Courtney McGrailInventing the Universe: Why We Can’t Stop Talking About Science, Faith and God
by Alister McGrath
(Hodder & Stoughton, £20.00)
Christopher Moriarty
Many scientists are inspired by the atheistic creed of Richard Dawkins. Others, reckoned to be an equal number, are irritated. Members of both camps admire Dawkins’s skills as a popular writer and his achievements in science.
He is one of a number of scientists and philosophers who make a case for the supremacy of science, and ridicule in particular all who believe that there is more to creation than has yet been demonstrated or explained by the scientific method.
Alister McGrath is the Andreas Professor of Science and Religion at Oxford University – a title which embraces the theme of this book that, far from being incompatible, the two belief sets complement each other and both are essential in our search for enlightenment.
The average scientific worker who accepts religion is well aware of this, but few have found the time to read the wealth of erudite literature which supports their belief. McGrath, in a very readable, entertaining, and remarkably straightforward 200 pages, not only sets out the arguments but supports his statements with extensive quotations and a reading list.
The author’s own life and career has spanned the duo. In his teens he became a convert to a rugged atheism in the belief that it was the only rational belief. With a qualification in biochemistry he worked for some years in scientific research before leaving the laboratory bench for the world of philosophical and theological literature.
He had discovered as a young man that, while the discipline of science is the appropriate tool for showing how the universe – living and non-living – works, its confines of logic and rationality prevent it from demonstrating whence and why. For as long as we have had records of the thought processes of humanity, it has been clear that human beings have been concerned – greatly concerned – with these latter questions.
The scientific method has a history of 4,000 years or more, although various societies over periods of varying length have suppressed it. Science gained an ascendancy in western countries following the ‘Enlightenment’ of the late 18th Century.
Philosophy and religion continued in parallel with science, with some participants in each of the three fields attempting to demonstrate that theirs was the supreme or even the sole meaningful approach to understanding the human condition.
The book is written in part as a personal narrative, but supports its thesis with marvellously entertaining invective and skilful undermining of the theories of those who hold narrow views on the evolution of human thought and achievement.
McGrath uses the writings of many – not excluding Dawkins – to demonstrate how science and the other disciplines serve to explain various aspects of creation from different angles. All of them are meaningful and all are needed if understanding is ever to be achieved.
The claim that any one of them covers all aspects is irrational. Not only does it fail to stand up to logical argument, it also narrows our vision. The author, over the years, rediscovered his Christianity and found that it led to a profoundly enhanced personal life – while allowing him to continue to respect the achievements of science and logic.