and the dogmas of physical science are attempts to formulate in precise terms the truths respectively disclosed in the religious experience and the sense-perceptions of humanity. Astonishingly for a British thinker, Byrne also fails to relate to the eminent tradition of the Gifford Lectures, which demand a treatment of theology like that of the exact sciences. Of course others have convincingly argued that natural theology is only able to play its role within the framework of revealed theology. But it

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would be interesting to discuss the writers in science and theology who point to an accumulation more in depth. I think Byrne is right to associate theology mainly with philosophy in the humanities, although I believe the call from natural science to theology and philosophy, as expressed in the Gifford lectures program, is to stay alive if not to be the challenge of our times. When it comes to his assessment of antirealist philosophers, Byrnes book is interesting for personal reflection, but as an introduction to the issues under question I cannot recommend it. In my impression, too, the adequacy of Byrnes treatment of the intent of postmodernist, e.g. feminist, thought is quite questionable. Nevertheless, for the person interested in the philosophical side of the realism debate, this remains a book worth reading. Andreas Losch

GOD AND THE NATURE OF TIME Garrett J. DeWeese Aldershot, UK: Ashgate (2004) xii + 306 pp. 0-7546-3519-8 (pbk) 16.99 This is the third book on time reviewed in ESSSAT News in the last two years. The others were Zeit und Ewigkeit, by Antje Jackelen (issue 12:4) and Dimensions of Time, by Wolfgang Achtner and others (13:4). It is a striking demonstration of the breadth of this subject that this new book is radically different from both. Garrett DeWeese, a former pastor, now writes from the Talbot school of Theology, Biola University, California. His book is theologically scholarly and philosophically professional, using the concise symbolisms of modern philosophy to excellent effect wherever they are appropriate. And he starts his study with metaphysics, before engaging briefly with physics and then moving on to an extensive survey of philosophicotheological thinking on time from Augustine to the present day. Here he

draws particularly on Tooley and Craig. Wolterstorff, Hasker and Swinburne are among others with whom he broadly sympathizes, while Stump and Kretzmann, Leftow and Helm are prominent among those with whom he courteously disagrees. In the historical sections (Chapters 4-8) the fundamental theme is a gradual shift from Greek and Neoplatonist conceptions of God as timeless, immutable and simple, to a god responding to events in time and interacting with them, which is seen as a better philosophical formulation of the vision of the Hebrews. Favouring this, and primary in DeWeeses own standpoint (Chap 2), is natural language, which represents time as really flowing, and the future as really not yet knowable. More technically, and in my view less convincingly, DeWeese argues that It is causation which ultimately explains why time flows, and in which direction (p. 36). (Is it not easier to think the converse that times flow explains causation?) Perhaps, however, his true starting point is that Traditional theism uniformly agrees that the continued existence of the contingent universe is due to Gods voluntary exercise of causal, sustaining power. So the most basic relation in the universe for the theist is that of causation. (63). From here, DeWeese moves to consider modern physics (Chap 3). Conceding that the 4-dimensional space-time continuum of special relativity requires one to consider time as an axis along which the detached observer could move in either direction, and hence is often considered to invite the static, block universe idea, he maintains (68) that this invitation refers to physical time, as measurable by clocks, but not to the underlying metaphysical time in which non-physical as well as physical objects may exist (11). His treatment of general relativity considers closed time-like curves, singularities, and other mathematical abstractions. After an impressionistic glance at quantum mechanics, he concludes that only fools rush in to give realistic interpretations of such wondrous mathematical constructs (89). Having myself ceased to practice physics 45 years ago, I will allow him the doubt here, but lose sympathy where he

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dismisses times thermodynamic arrow, on the grounds (44) that, on time-scales many orders of magnitude greater than the age of the universe, the probability of entropy decreasing would become very high though that of it increasing had done so much faster. That, to me, is an even less helpful subservience to mathematics! Despite this rejection of what might have been his strongest ally, it is a dynamic theory of time that DeWeese espouses, and he contends that a temporal or, rather, omnitemporal conception of God must follow. An omnitemporal entity has temporal properties with respect to metaphysical time but is present to all actual moments of any temporal world (252). Fundamentally, I sympathise; for me, too, time really flows (though that time is physical, not metaphysical) and I can only make sense of God as being present at all times equally. But I am far more conscious of the limits of human thought and language. Yet even DeWeese falters when he considers Gods temporal status prior to (sans) creation (273); here he concludes that consistent logic is impossible, and one is left having to decide which is the smaller bullet to bite. The ultimate effect of this book on me is therefore to reinforce the conviction that finite minds, trapped within their inexorably time-bound experience on the surface of the earth, have no way of meaningfully considering that which, by definition, is both spatially and temporally extra-cosmic. There the eyes go not, speech goes not, nor the mind (Kena Upanishad). However, for those who do think there can be meaning to such speculations, this book provides a wide-ranging and penetrating survey of past and contemporary thought. Furthermore, it is written with all the lucidity which the topic can allow including the regular use of helpful summary-boxes yet at the same time, not infrequently, with a winning sensitivity and gracefulness of phrase. For an attempt at the impossible it is very good indeed. Neil Spurway

EVOLUTIONARY FAITH: Rediscovering God in Our Great Story Diarmuid OMurchu Maryknoll, NY: Orbis (2002) 231 pp ISBN 1-57075-451-9 (pbk) 14.99 From its main title one might expect this book to be a study in comparative religion, looking at developments in religious faith through time starting perhaps with animism, and ending with modern quasireligions, scientism, socio-biology, and deep ecology. The author does not do this, but operates instead from a variety of standpoints. He places much emphasis on cosmic and biological evolution (the great story), relying heavily on author Brian Swimmes The Story of the Universe. The various aspects are covered at several points throughout the book: for example the Big Bang is dealt with in Chapter 3 and the possibility of an oscillating universe is covered in Chapter 6. A reference to modern psychology is introduced in Chapter 5, with further reference to humanistic psychology in Chapter 8. On the religious side, the authors major thrust is to support the deep ecology movement, which he links with the wisdom of our ancient ancestors and modern indigenous people. He refers extensively to Lovelock and Margulis work, and extends into the political and economic fields with a chapter against Globalization. There is frequent negative reference to the patriarchic principle. There are many references to science, the first of which is perhaps unfortunate: Both science and religion aim at observable, verifiable truths, using different but related methods. He produces persuasive arguments that science tends to destroy hope, but the force of these is marred by his insufficient grasp of basic science (for example he describes a series of elements as chemical substances). The author operates over a wide canvas, and he is to be commended for having made a substantial effort to get to grips with it. But the wide canvas means that the arguments are sketchy. There is no

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convincing argument that the development of agriculture led to patriarchy (recent evidence from Catalhoyuk certainly indicates the goddess cult remained alive and well there). There is no connection made between modern psychologys studies of how our personhood develops in relationships with other persons and the possible relevance of that to seeing God as a person. Instead it is simply asserted (as far as I can see) that we should see God more in the wonder of the physical and biological cosmos. His key message can be summed up as follows: 1. We are raping the earth; 2. We must deal with our modern acquisitiveness; 3. We need a change of attitude. This is very clear. But there are no specifics as to how our attitudes will be changed, only general statements about taking evolution seriously and adjusting our lifestyle accordingly (p. 36) or allowing ourselves to be influenced by its [creations] ingenious wisdom (p. 176). The discussions on science and theology are to some extent ambivalent. Here is a sentence from p. 51, which is located within a discussion of the dualism between science and religion: What is more disturbing is the collusion whereby both sets of wisdom (science and religion) enforce perceptions and values that distort and distract from the inspiring vision of the evolutionary story It may be that I am being over-sensitive, but the use of the word collusion seems designed to show both the scientist and theologian in a poor light. At no point in the book is any serious praise or credit given for the massive effort put in by both professions over the centuries. But the book has undoubted strengths. The author is clearly deeply dissatisfied with the world as it is. He writes a passionate chapter about the state of Africa, praising the innate spirituality of its peoples. He describes the feverish use of the Internet by Filipinos, identifying the power that the information they gain will give them against the excesses of capitalism. Re-reading the above, one might conclude that this book has little to say to us in

ESSSAT. I am not so sure. This is the fourth book by OMurchu. He gets a large number of 5 star reviews in Amazon. There is an audience out there. A detailed analysis of this book (which I intend to undertake) could give us hints about how scientists and theologians might better approach that audience. But I cannot regard the book itself as a good one. Bill Cranston

HONEST TO GENESIS A Biblical Scientific Challenge to Creationism Margaret Gray Towne Baltimore, USA: Publish America (2003) 381 pp. ISBN 1 59286-497-X (pbk) $ 25 The authors main mission is to point out theistic evolution as a way of integrating evolutionary science and Christian faith and to show that there need not be a conflict between the two. She writes for a general public, explaining technical terms in both the scientific and the theological field. The author writes out of the conviction that the creationist conflict is damaging for both the Christian community and for science. The author does make a valuable effort to firstly lay a foundation before starting off for the journey into science and religion. She dedicates pages to fundamental understandings, like the anthropic principle, teleology, the creation doctrine etc. The author goes into ways of critical thinking and into how people choose those who they regard as authorities. She explores the questions at stake in a historical perspective and goes through the basics of biblical study and of evolutionary theory, giving a good account of what science is and is not. The often ill-understood difference between evolutionary science and evolutionary naturalism is explained well. After laying this important ground, the author explores a large number of wellknown controversies between evolutionary science and creationism. She takes on

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questions which are often raised in creationist attacks on science and analyses their substance as well as offering another explanation based on a theistic evolutionary view. She poses questions to creationism and concludes with a chapter on integrating Genesis and evolution. There are though some shortcomings to be mentioned. When the author writes about evolutionary theory she very much focuses on the New Synthesis as it was formulated during the 1970s, seeing natural selection on the individual level as the sole cause of evolutionary change. She makes some reference to the punctuated equilibrium model, developed in the early seventies, but she does not explore the consequences of that model in depth. Later developments, such as hierarchical theories of evolution and multi-level selection, are not explored at all. Neither is research within evolutionary development and its bearing on theology taken into account. In my opinion, those developments in evolutionary theory are offering valuable new perspectives on the relation between evolutionary theory and creation theology. Also, I feel that the author has a rather narrow theological basis. I would say there are more alternatives in theology than the literal fundamentalism she is opposing and the one she is representing herself. The book would have gained if the author had looked upon evolutionary theory from different theological perspectives. I also miss references to the Divine Action Project. Results of that project are not unimportant in this context. When listing the contradictions between the Genesis account and scientific results, the author gives a rather literalistic reading of Genesis herself, presenting some conflicts that need not be there.

Nevertheless, this book offers accessible and good background to educators, pastors, and anyone who is confronted with the supposed conflict between science and Christian faith, and I would surely recommend it to anyone who has to confront questions on these matters and needs an easy-to-read source of information. The book does not offer much new to scholars in the field of Science and Theology, but they are not the audience the author is aiming at. Gerard Willemsen

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Continuation from p. 6
Helmut Reichs new doctorate (contd) In the dissertation Helmut argues that Relational and Contextual Reasoning can be used fruitfully to make intelligible such religious convictions as the creation of the universe, the divine and human nature of Jesus, and freedom and providence. See also his contributions to various ESSSAT publications and his book Developing the Horizons of the Mind: Relational and Contextual Reasoning and the Resolution of Conflict (Cambridge UP, 2002) reviewed in ESSSAT News 12:4. The Dutch academic system allows for the awarding of a doctorate on the basis of a dissertation, without additional exams or residence requirements, and thus made this recognition of his work possible. Congratulations, Helmut!

Wim Drees

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BOOK REVIEW INDEX: Issues 13:4-14:4

This completes the list of recent reviews, begun in the previous issue. Neil Spurway ACHTNER, KUNZ, WALTER ALLINSON ARTIGAS BENNETT, HACKER BERRY BURNE CHURCHLAND CLAYTON, PEACOCKE CLIQU DEANE-DRUMMOND DeWEESE FLORIO GLYNN GRANTN HARRISON HELLER HELRICH (ed) LORIMER (ed) MORLEY NESTERUK OMURCHU PADGETT PEACOCKE PETERS RAYMENT-PICKARD SHULTS TOWNE WALLACE (ed) WATTS ZIMMERLI Dimensions of Time Space, Time and the Ethical Foundations The Mind of the Universe Philosophical Foundations of Neuroscience Gods Book of Works God and Realism Brainwise InWhom We Live and Move and Have Our Being Difference and Parallelism (in German) Creation through Wisdom God and the Nature of Time Trinitarian Map of the World (in Spanish) An Anatomy of Thought Patterns of Care .. Bible, Protestantism and .. Rise of Natural Science Creative Tension A Universe of Ethics, Morality and Hope Science, Consciousness and Ultimate Reality John Macquarries Natural Theology Light from the East Evolutionary Faith Science and the Study of God Creation and the World of Science Science, Theology and Ethics Impossible God: Derridas Theology Reforming Theological Anthropology Honest to Genesis Does God Exist? The Craig-Flew Debate Theology and Psychology Involvement (in German) 13:4 p6 14:1 p18 14:1 p7 13:4 p10 13:4 p8 14:4 p9 13:4 p10 14:4 p7 14:1 p17 14:1 p9 14:4 p11 14:1 p10 13:4 p10 14:1 p15 14:1 p11 14:2 p20 14:2 p21 14:3 p9 14:4 p8 13:4 p4 14:4 p12 14:3 p7 14:2 p20 14:1 p16 14:3 p8 13:4 p9 14:4 p13 14:2 p23 13:4 p9 14:1 p11

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ESSSAT is a scholarly organisation, based in Europe, which aims to promote the study of the relationships between the natural sciences and theological thought.

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President: Prof Dr Willem B Drees, Dept of Theology, Leiden University, P.O. Box 9515, 2300 RA LEIDEN, The Netherlands. Tel: +31 71 5272 580 <w.b.drees@let.leidenuniv.nl> Secretary: Revd Dr Eva-Lotta Grantn, Assessorsvagen 21, 23731 BJARRED, Sweden. Tel: +46 46 294 389 <eva-lotta.granten@teol.lu.se>

Membership Secretary & Treasurer: Mr Chris Wiltsher, 33 Briardene, DURHAM DH1 4QU, UK. Tel: +44 (0) 191 383 1116 Fax/answerphone: +44 (0) 191 386 6315 <esssat@gsmentors.co.uk> Editor of ESSSAT News: Prof Neil Spurway, 76, Fergus Drive, GLASGOW G20 6AP, UK. Tel/answerphone: +44 (0) 141 946 3336 <N.Spurway@bio.gla.ac.uk>