The Big Questions in Science and Religion [Paperback]

Keith Ward (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2008

Can religious beliefs survive in the scientific age? Are they resoundingly outdated? Or is there something in them of great importance, even if the way they are expressed will have to change in the new scientific context? These questions are among those at the core of the science-religion dialogue. In The Big Questions in Science and Religion, Keith Ward, an Anglican minister who was once an atheist, 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: Does the universe have a goal or purpose? Do the laws of nature exclude miracles? Can science provide a wholly naturalistic explanation for moral and religious beliefs? Has science made belief in God obsolete? Are there any good science-based arguments for God? With his expertise in the study of world religions, Ward considers concepts from Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Islam, Hinduism, Judaism and Christianity, while featuring the speculations of cosmologists, physicians, mathematicians, and philosophers. In addition, Ward examines the implications of ancient laws and modern theories and evaluates the role of religious experience as evidence of a nonphysical reality. 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. The diversity of views provides the general reader as well as opinion leaders with unbiased information in the science-religion field.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Ward, an Oxford theologian specializing in the history and philosophy of religion, presents an impressively insightful and well-balanced survey of major questions for science-and-religion dialogue. Ward takes on a wide range of topics, reasoning that if God is the ultimate cause of absolutely everything—we might think that the existence of God must make some difference to how things are. The beginning and end of the universe, the origins and nature of consciousness, and human religious experience all become contact points for discussion between scientific and religious perspectives. Writing as a scholar of world religions, Ward discusses multiple traditions at a level of depth and detail that exceeds the normal standards of the science and religion literature. Atheist and agnostic perspectives also receive a fair hearing, recognized as parties to the conversation rather than merely as rhetorical foils. Throughout, Ward shows a keen ability to recognize variations and distinctions within traditions, while still drawing helpful generalizations such as his conclusion that to believe in God is primarily to believe in the objectivity of value and purpose. (June)
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About the Author

Keith Ward is a fellow of the British Academy, the Regius Professor of Divinity Emeritus at the University of Oxford, an ordained priest of the Church of England, and a member of the Council of the Royal Institute of Philosophy. He holds doctorates of divinity from Cambridge and Oxford. He has been a university lecturer at the Universities of Glasgow, St. Andrews, Cambridge, and London, where he was professor or history and philosophy of religion. The author of more than twenty highly acclaimed books, Ward is particularly interested in comparative theology and the interplay between science and religion. Keith Ward lives in Oxford, England.

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Templeton Press; 2 edition (May 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1599471353
• ISBN-13: 978-1599471358
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #170,465 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must Read, July 25, 2008

By 

J.M. Lanerbach - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Big Questions in Science and Religion (Paperback)

Ward has provided a fair and balanced assesment of current issues in the science/Faith controvesy. This work is scholarly, temperate and best of all HONEST with the data. Because the truth of the matter is that neither atheism nor theism has in its posession a smoking gun. And this is exactly what we would expect if indeed God intention with regard to create was to create an environment for humankind where freewill could in fact flourish untainted and uncoerced by absolute truth's stemming from scientic data. What a previous reviewer interpreted as Ward's attempt to stay neutral so as not to offend anybody, is in reality Ward simply being true to the data which is exactly what scholarship demands. If one desires to read Christian propaganda, then check out the young earth creationist literature. Having the courage and intellectual honesty to be fair with the data is a virtue few authors in this day and age posess. Notwhithstanding the opinions of the previous reviewer, I believe Ward did in fact present in clear and lucid terms what I percieved as the overwhelming evidence for the Christian Faith. Admitting to the fact that the evidence is subject to alternate interpretation is simply a fact and has nothing to do with Ward trying to "not offend" anybody. Ward didn't have to write the book at all, if that were the case. In short the book is great.

12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dense, readable, fascinating and fun to argue about, February 24, 2009

By 

Dennis Littrell (SoCal) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Big Questions in Science and Religion (Paperback)

I very much enjoyed reading this book because Christian theologian and philosopher Keith Ward is that rare person who is not only an expert in his field, the philosophy of religion, but is also very knowledgeable about science and religions other than his own. Such wide knowledge is necessary to presume to write such a book as this, and only a few people could justify the effort. Ward writes without cant and goes to great lengths to air out conflicting points of view. He is as fair to science as one can be who obviously believes in some non-scientific ideas such as the divinity of Jesus, the reality of miracles, and the notion of "purpose" in the universe. He has heard all the arguments and has read all the great names in science and religion and has spent decades thinking about these questions. So regardless of how the individual reader may feel about his conclusions or lack thereof, Ward is clearly worth reading. I believe he has gone a long way in this very interesting book toward clarifying the issues involved, if not in resolving them!

Professor Ward posits ten questions beginning with "How Did the Universe Begin?" through "What is the Nature of Space and Time?" and ending with "Does Science Allow for Revelation and Divine Action?" Each question has a subtext question, e.g., under "How Did the Universe Begin?" Ward asks, "Is There an Ultimate Explanation for the Universe?" Each couplet of questions has its own separate chapter so that there are ten chapters in all.

Sometimes the subtext question changes the enquiry considerably. In Chapter 6, for example, Ward asks, "Is it Still Possible to Speak of the Soul? along with "Does Science Allow the Possibility of Life after Death?" Clearly one may speak of the soul both metaphorically from a psychological point of view and idealistically from a philosophic point of view without bringing science into the discussion at all. But this example illustrates Professor Ward's intent. He, like the Templeton Foundation which sponsored this book, is intent on bringing about a consilience and understanding between science and religion.

I think this is an admirable and absolutely necessary endeavor if humanity is to find peace with itself; and indeed, such a meeting of the minds may be essential for long term human survival. Right now much of the conflict in the world is based on differences between religions or between a religious worldview and one based on empirical science. Unlike Richard Dawkins and others who feel that never the twain shall meet, Ward and the Templeton Foundation believe that science can be made compatible with religion and vice-versa. There is a third view, of course, that science is just another--albeit very powerful--religion itself.

I am brought to a sense of something close to melancholy when I think about the questions being asked in this book. Such questions as "How Will the Universe End?" (Chapter 2) with its subtitle "(Does the Universe Have a Goal or Purpose?)" leave me exasperated, in awe, humbled, and much diminished. I cannot think of a purpose or a goal that the universe may have, but Ward posits the idea that from a religious point of view a purpose might be "to generate many forms of goodness and many beings who can appreciate and create such forms of goodness." (p. 57) From a scientific point of view a goal might have "to do with the increase of knowledge, freedom, and intelligent life." (p. 58) From my point of view, "goodness" is hopelessly anthropomorphic while "freedom" is a puzzle, and "knowledge" and intelligence beg the question of knowledge and intelligence for what? As ends in themselves?

Furthermore it is difficult for me to imagine that we have a real understanding of some of the most basic ideas that necessarily come up in this book, such as infinity, randomness, eternity, the extent of the universe, being, nonbeing, God, etc. The God that is worthy of being the creator of the universe or outside of it or both seems to me to be completely beyond our understanding--which, by the way, is one of the reasons there is the idea of "faith" in religion.

I didn't care much for Ward's dismissal of David Hume's position on miracles, and was surprised at the vehemence he showed toward the great empirical philosopher (see pp. 92-93). I thought Ward misunderstood Hume, almost willfully. Hume's position is clear: when he says that miracles are impossible he means that if it happened, it wasn't a miracle. I don't think Hume contradicted himself. I think the source of Ward's disagreement is in not fully realizing the extent of Hume's empirical realism. Clearly as a Christian Ward wants to believe in miracles, and apparently does.

I also didn't care much for his discussion of time. I think that time has all the reality of a mathematical point and has no existence outside of matter and energy. The same can be said for space, or more properly spacetime. Ward seems to think that time "flows" and has a reality independent of events--or perhaps it is not clear what Ward thinks about time. In fact, so carefully does Ward present the various points of view on the various subjects that sometimes it is not clear where the general or historical view ends and his point of view begins! (Or perhaps I need to read more carefully.) At any rate, in Chapter 5 he writes "I am not opposed to putting logical limitations on divine omnipotence..." (p. 115); but later on intones, "God's acts fall under no general law...God just does not fit into our equations." (p. 264)

Can God square the circle? On the one hand, no, on the other, who are we to put limitations on what God can do? Our logic, Boolean or fuzzy or whatever, is surely a frail thing with which to constrain the might of an ineffable God.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Worthwhile, but pro-religious and pro-Christian bias is evident, January 18, 2011

By 

Irfan A. Alvi (Towson, MD USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Big Questions in Science and Religion (Paperback)

Keith Ward is a professor of philosophy of religion, and has decades of experience in contemplating the big questions of science and religion. As a result, this book is probing, precise, and dense, to the extent that Ward presents some genuinely useful insights and arguments which were new to me.

However, although he's a former atheist, he's now an Anglican minister, which raises concern about potential bias. And, indeed, I did find that he has two such biases (whether he's aware of it or not). First, he's a bit too "easy" on religion, in the sense of not presenting anti-religious arguments with full force, and also not addressing some fairly obvious counterarguments to his pro-religious arguments. Secondly, while he purports to cover all of the world's major religions, there's clearly extra attention given to the Abrahamic religions, especially Christianity. This said, I did find Ward to be fair in his treatment of science and his criticism of scientism, and he generally gets the science right, although the accuracy of some elements of his understanding of relativity theory seems questionable.

A more general criticism is that, while Ward discusses potential ultimate purposes of God and humans, these purposes are rather vague, and to the extent that they have any clarity, he doesn't seem to be aware that they're also rather hedonistic. More specifically, if you look at any religion (or other proposed metaphysical system), you see purposes such as union with an ultimate consciousness, escape from suffering, tranquility, bliss, physical pleasure, perfect knowledge, etc. Are any of these purposes really satisfying and noble answers to why we and the universe exist? I think not. If the claimed ultimate purpose is just some form of deferred, intense, and perhaps permanent state of self-gratification, but this outcome isn't guaranteed, why not just pursue maximum self-gratification in this life? To me, any belief system centered on self-gratification, whether deferred or not, seems disturbingly shallow.

In the end, rather than moving us towards answers, I think this book may do more to bring out the profound mystery entailed by our existence. That leaves us room to speculate about the existence and nature of a transcendent reality (surely there's more to reality than meets the eye or falls within the scope of science!), but I don't find Ward's implicit Christian hypothesis to be plausible.