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72 of 81 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Elegant and delightful. , October 24, 2007
John Lennox, who teaches mathematics and philosophy of science at Oxford University, comes out of the closet as a "creationist" (some will say) in this incisive and readable book. That is to say, not only does he place theoretical limits on the "magisteria" of science, he also finds positive empirical limits to what physics and biology can in fact explain about our strange, glorious, troubling cosmos.
I haven't read Lennox' previous books, so I don't know how far he has gone this way before, but it seems a gutsy move. (When he begins the section on biology, aware of the acrimony that has surrounded the evolution debate, he taps out his own tongue in cheek epitath: "Here lies the body of John Lennox . . . ") Oxford was once the home of Wesley and Boyle and Lewis, but Richard Dawkins casts a shadow there now -- one member of the science faculty told me maybe 60% of his colleagues agree more or less with Dawkins, whether they've read him or not. And unlike Alister McGrath (who however has the class and good taste to recommend this book), Lennox is more in the Intelligent Design camp than "theistic evolution" or "biologos." But the term "camp" here is misleading: to Lennox, the search for truth seems less a "darwinian" competition between fortified and hostile foes lobbying shells at one another, but as a genial and informed dialectical journey among pilgrims.
The book covers all the main questions: the nature of science, origin of the universe, anthropic "coincidences," origin of life, mutations, fossils. Lennox dialogues with Dawkins, as one would expect, and with many leading scientific thinkers. The prose is clear as a mountain creek tumbling over stones.
The main weakness of the book, in my view, has to do with Lennox' discussion of Intelligent Design. Here he quotes a number of people -- Michael Behe, Stephen Meyer, Hugh Ross -- who are in the eyes of many skeptics highly controversial. I don't mind that -- I spent a couple months defending Behe against some rather savage and unfair attacks, so I appreciate his ability to shrug off the jihadist strand of evolutionary apologetics. But I do think Lennox needs to interact with more serious critics at this point a bit more, to establish his arguments. Still, he goes into far more detail than Dawkins on this issue.
In short, this is an excellent contribution to the "God" debates. Readers may also enjoy my new book, The Truth Behind the New Atheism, which responds to Dawkins, Harris, Dennett and Hitchens on a variety of topics, including some covered in this book.
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47 of 54 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Clear, Concise and Deeply Penetrating , November 1, 2007
After reading The God Delusion a year ago I became gripped and eventually spellbound by the God vs. no god debate that seems more and more to be occupying the collective attention of our culture. In my desire to gain a fuller understanding of both perspectives, I've since immersed myself in the most popular literature on the subject (penned by Harris, Dawkins, Hutchings, Davis, Flew, McGrath, Collins, DeSuza etc.). The arguments and lines of reasoning expressed in John Lennox's book entitled "God's Undertaker" are, by far, the most deep and insightful I've read on the subject to date.
Lennox begins God's Undertaker by making a critical distinction between science and materialist/naturalist philosophy that, in and of itself, provides a resounding response in the negative to the question posed in the book's subtitle (Has science buried God?). Lennox explains that science in an uncontaminated form seeks exclusively to explore the universe by examining its physical properties and apparent laws without making claims about what might or might not exist beyond its own domain. Science therefore neither rules out nor affirms the existence of the supernatural. Naturalism, on the other hand, is philosophically bound to a preconceived notion regarding the nature of reality; namely that it is limited exclusively to the substantial and, consequently, that truth can only be found through an examination of material phenomenon. In short, it is naturalism, not science, which is at odds with theism.
Lennox goes on to illustrate the importance of making such a distinction by pointing out the deceptive and duplicitous way in which materialists use the well earned respect of science to cloak arguments against the existence of God that not only lack scientific support but are in fact faith based and not scientific at all! Lennox hammers home the irony of this point, giving no slack to the likes of Dawkins who, while blindly ascribing god-like qualities to neutrons and electrons, mockingly portray theists as deluded dunces who base their lives on a completely imaginary deity.
Lennox is no enemy of science. He is a purist who believes that what science points to is equally as important as what it explicitly reveals. Consequently, he is not only in awe of what science has achieved but he enthusiastically declares the important role science has played in the development of his own belief in God. Anchored by the very science that has been high jacked by Dawkins and company, Lennox demonstrates that belief in a single all powerful God is not only rational but is in fact the best conclusion one can draw from the known physical universe. Lennox does this in the heart of God's Undertaker by engaging the scientific arguments used by materialists head-on in an "ask for no quarter, give no quarter" fashion that pays homage to his Celtic heritage.
Specifically, Lennox confronts the naturalist's take on cosmology, microbiology, evolution, and biogenesis and mounts a particularly robust argument for an intelligently designed universe in later chapters devoted to information science. While it is beyond the scope of this review to elucidate each of Lennox's arguments, I will state that I found them to be well-balanced and, in most cases, compelling. I highly endorse this read for anyone interested in the origins of our universe.
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35 of 43 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Clarifying the issues about science and religion, November 8, 2007
In this very readable and well-researched book John Lennox does a brilliant job of exposing the real issues involved in any discussion of the relationship between science and religion. The fundamental point, which he makes so well, is that the debate is NOT about science VERSUS religion, but has to do with different world views (namely naturalism - the view that there is nothing but nature and the material world - contrasted with theism - the view that there is a God ) and the relationship of each with science. Dr Lennox then asks the all-important question: Which world view sits most comfortably with science?
What is so important about this book is that it does not counter the popular rhetoric and sloganeering (characteristic of many of those who believe that naturalism is the world view that is the logical consequence of science) with more of the same. In his careful and systematic examination of the scientific evidence Dr Lennox shows that science is not only highly consistent with a theistic world view, but even points towards it. To this end he takes us on a journey that considers the history and limits of science, as well as many of its most up-to-date findings including modern evolutionary theory, design theory, irreducible complexity and information theory. Bringing to bear his analytical and logical skills as a research mathematician, he also exposes many fallacious arguments that are often used to "prove" that science has buried God.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who seriously wishes both to understand the real nature of the debate that is currently receiving much exposure in the media, and to come to a conclusion based on evidence and reason rather than prejudice and emotion.
Nigel Cutland
Professor of Pure Mathematics
University of York, UK
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