The Limitations of Scientific Truth: Why Science Can't Answer Life's Ultimate Questions [Paperback]

Nigel Brush (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 3, 2005

Brush examines the inherent limitations of scientific truth and reveals why biblical truth offers the only authority that can be completely trusted on issues of eternal consequence. (20060901)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Brush argues clearly, concisely and convincingly that science has its limitations. Brush does not attack science or disprove science. In fact, he affirms the great value of science. But, Brush points out that science is unable to answer life's ultimate questions: 'Why am I here?' . . . .The Limitations of Scientific Truth will assist the believer to properly understand the value and role of modern science." (Chris Reeves Book Marks )

"Brush seeks to eliminate the fear of science for the Christian, and instead to offer the alternative perspective of science as a tool. He makes a great case for scientific value while noting that science does not provide absolute truth, is not superior truth, and should not dictate doctrine. There is something for everyone in this book. It's a great study book, a challenging read, and a perfect resource for discussion and detail." (Carolyn R. Scheidies Author's Choice Reviews )

Brush has given us a primer on scientific data from astronomy, to biology, to quantum theory, to cosmology, and other areas. His book is a wonderful resource to have at one's fingertips. He has also given to me, a new assurance, a stronger affirmation that the Word of God is with us to assist into the journey of absolute truth as no other evidence can. Science and philosophy can assist us on the journey, but it is only the Word of God that can truly bring us to the absolute truth: God is found in Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit of the Living God. Do we need to fear science and philosophy? No! When it is understood that they are tools, and servants of God to help us to know truth, then there is nothing to fear. Christians need to remember, all truth is truth from God, no matter where that truth is found. Thus, we are liberated. Science is not a threat to our faith, because the evidence shows that science cannot produce absolute. truth. I hope that Brush's book is well received and that the word is spread about this work. It is truly worth the reading and the sharing and the confidence that will grow in the believer's life from spending time with this marvelous work. (G. Edward Wishart Ashland Theological Journal 2006 )

From the Back Cover

“Science is a process of searching for the truth, and there are few things more certain in science than the fact that as the process continues, current theories will be revised and eventually abandoned in favor of new theories.”

—From the Preface

The “sky is the limit” achievements of science are mind-boggling, impressive, and, for many, seem to be convincing proof that science is the final authority—even over biblical truth. Many Christians, secretly concerned that it knows something we don’t, find the claims of science unsettling.

In this clear, thoughtful book, scientist Nigel Brush confronts these fears with an evaluative look at science’s limitations—temporal, logical, cultural, spatial, and empirical—and develops a more realistic model of what kind of “truth” science can legitimately provide. While affirming its great value, Brush exposes science’s shifting foundations and its inability to answer life’s ultimate question: why am I here? Only the Bible can answer metaphysical questions like this with reliable, unchanging truth.

“This is a long overdue check on contemporary scientism which put unfounded fear into Christians who often struggle unnecessarily to reconcile their faith with the changing science of the day.”

—Norman Geisler
President, Southern Evangelical Seminary

“In a concise and direct manner, archeologist-anthropologist Nigel Brush has effectively removed the underpinnings from the widespread belief that the natural sciences provide the only legitimate avenue to ultimate truth. . . . Christians who read the book will overcome the fear that Christian faith will somehow be discredited by the next scientific discovery.”

—Davis A. Young
Emeritus, Professor of Geology, Calvin College

Nigel Brush (Ph.D., UCLA) is an assistant professor of geology at Ashland University in Ohio. A committed Christian and scientist, he has conducted archaeological, geological, and environmental fieldwork in England, Canada, New York, Ohio, and California.

(20070301)

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Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Kregel Publications (October 3, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0825422531
• ISBN-13: 978-0825422539
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #429,477 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Come now. Let us reason together., December 6, 2005

By 

P. Zubel (Grand Rapids, MI USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Limitations of Scientific Truth: Why Science Can't Answer Life's Ultimate Questions (Paperback)

If you're looking for a book that proves science is bunk, this book is not it. Far from indicting science, the author, Nigel Brush, is himself a scientist-and a Christian. Nor is Limitations an attempt to reconcile science and religion. Such attempts, as Brush explains, have, in fact, failed.

Rather, Limitations is more like an invitation: "Come now. Let us reason together." The book lauds the accomplishments of science, but in logical, organized, and well-documented arguments, educates the reader about the six areas in which science faces obstacles in arriving at ultimate truth. Limitations informs the reader why science has failed to answer the ultimate question, "What is the purpose and meaning of life?"

Because this book assumes the existence of a Creator, some might assume it is anti-intellectual. Hardly. The text, while scaled to the lay-reader, at times offers weighty reading, especially in its discussion of the history of science as well as scientific concepts. Illustrations on pages 148 and 150 help to clarify the electromagnetic spectrum and Planck' quanta, but these terms alone give you a clue that this is not a book to breeze through over a few evenings before bedtime.

Limitations offers a serious investigation into what science has to say about topics from the birth of the universe to the elemental building blocks of life. I found a particular discussion starting about page 150 through155 to be startling. Science in its investigation of the microuniverse has discovered something quite amazing. The properties of subatomic particles may bring to some readers' minds, as it did to mine, the character and attributes of deity!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Finally!, December 18, 2005

By 

LKayH (Lakewood, CO United States) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Limitations of Scientific Truth: Why Science Can't Answer Life's Ultimate Questions (Paperback)

I haven't quite finished this book, but I've read enough to be excited about it, and I wanted to post my review before Christmas. If you're looking for the perfect gift for someone who is interested in both science and religion, this may be it.

As someone who has been in turns confused and frustrated by the often needlessly polarized debate between science and religion, I can barely express my gratitude to Dr. Nigel Brush for finally giving us a book that looks at both fields with objectivity and honesty. Christians are often deeply distressed when individuals in the scientific fields falsely claim that science has disproven the teaching of the Bible, and even the existence of God. Dr. Brush exposes why science is actually not qualified to make such pronouncements. Moreover, scientific truth is a moving target; the "facts" tend to change as more information is discovered and examined. But no more can religion replace or disprove the truths that science is uniquely qualified to explore, and any study of Christian history will reveal that certain supposed Scriptural truths have also turned out to be a manefestation of flawed interpretation.

Despite the profound biases and dogmatism that can be found on both sides of this debate, Dr. Brush proposes a detente of sorts, which would recognize the advantages and limitations of both religion and science. Ideally, we should be able to benefit from the truths that are found in each field without the fear and polarization that currently limit both sides. It's refreshing to encounter a thoughtful, well-written book that helps us to do just that.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thought provoking and profound; hard to put down, December 15, 2005

By 

Dale R. Meade ",Ph.D." (Bogotá, Colombia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Limitations of Scientific Truth: Why Science Can't Answer Life's Ultimate Questions (Paperback)

This excellent book stands alone in that it neither attacks the genre of science nor does it resort to polemics of some in the religious field in considering the issue of ultimate truth. Instead this book is a rather perspicacious analysis which honestly ponders the great accomplishments of science together with the limitations of the methodology and the cultural nature of the interpretations which are used to give meaning to the observable facts.

Limitations of Scientific Truth is a thoughtful book that points out the detrimental nature of a far too common tendency towards excess and overstatement by some in both fields; that of science and of religion. As a Christian and a scientist, Dr. Brush encourages both extremes to tone down the rhetoric and to honestly consider the value that each body of knowledge has to offer. He could well be considered an apt apologist and faithful friend by each side of the debate.

As an educator, I took notice that Dr. Brush succintly points out that the constantly changing "truth" offered in science should at very least give us pause. In one class I took the textbook was updated every year with no buyback because the text used the previous year was already outdated and considered too flawed for the current course. The "science" I learned many years ago in high school is now considered an embarrassing chapter in ancient history by the science of today. Something that is in such a constant state of flux must be presented with the humbling realization that there are significant limitations to the "truth" discovered and presented by science, just as there are serious limitations to the "truth" presented in personal and cultural interpretations of religious truth.

In the area of my own expertise, Intercultural Studies, Dr. Brush makes an excellent point in calling attention to the cultural bias that have been formed in each person as part of his or her upbringing and academic formation. He makes an excellent point when he states that we even determine the answers we get by the very questions we ask or the means in which we structure an experiment; a fact which has humbled many in my field as the studied subject of today becomes the educated observer and emic commentator of tomorrow. Limitations of Scientific Truth is a "word to the wise" that any thoughtful individual would disregard at considerable risk, regardless of his or her field of study and interest.

In the end, Dr. Brush makes it clear that science, while having limitations, can enrich the study of religious truth, just as Biblical insight has for centuries enriched and guided the field of science. I recommend this book as a fascinating read that I am sure you will find as hard to put down as I did.