A Thoughtful Book
I've just finished two non-fiction books that I've been reading off and on for the past few months. Since the topics follow from previous blog posts this is my opportunity to pick up my blog again and perhaps get back to writing (in the interests of posting something for my one or two occasional readers!!).
The first book is a good antidote to Richard Dawkins The God Delusion. It's The Language of God:A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief." Published in 2006, author Francis Collins has written a sincere and thoughtful book, quite the opposite of Dawkins' ranting and angry statement. Collins, head of the Human Genome Project, a very respected scientist in DNA research, came to a belief in God very gradually. I quite agree with Collins that belief in God will never come in the form of proofs; it ultimately rests on faith. And yet, I agree with Collins that it is a rational, plausible and even quite probable choice. What arguments for God are most telling for Collins?
For Collins, one of the most telling factors for belief in God is wonder: all humans seem to have a built-in universal longing for the sacred, something outside of themselves, and humanity (without knowing from whence it comes) seems to have a sense of right and wrong - the moral law. I'm reminded of Immanual Kant's phrase: "two things do incline the heart to wonder - the starry sky above and the moral law within." Humans often experience through an altruistic love agape - the knowledge that something was "meant to be," that we were meant to be there for another person, perhaps a stranger, to assist and help through acts of lovingkindness that expect no return.
Collins quotes from many people I admire, among them Annie Dillard. I love Collins' quote from one of Dillard's essays: "What have we been doing all these centuries but trying to call God back to the mountain, or failing that, trying to raise a peep out of anything that isn't us?" Dillard seems to be saying that the primitive worldview found God or "the holy" in the natural world everywhere; advanced civilizations lose that view but still the search continues - we seem to have a spiritual need, a reflex that is not content to exist in materialism only. What's it all about? We long for "The More". There are many ways to voice this impulse: the Christian might say "my soul is restless until it rests in Thee."
Collins is very much like Dawkins when he writes his scientific material. You can see that both are at home in their fields of expertise, and not only knowledgeable and sure, but passionate and excited about evolutionary biology and genetics. I thoroughly enjoyed reading the science in both books! Unlike Dawkins who goes to great lengths to keep science and religion at arm's length, Collins, not surprisingly, makes many connections between the scientific and spiritual realms. For example, when Collins writes of the beautiful mathematical equations which describe the natural world, he notes that we may even think of this beauty and complexity as "God's language," its elegance a source of the awe and wonder that we so associate with God.
How is evolution dealt with by Collins? Like Dawkins, Collins is definitely an evolutionist and he cautions against those who deny scientific fact in favour of literally using the Bible to date the earth's development in terms of centuries rather than eons. These people not only deny science but make it more difficult for the rational argument for religion to be accepted. And yet, since we don't know how and when the world began there is no reason not to suppose that it was set in motion by a creator God. Logically, the Big Bang requires a creator - physicists can explain everything that happened from the micro second of the Big Bang forward; they cannot explain that extremely tiny instant of beginning. Collins is at pains to explain that having an element of mystery in how the world began is not, of itself, a good reason for belief in God; better reasons are in the unfolding of creation with a seeming sense of purpose and with precision and with the care of an active presence that is very much involved with us.
I liked the Collins book (although perhaps not as much fun as reading Dawkins!). But he is balanced in his approach and seeks a both/and view of science and religion. "Science is not the only way of knowing. The spiritual worldview provides another way of finding truth." I couldn't agree more.
The first book is a good antidote to Richard Dawkins The God Delusion. It's The Language of God:A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief." Published in 2006, author Francis Collins has written a sincere and thoughtful book, quite the opposite of Dawkins' ranting and angry statement. Collins, head of the Human Genome Project, a very respected scientist in DNA research, came to a belief in God very gradually. I quite agree with Collins that belief in God will never come in the form of proofs; it ultimately rests on faith. And yet, I agree with Collins that it is a rational, plausible and even quite probable choice. What arguments for God are most telling for Collins?
For Collins, one of the most telling factors for belief in God is wonder: all humans seem to have a built-in universal longing for the sacred, something outside of themselves, and humanity (without knowing from whence it comes) seems to have a sense of right and wrong - the moral law. I'm reminded of Immanual Kant's phrase: "two things do incline the heart to wonder - the starry sky above and the moral law within." Humans often experience through an altruistic love agape - the knowledge that something was "meant to be," that we were meant to be there for another person, perhaps a stranger, to assist and help through acts of lovingkindness that expect no return.
Collins quotes from many people I admire, among them Annie Dillard. I love Collins' quote from one of Dillard's essays: "What have we been doing all these centuries but trying to call God back to the mountain, or failing that, trying to raise a peep out of anything that isn't us?" Dillard seems to be saying that the primitive worldview found God or "the holy" in the natural world everywhere; advanced civilizations lose that view but still the search continues - we seem to have a spiritual need, a reflex that is not content to exist in materialism only. What's it all about? We long for "The More". There are many ways to voice this impulse: the Christian might say "my soul is restless until it rests in Thee."
Collins is very much like Dawkins when he writes his scientific material. You can see that both are at home in their fields of expertise, and not only knowledgeable and sure, but passionate and excited about evolutionary biology and genetics. I thoroughly enjoyed reading the science in both books! Unlike Dawkins who goes to great lengths to keep science and religion at arm's length, Collins, not surprisingly, makes many connections between the scientific and spiritual realms. For example, when Collins writes of the beautiful mathematical equations which describe the natural world, he notes that we may even think of this beauty and complexity as "God's language," its elegance a source of the awe and wonder that we so associate with God.
How is evolution dealt with by Collins? Like Dawkins, Collins is definitely an evolutionist and he cautions against those who deny scientific fact in favour of literally using the Bible to date the earth's development in terms of centuries rather than eons. These people not only deny science but make it more difficult for the rational argument for religion to be accepted. And yet, since we don't know how and when the world began there is no reason not to suppose that it was set in motion by a creator God. Logically, the Big Bang requires a creator - physicists can explain everything that happened from the micro second of the Big Bang forward; they cannot explain that extremely tiny instant of beginning. Collins is at pains to explain that having an element of mystery in how the world began is not, of itself, a good reason for belief in God; better reasons are in the unfolding of creation with a seeming sense of purpose and with precision and with the care of an active presence that is very much involved with us.
I liked the Collins book (although perhaps not as much fun as reading Dawkins!). But he is balanced in his approach and seeks a both/and view of science and religion. "Science is not the only way of knowing. The spiritual worldview provides another way of finding truth." I couldn't agree more.
posted by mamie @ 12:28 PM
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