Oracles of Science: Celebrity Scientists versus God and Religion [Hardcover]

Karl Giberson (Author), Mariano Artigas (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 28, 2006

Biologists Stephen Jay Gould, Richard Dawkins, and Edward O. Wilson, and physicists Carl Sagan, Stephen Hawking, and Steven Weinberg have become public intellectuals, articulating a much larger vision for science and what role it should play in the modern worldview. The scientific prestige and literary eloquence of each of these great thinkers combine to transform them into what can only be called oracles of science. Curiously, the leading "oracles of science" are predominantly secular in ways that don't reflect the distribution of religious beliefs within the scientific community. Many of them are even hostile to religion, creating a false impression that science as a whole is incompatible with religion. Karl Giberson and Mariano Artigas offer an informed analysis of the views of these six scientists, carefully distinguishing science from philosophy and religion in the writings of the oracles.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The authors make a good case for how the misuse of science to advance philosophical and quasi-religious or antireligious ideas fails to reckon with the limitations of science...The book is highly recommended." --Journal of the American Scientific Affiliation

"Six great science luminaries antagonistic to religious belief, among the most distinguished and best known scientists of our times, are subjected to scrutiny. The portrayal of their ideas is accurate and insightful, as well as fair. The criticisms are, by and large, gentle, but pointed. Will you be convinced? Read on. You'll be glad you did. You'll learn much and be prepared to make your own determination." --Francisco J. Ayala, University Professor at the University of California, Irvine, recipient of the 2001 National Medal of Science, and author of Darwin and Intelligent Design

"One of our modern values is freedom of thought in philosophy, theology, and science as well, despite the perennial turf wars between all three. This concise biographical study, both sympathetic and critical, shows how six celebrity scientists have muddled these boundaries, using their eminence and literary skill to debunk traditional religion. Though this is a story of science "oracles" trespassing on theology's turf, it also cautions believers against a similar abuse of science." --Larry Witham, journalist and author of Where Darwin Meets the Bible

"Few writers have poured more fuel on the recent science-religion controversies than such religion-bashers as Richard Dawkins, Carl Sagan, and Stephen Weinberg. In six perky profiles two Christian scholars critically, but fairly, examine the anti-religious claims of these and other scientific "oracles," finding them no more "scientific" than the mutterings of creationists."" --Ronald L. Numbers, author of The Creationists: From Scientific Creationism to Intelligent Design

About the Author

Karl Giberson is Professor of Physics at Eastern Nazarene College in Quincy, MA. For years he served as editor in chief of both Science & Theology News and Science & Spirit. Widely published in science and religion, Oracles of Science is his third book in this area.
Mariano Artigas is Professor of Philosophy of Science at the University of Navarra in Pamplona, Spain. He holds Ph.D.'s both in physics and in philosophy, and is a Roman Catholic priest. Oracles of Science is his fourteenth book on the relationship between science, philosophy, and religion.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (December 28, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195310721
• ISBN-13: 978-0195310726
• Product Dimensions: 6.1 x 1 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,963,723 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Karl Giberson (1957, New Brunswick, Canada) is an internationally known scholar, speaker, and writer. He holds a PhD in Physics from Rice University. Dr. Giberson has lectured on science-and-religion at the Vatican, Oxford University, London's Thomas Moore Institute, and at many prestigious American venues including MIT, Brigham Young University and Xavier University.

Dr. Giberson has published more than 200 reviews and essays, both technical and popular, in outlets that include NY Times, CNN.com, the Guardian, USA Today, LA Times and Salon.com. He has written or co-authored 9 books, and contributed to many edited volumes. In addition to his published works, Karl is a regular contributor to the public dialogue on Science and Faith. He has appeared as a guest on NPR's Morning Edition and Talk of the Nation as well as other radio programs. He also blogs at The Huffington Post where his articles have generated thousands of comments and are frequently featured.

From 1984 to 2011, Dr. Giberson was a professor at Eastern Nazarene College (ENC) where he received numerous recognitions and awards. From 2007 to 2010 he headed the Forum on Faith at Science at Gordon College. For 3 years, ending in 2009 he was the program director for the prestigious Venice Summer School on Science & Religion. Currently, Dr. Giberson teaches writing, and science-and-religion in the Cornerstone Program at Stonehill College. Karl also lectures at universities, churches and other venues across the country and is working on his 10th book, due for publication in 2014.

Karl enjoys writing in his gazebo, listening to Bob Dylan, watching re-runs of Star Trek the Next Generation, and drinking Diet Coke.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Oracles of Science. September 22, 2008

By Wesley L. Janssen VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

Authors Giberson and Artigas are both physicists; both are professors, writers, and philosophers. Artigas is a Roman Catholic priest as well. In this volume they examine the popular and extra-scientific, philosophical assertions of six scientists of prominence at the close of the twentieth century: Richard Dawkins, Stephen Jay Gould, Stephen Hawking, Carl Sagan, Steven Weinberg, and E.O. Wilson. At the time the book was published (2002), two of these "celebrity scientists" (Sagan and Gould) had rather recently passed away. But the six share some obvious commonality, in that (a) they have been genuine celebrities to an extent that few scientists are, and (b) that they have each been keen on imparting their ideas about religion and theology to a public that sometimes construes these assertions as being somehow `scientific.' The book immediately elicited my interest, because I've read all of these scientists (as compared to the rest, more of Hawking and less of Weinberg).

What these men have [often famously] had to say about religion and theism, and how logically consistent and scientifically relevant their religion-oriented, or theism-oriented, assertions are, is what interests the authors in this volume. The six cannot be painted with one brush, and they are not (Dawkins is famously an impassioned popularizer of atheism who fashions himself "a devil's chaplain," Wilson is a deist; Weinberg's views are close to Dawkins', Gould's views not too distant from Wilson's, with Sagan and Hawking ideologically located between those views). Each is treated with respect and each is given an ample hearing, that is, through his writings and/or interviews, each states his individual views at some length.

Each installment here stands alone, so to speak, and there is surprisingly little overlap. The sections examining each of the "celebrity scientists" are independent treatises and can be read in any order, if, for example, a reader is interested in certain of these figures and perhaps not others. This reader consumed the book in the classic front-to-back manner, and recommends the same. The authors proceed precisely as scientists engaged with examinable ideas should--dissecting those ideas and propositions without either unwarranted personality veneration or undue castigation of the people who offer those ideas. Dawkins' famous atheological assertions are easily enough eviscerated without belittling Dawkins himself. It's a curious fact that Weinberg's Nobel Prize has functioned as something of a platform for his public excursions into atheistic assertions/apologetics, while Abdus Salam's theism (he won the physics Nobel the same year) has not similarly been artificially strapped to theistic bombast.

Giberson and Artigas are careful, fair, respectful, informed, appropriately skeptical, dispassionate, and even gracious. This is definitely a rewarding and informative book for anyone interested in philosophy of science.

13 of 17 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Unwarranted trespassing? December 20, 2007

By Niklas Anderberg

Format:Hardcover

`Oracles of Science' is a good book. No doubt Giberson and Artigas are knowledgeable scientists and they argue their case with care and subtlety. There are however a few reservations to be made.
Firstly, I find the major idea of the book unconvincing. In criticizing the popular books by Dawkins, Gould, Hawking, Sagan, Weinberg and Wilson, they assert that scientists should not be allowed to `trespass' into other areas than their science proper. There is a lot of talk about unwarranted conclusions, improper speculations and the well-known `naturalistic fallacy'. But these are popular science books and why on earth should the authors be prohibited to philosophize and speculate about god knows what (pun intended)? That, in my opinion, is precisely what makes these books so interesting - and successful. The authors are not abusing science, they are just putting forward their personal opinions. If that were not the case the books would make for boring reading indeed.
Which leads to the second reservation. It seems to me that whenever there is critique of religion and faith, believers easily get their feelings hurt. Giberson and Artigas talk of hostility to God, vicious attacks on religion and so forth as if it were a deadly sin. They portray some of the authors as being either simpletons or `evolution evangelists' and `secular priests'. `Weinberg is simply pontificating from his platform of prestige, without seriously engaging these difficult issues' p. 184. Do I sense a little professional jealousy here?
Thirdly, I'd like to say something about the quotation on p. 14. where Richard Dawkins is charging that people who don't believe in evolution are `stupid, wicked or insane'. They had to dig deep to find that, but it's all there on the Internet. The quotation comes from a book review in the New York Times from 1989 (!). In a discussion of whether creationism should be given equal time in biology classes as evolution, Dawkins says: `...if you meet somebody who claims not to believe in evolution, that person is ignorant, stupid or insane (or wicked, but I'd rather not consider that).' The next sentence is: `If that gives you offence, I'm sorry.'
I always thought that when you quote something, you must be absolutely certain that the quotation is correct. But maybe, like Dawkins, I'm also becoming a museum piece (p. 52).
Lastly, on the back cover journalist Larry Witham claims that this book also cautions believers against a similar abuse (i.e. trespassing) of science. Well, I'm sorry but I must have missed out on that - maybe the meticulous reader can find some references to that effect.
These qualms aside, `Oracles of Science' is a serious and thought-provoking book, well worth reading.

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Comprehensive and thoughtful survey of the celebrity/atheist/scientists August 24, 2008

By Rick Grace

Format:Hardcover

Giberson and Artigas critique adeptly and with searching scholarship the metaphysical and theological views of six science popularizers. Each of these celebrities has rankled religious and spiritual sensibilities. Some, like Dawkins, owe as much to their animus toward the idea of God and religion as they do to scientific contributions for their notoriety and book sales. Others, like Gould, have pursued pure Darwinism with an idea of contingency to flirt with what seems like nihilism and arrive at a profound, though theoretical, misanthropy.
As one reviewer points out, these celebrities have the right to "tresspass" or promote their own interpretations on anything. I would go so far as to say that they even have the right to conflate their opinions as science and make them appear, as Christian de Duve puts it, "incontrovertibly enforced by the findings of biology" (or physics, or astronomy, or chemistry, etc....) Italics, mine. There is no law that I know of that prevents them from doing this, and I would not propose there should be. That is why this book, Oracles of Science, is so valuable.