Science and Religion at the Crossroads (Societas) [Paperback]

 

 

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Science and Religion at the Crossroads by Frank Parkinson, Imprint Academic, 2009, 162 ff


The way ahead in the science and religion debate?

by Howard A. Jones (Carmarthen, Wales UK)
Real name

The title of this book, though accurate, does not do justice to the scope of the material within its pages. The `science' embraces physics, cosmology, biology and neurology, while the `religion' includes both social and psychological aspects and its interrelation with science. It is a collection of essays with the overall aim of trying to forge attitudes within both science and religion that will lead to some kind of meaningful dialogue that enhances human life.

In the first essay, the author is urging a metanoia, a change of consciousness, through both religious and scientific education, properly directed towards cohesion and holism, instead of reinforcing fundamentalism and division. In The Dawkins Phenomenon essay, the author points up the shortcomings of this attitude of scientism - strangely more prevalent in the life sciences than in physics - that only the criteria of scientific investigation can give us meaningful knowledge of the world, even of the human world. The next essay presents the other side of the dichotomy. Any intelligent, honest survey of religion accepts that the whole basis of Christianity is founded on a succession of myths created by the Church Fathers. If scripturally based religion is to be respected it must take account both of its historical origins and of the discoveries of science over the past four hundred years. For example, to insist on a six-thousand-year-old Earth in the face of more than a century of geological data is just nonsensical.

The final part of the book comprises two essays, the first of which, From Pantheism to Entheism, discusses the notion of `the death of the self', found perhaps most strongly in Christianity and Buddhism. `Entheism' is a neologism coined by the author to express his concept of the unifying spirituality within that needs to replace the concept of a vengeful God without, who needs to be obeyed and praised. Such a spiritual energy or consciousness is entirely compatible with the science of mind as we know it today and with the deity of many religions. The final short essay is a summary of the main thesis of the book.

There is a combination of a breadth and depth of learning here that is rarely found in academic books today because of the demand for specialisation. That said, this degree of learning does not make the book in any way difficult to read. On the contrary, the author has a very approachable literary style as befits a teacher of linguistics and the book's several ideas are all clearly explained. It is to be recommended to any student of the science and religion interface.

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