Reviews for Between Science and Religion: The Engagement of Catholic Intellectuals with Science and Technology in the Twentieth Century

The average rating for Between Science and Religion: The Engagement of Catholic Intellectuals with Science and Technology in the Twentieth Century based on 2 reviews is 5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2012-08-10 00:00:00 Mackenzie Parker This is by far the best, most up-to-date, thorough overview of the relationship between Catholic and scientific intellectual cultures during the past century. It is a much-needed improvement on Don O'Leary's 2006 Roman Catholicism and Modern Science: A History , which focuses more specifically on biological issues like polygenism versus monogenism, etc. Thompson's work, however, presents the "big picture," giving equal weight to ethical, technological, philosophical, theological, and biological issues. To set the stage, Thompson begins with a provocative juxtaposition of Vatican I's Dei Filius with Vatican II's Gaudium et Spes ; it beautifully summarizes the "creative tension" of the Church's "critical openness" to modern science which Thompson will illustratively elaborate in the following pages: "Hence all faithful Christians are forbidden to defend as the legitimate conclusions of science those opinions which are known to be contrary to the doctrine of faith, particularly if they have been condemned by the Church, and furthermore they are absolutely bound to hold them to be errors which wear the deceptive appearance of truth." First Vatican Council, Dei Filius, ch. 4 (9) (1870). "May the faithful, therefore, live in very close union with the men of their time. . . . Let them blend modern science and its theories and the most recent understandings with Christian morality and doctrine. Thus their religious practice and morality can keep pace with their science and an ever advancing technology." Second Vatican Council, Gaudium et Spes, n. 62 (1965). Thompson then dives right into the heart of late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century's Americanism and Modernist crises. In response to "the evils of society" threatening the Church, Pope Leo XIII, who re-established the Vatican Observatory, wrote in his first encyclical letter, Inscrutabili , that a proper harmony between science and religion could only occur were science based on a proper philosophy. This proper philosophy is that of St. Thomas Aquinas. Leo XIII's 1879 encyclical Æterni Patris initiated the "Neo-Thomistic Revival" which positively influenced, e.g., the French physicist, philosopher and historian of medieval physics, Pierre Duhem. Modernism was, as Pope St. Pius X wrote, a "synthesis of all heresies" which, having its origins in Kantian agnosticism and idealism, sought to isolate faith and reason. Pius X's solution'e.g., in his 1907 encyclical Pascendi Dominici Gregis and Syllabus of Errors 'was also that Catholic philosophers and theologians return to Thomism. How did Catholic intellectuals reconcile the variegated Thomistic philosophy and theology with modern intellectual currents? Thompson presents four case studies in chapters 2-5: (ch. 2) Jacques Maritain (1881-1955) His Degrees of Knowledge sought to show that there is a continuum of knowledge between "empiriological science" like modern physics all they way up to metaphysical and ultimately mystical knowledge. However, he thought that "empiriological sciences" and natural philosophy are non-overlapping disciplines, thereby isolating metaphysics and natural theology from modern scientific discoveries. (ch. 3) Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881-1955) In contrast to Maritain's mutual isolation of modern science and theology, this Jesuit anthropologist, considered by some the "father of New Ageism" (cf. Teilhardism & the New Religion ), conflated science with theology; hence, some, including the Holy Office, suspected him of the heresy of pantheism.Pius XII's encyclical Humani Generis (1950) completely rejected the Teilhardian position on evolution. Teilhard was furious and he accused the encyclical of exhibiting a 'masochism and sadism of orthodoxy.' The encyclical appeared to require the faithful to 'swallow the truth under its crudest and stupidest forms.' The Church failed to recognize that the theories of relativity and evolution were as critical to understanding God as the constant refinement of dogmas.De Chardin ultimately sought to explain how all of creation relates to Christ's Incarnation, how matter relates to spirit. He posited that matter evolves until it becomes living (reaching the "Biosphere"), self-conscious (reaching the "Noosphere"), spiritual, and then ultimately God (reaching the "Omega Point"). His most famous work is The Phenomenon of Man. (ch. 4) Bernard Lonergan (1904-1984) He is considered a "Transcendental Thomist" and is often associated with Karl Rahner. He focused more on how we know than what we know. As Fr. McCool mentions in his Nineteenth-Century Scholasticism , Lonergan advocates a new methodology for philosophy and theology that would replace that of Scholasticism (cf., e.g., his Method in Theology: Volume 14 ). In a chapter of his Insight: A Study of Human Understanding entitled "Isomorphism of Thomist and Scientific Thought," Lonergan sought to show the methodological similarities between Thomism and modern science, viz., that, "through an 'analogy of proportion'", "'scientific hypothesis stood to verification as Thomist definitions stands to judgment.'" Thompson makes a useful table summarizing these similarities: "Thomism "1) Desires to determine what God created; "2) Verified definition by judgment; "3) Thomist abstraction is independent of a spatio-temporal framework; "4) The inner word or definition is reached with much difficulty, but is never perfected until beatitude; "5) Seeks definite knowledge of essence in form and matter and there is a difference between essence and form. "Science "1) Desires to determine what is correct in nature; "2) Empirically verified any hypothesis; "3) Einstein's theories of relativity are invariant in regards to a spatio-temporal framework; "4) Seeks ever greater approximation through testing but ultimate knowledge is never reached; "5) Scientists seek definite function in forms and matter which measurements." (ch. 5) Thomas Merton (1915-1968) I had never heard of Merton before reading Thompson's book, but he fascinated me nevertheless. Merton was a Trappist contemplative. Initially a Luddite (one who opposes technology) who despised the sound of airplanes flying over his monastery in Kentucky and who thought technology is inimical to the contemplative life, he began to understand that the technology which resulted from modern scientific advances cannot be avoided. Thompson wisely included him as a case study because, unlike the other three intellectuals he treats, Merton ponders the ethical issues of technology. He was a controversial thinker for paralleling, during the Cold War era, the United States's and the U.S.S.R.'s cultures' emphasis on mechanism and materialism. In Chapter 6, "The Transformative Century", Thompson compares and contrasts all these thinkers with each other. I am glad Thompson used Chapter 6 as an opportunity to discuss the excellent Thomist philosopher of science Charles De Koninck; he thought, like other "River Forest Thomists" (e.g., Fr. Benedict Ashley, O.P.), that natural philosophy and modern physics constitute one specific discipline. To summarize his work, Thompson, in Chapter 7 ("The Path of Critical Openness"), commentates on the salient principles of Pope John Paul II's 1987 "Letter to George V. Coyne, Director of the Vatican Observatory": "Principle #1 The Church must engage in a vigorous, but respectful dialogue with science and technology." "Principle #2 A history of conflict can be partly overcome by accurately understanding the historical relationship between science and religion." "Principle #3 The Church and science must not seek a seamless integration, but a respectful recognition of disciplinary boundaries and differences." "Principle #4 The Church must engage science and technology to assess their potential for unpacking unrealized possibilities for deepening the Christian faith." "Principle #5 Science and technology are subject to the prophetic and ethical critique of the Church." Thompson covers quite a bit of ground in a few hundred pages. I highly recommend his survey of the "big picture" of Catholic intellectual culture.

Review # 2 was written on 2013-11-02 00:00:00 Cathy Poe Unique in that it is probably the only book on missional church from a Canadian perspective. With all the "how to's" from authors in major American urban centres, it is good to see a book which also gives insight into the Canadian cultural context. While some of what other missional leaders write may connect in Canada, this is a unique context in which to do ministry, and many missional church guides don't translate well outside of the context of the author. On the flipside, Nelson is also able to present something which I believe can be translated almost in its entirety to a whole variety contexts. Nelson's experience in international mission allows him to speak into contexts beyond Canada, and give something with depth and power to impact almost any congregational setting.