Keith Ward, The Big Questions in Science and Religion (West Conshohocken, PA: Templeton Foundation Press, 2008), 281 Pps., $16.95.
Keith Ward is a fellow of the British Academy, the Regius Professor of Divinity Emeritus at the University of Oxford, and an ordained priest of the Church of England. He has doctorates of divinity from Cambridge and Oxford Universities. He has lectured at the universities of Glasgow, St. Andrews, Cambridge, and London, and written more than twenty acclaimed books. Comparative theology and the interplay between science and faith are two of his main topics of interest. In this title, Ward seeks to answer the question of whether religious beliefs can survive in the scientific age. Is there something in religious beliefs of great importance, even if the way they are expressed will have to change given new scientific context?
This book assumes that the scientific account of reality is essentially correct, though subject to possible revision. Ward notes that virtually all of science has had to be rethought in the twenty-first century, which has carried with it important implications for philosophy and religion. Religious beliefs, he asserts cannot remain pre-modern in a (post)modern society, or they will fail to answer the questions of the day. But the question is then raised, ‘can theological beliefs survive at all in a scientific age?’. Ward contends that they can survive, and in fact thrive, as long as they are modified. After all, theological beliefs have historically been formulated in accordance with the best available knowledge at the time, so it is logical to do the same today. However, Ward acknowledges that there are distinctive core beliefs of religion that contribute to human knowledge quite differently from scientific knowledge. Chief among these, Ward contends, is the fact that there is a non-physical reality that is of supreme value and that humans can become aware of it.
Ward offers compelling insights into the often contentious relationship between diverse religious views and new scientific knowledge. He identifies ten basic questions about the nature of the universe and human life. Among these are: ‘Is there an ultimate explanation of the universe?’, ‘Is evolution compatible with creation?’, ‘Do the laws of nature exclude miracles?’, ‘Is science the only sure path to truth?’, and ‘Are there any good science-based arguments for God?’. More pointedly, in chapter one, Ward recounts three generally perceived problems with the account of origins as portrayed in Genesis: 1) the existence and prevalence of evil, 2) the seeming purposelessness of biological evolution, and 3)the account does not in fact solve the problem of origins, but merely pushes the problem back one more step – to God. Although not breaking any new ground in his answers to these questions, he nevertheless notes that the stories found in Genesis were perhaps the best way to relate the intent of the authors in a prescientific age (30). In his discussion of evolution and creation (chapter three), Ward notes that perhaps evolution makes us more aware of the necessity of waste and pain to the overall process of increasingly complexity (64). As such, invoking Peacocke (2001), Ward claims that God is the great Improviser, setting up a system in which chance and necessity interplay so that the full gamut of potentialities of matter could be explored (75).
Notably, in chapter four, Ward claims that God is able to instantiate nonphysical causality (i.e. the ‘miraculous’) in such a manner that the result could not be explained by any law of nature (101). In so arguing, he contends that Hume’s argument against the possibility of miracles is not at all convincing. In addressing the question of whether science is the only pathway to truth (chapter seven), Ward asserts that science is essentially silent on the genuineness of religious experience, because it is difficult to devise empirical tests of religious experiences (190). Thus, religious experience may indeed be a source of truth. In chapter nine, Ward avers that the hypothesis of God is ‘vastly’ preferable to the postulate of pure chance operating in evolution (240).
Writing with enthusiasm, passion, and clarity, Keith Ward conveys the depth, difficulty, intellectual excitement, and importance of the greatest intellectual and existential questions of the modern scientific age. Although not a scientist, Ward demonstrates much knowledge regarding the challenges that science (may) poses to religious accounts of reality, insomuch as even those who are scientists (such as myself) will find that this book is not a tome against science, but an attempt to bring science in dialogue with religion instead. I think that this book will be appreciated by those with knowledge of the continuing dialogue between science and religion, as well as those who are serious about taking-on important issues that face our world today. Most religious readers will have to reflect upon some cherished ideas and beliefs, but will be richly rewarded if they persevere through the book. In sum, I heartily recommend this title for graduate and post-graduate students of philosophy.
Bradford McCall
Regent University, Virginia Beach, VA.