Building a Science-Faith Accord

	Book review on Engaging the Cosmos by Brown, Neville (2006) Reviewed by Eric Priest, 2008 published in Network Review No 97
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This is a fascinating and amazingly wide-ranging book that gives a broad coverage of science and spirituality, emphasising the complementary nature of astronomy, philosophy and faith and the importance in the modern world of developing a reasonable and holistic attitude to key global issues.

Neville Brown stresses the need for a more positive interaction between religion and science (especially astronomy, which he regards as the queen of the sciences), in particular the relation between life, consciousness and matter. Throughout the book he aims to reach across disciplinary divides, countering the increasing specialisation of science today.

He emphasises the need to scrutinise religious beliefs and check that they do not conflict with modern scientific understanding. As Bruno Guiderdoni (an eminent astrophysicist and a devout Sufi Muslim) said recently in a James Gregory public lecture in St Andrews, if one's scientific understanding apparently conflicts with one's religion then it is likely that one needs to reinterpret one's understanding of the religious texts.

The book consists of five sections. The first, entitled 'The heavens in history' give a brief history of astronomy from the stone age, through Ptolemy and Copernicus to the modern day. He discusses the psychology drives that gave rise to astronomical curiosity and religious belief and how in many civilisations common unresolved issues have arisen, such as the nature of creation, idealism versus materialism, the possibility of life elsewhere, and reductionistic logic versus holistic insight. He mentions here the saying of JBS Haldane that the universe is not only stranger than we realise, but it is stranger than we can realise.

The second section, called 'The life dimension', emphasises how uncertain we remain about the prevalence of life elsewhere in the universe. He suggests rather controversially that in some sense all matter may have consciousness. Furthermore, whereas many feel that the Universe exists to sustain life, he is of the opposite opinion that life exists to serve the Universe by virtue of its possession of consciousness.

In the third section ('Utopia lost?'), he points out that, after evolving for a million or so years, we are now 'dangerously close to making a hellish mess of everything'. He describes the negative effects on the spirit of many features of modern life, such as our erosion of and unconcern for nature, our focus on short-term gratification, the serious threat of biological warfare, the absence in cities and towns of the inspiration of a crystal clear night sky, and the danger of weapons from space. He also sees a modern retreat from reason, in the way in which happiness is defined, in the replacement of family by isolation and impersonality, in the unfulfilling nature of much work, and in an unhealthy focus on astrology.

The fourth section ('A dissolving heritage?') discusses world religions and he is particularly insightful in its comparison of eastern ideas. The great religions possess an enormous amount of collective wisdom, and so their collapse would likely be filled by 'all sorts of unpleasant rubbish'. Hence the need to encourage interfaith dialogue and renewal. The questions he would ask of them all include: where is humanity placed in the cosmic order? How personal is God? How do creation legends and astronomy relate to religious belief? How much toleration is extended to other faiths? How are they responding to contemporary challenges? In this century he hopes to see a coming of those who are outside them but have a broad ethical concern and spiritual aspiration.

For Judaism he hopes for partnership in the Holy Land (rather than a nonviable two-state solution) which could be a stimulus for collaboration world-wide. He also sees climate change aggravating desertification there. For Christianity he suggests that its future hinges on a rediscovery of spirituality in everyday life, with Russian mysticism perhaps playing a role. Within a holistic approach to spiritual revolution, a key aim should be insisting on non­violence, with force being only a last resort. For Islam he mentions the influence of Sufism in encouraging interaction with other creeds. He also touches on Indian pluralism and Japanese togetherness.

The final section, called 'To here from eternity', looks to the future, when nations will be brought into closer contact by ease of communication. They could respond by becoming more closed to each other, focussing on consumerism and irrational cults, and stimulating an authoritarian backlash. Alternatively, he hopes that they become more open, with the great religions engaging much more with each other and also with science, and leading to a general revival of spiritual values. This would go along with a better airing of issues such as: the place and role of humanity in the Universe; the part played by Life and the nature and place of consciousness. He teases out aspects of humanity's yearning for belief, and discusses a creative convergence between different aspects of God. Finally, he looks forward to a time of general appreciation of the privilege of being alive in such a health-giving planet from humans who care for the Earth and yearn for meaning and fulfilment that is aided by dialogue and peace rather than dogma and violence.

Neville Brown touches on so many diverse topics that for an in-depth analysis of many of them it is of course necessary to seek elsewhere. Minor criticisms are as follows. He regards astronomy and cosmology as interchangeable, but this is misleading since astronomy in practice includes many other key distinct subjects such as stellar astronomy and solar physics: indeed, the Sun has often played an inspirational  role in religions. Furthermore he discusses the origin of calculus but omits to mention (like many others before him) that James Gregory (first professor of mathematics at St Andrews) played as important a role as the better-known figures of Newton and Leibniz and indeed published the first textbook on the subject (as well as inventing the Gregorian telescope). Again, where he touches on climate in chapter 1, there is much more to say - in particular, that whereas the Sun used to be a major influence on climate change, it is now clear that the most important cause of the increased global warming of the past 30 years is human rather than solar.

In conclusion, this is a splendid book, which is highly recommended to those who are seeking an up-to-date understanding of contemporary science and its implications for spirituality.

Prof. Eric Priest FRS holds the James Gregory Chair of Mathematics

in the University of St. Andrews and

is co-organising the James Gregory Lectures - see www.jamesgregory.org

 

 

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