Getting Past Guilt: Embracing God's Forgiveness Book

John Haught has written numerous books on science and religion, seeking to bridge the gap often assumed to exist between the two. In this book Haught presents a theology that fully takes the findings of modern science into consideration. This is not a Christian defense of evolution (like Francis Collins' Language of God or Ken Miller's Finding Darwin's God). Rather, the truth of evolution is assumed, and the question is what affect this has on theology. Haught argues that in the eyes of many scientists theology and religion are simply uninteresting for the God they see the religious presenting is smaller than the majesty of science. Thus, we need a theology and a God big enough to appeal to the minds of modern scientists.

I read another book by Haught a few months back and in my review I was concerned that he did not emphasize historic Christian orthodoxy in his discussion. That concern is absent here for Haught, a Roman Catholic, is clearly within the realm of orthodoxy. But this is still by no means a systematic theology, rather he focuses on two points of Christian theology which he claims fit in best with the world modern science gives us: the descent of God and the focus on the future. Christians believe that in Jesus the Creator entered the Creation, bringing life out of death. For Haught, this emphasis is a way to remove the focus of scientific naturalists on death as the default with life as the mystery to be explained; instead we see the universe as teeming with life and propagating new life with death as the enemy to be overcome. Along with that, Haught picks up on themes from the likes of theologian Jurgen Moltmann to focus on the future. Modern science has given us a universe that is not complete but instead is going somewhere and this fits in nicely with Christian theology that is moving towards completion in God.

There is a lot more that could be said on this book. Perhaps heretic hunters or others might still take Haught to task for not going into detail on many aspects of Christian theology. There might be suspicion by some as he admits scientific findings do influence the kind of theology, meaning change in one may lead to change in the other. But this is not a systematic theology and it seems clear to me that Haught sees the essentials of historic orthodox Christianity as standing the test of time. So overall this is a helpful book for those who want to see how a theology that takes full account of modern science might look. It shows that one can hold to the findings of modern science but still hold a robust faith in Jesus Christ.