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God and ScienceGod and Science A commendable feature of this book is that it is written with the conviction that the Lordship of Christ is relevant to the world of science and that Christians need to be active in this area as much as any other. Both authors found it appropriate to contribute personal testimonies to accompany their various arguments and explanations. David Wilkinson's background in theoretical astrophysics makes his experience particularly interesting. He used to regard the Big Bang as an event caused by God. He thought it was a 'knock-down' proof of God. Then Stephen Hawking applied quantum theory to the Big Bang and effectively dispensed with the "first cause" argument. This came as a crushing blow to Wilkinson, but he eventually concluded that he had held a version of the discredited 'god-of-the-gaps' argument. He realised that he ought not to seek for God's activity in the 'gaps' but rather emphasise the sovereignty of God in sustaining his creation. Hence, this book seeks to avoid any view of science, and particularly origins science, which involves gaps in natural causation. The authors offer no alternative scientific account of origins to that 'generally accepted by any science faculty'. Despite acknowledged difficulties, the Big Bang cosmology and the evolutionary accounts of biological origins are presented as 'our best picture at the moment'. Consequently, for the Christian, science provides answers to 'How?' questions and the Bible provides answers to 'Why?' questions. Science gives us mechanisms and Christ brings meaning, purpose and wonder. In essence, this book commends a position known as 'Theistic Evolution'. Inherent in this position is a view of science that allows it to have considerable autonomy. It is God's revelation in nature. The scientific method is common to people of all faiths (or none) and it leads to a 'tightening grip on reality'. If this is the approach that you want to know more about then this book should be of interest. It aims to provide a Christ-centred perspective of this view of science. What the book does not do is interact in any meaningful way with the work of other Christian philosophers of science and scientists who take a different position. These people challenge the concept of an autonomous science. They similarly challenge the old 'god-of-the-gaps' style of argument but come to radically different conclusions. In brief, intelligent design necessarily breaks down the chain of mechanistic causation: a potter produces artefacts from clay that cannot emerge apart from the intelligent control of materials and processes. Similarly, a biblically based approach to origins must necessarily have an Intelligent Designer. There is a rapidly growing Christian literature advocating a radically different perspective from that offered by Wilkinson and Frost. To gain a meaningful understanding of these ideas, readers will have to look elsewhere. David J. Tyler© Evangelicals Now - July 2000 |