*SCIENCE, THEOLOGY, AND ETHICS

Beyond Disparate Languages

Ted Peters is a prolific and respected writer on issues in science and religion at the Centre for Theology and the Natural Sciences in the Graduate Theological Union at Berkeley. Whilst acknowledging historical dissonances, Peters, drawing chapter by chapter on previously published material, presents the case for a degree of consonance between the scientific and theological apprehensions of reality which respects both disciplines' insights. CTNS presses both science and theology into dialogue moving beyond the "two disparate languages" and "outright conflict" models which were previously too often taken for granted.

The need to locate consonance as a preferred possible relationship between science and theology is justified in the opening chapters using Peters' eightfold model. Much of this material is familiar to those who have read into this field. However, Peters' succinct overview is clear and an excellent entry point for anyone wanting to have an ably described summary. In developing his understanding of Cosmos as Creation, the concepts of a theology of nature and natural theology are simply defined for development in the sections of this text which examine specific topics.

Modern cosmology raises questions about the future of the universe which challenge traditional Western theological understanding of the relationship of time to being. John Mbiti's exploration of the way time is conceived among the Akamba of Eastern Kenya provides Peters with a striking example of a Christian eschatological perspective drawing on a non-European culture. If, as the author notes, the first thing God did for the Universe in the Creation was to give it a future, this opens the possibility of development and of novelty: within the physical processes of the end of the Universe, is a legitimate theological interpretation one of the fulfilment of time and being rather than its cessation? Dialogue here requires both physics and theology to articulate their insights for mutual comprehension. It is pleasing once more to be able to read the author's engagement with the thought of David Bohm (Chapter 5: Postmodernism and the Divine). The many Network members who find Bohm's holomovement illuminating will enjoy Peters' treatment.

The wave of ethical reflection generated by developments in cloning and genetics has its proper theological dimension. Ted Peters has already written on these themes and this section of the book is by far the most extensive. He does not dismiss all genetic modification as "Playing God" in a pejorative sense but examines the grounds for cautious intervention in a nuanced and rational way. He also re-examines the "gene myth" which seemed to give credence to genetic determinism and a diminishing of human free will. Peters writing on human fertility technology in which children are artifices, mere commodities, "made, not begotten", ought to be required reading for anyone too sanguine about the intervention of human purposing into the germ line.

The application of traditional theological concepts such as "original sin" to human genetic inheritance has been sometimes crudely used; that is not the case in the chapters devoted to these themes and the intelligent exploration of the legitimacy of such ideas is a pleasure to read.

The context in which we do our science and theology is the relatively fragile and finite environment of this planet. Short term planning horizons limit responsibility for the future of the Earth: a theological dimension restores a perspective on the effects of pollution which provides a context for issues of justice for future generations of the human and other species. Peters writes cogently on this issue.

In concluding with chapters outlining a theological anthropology, Peters draws the themes of his collection of essays together which otherwise might seem to be rather a grab-bag of assorted topics. Each chapter has a list of references and the book is usefully provided with both a name and subject index. The publishers have provided a clean text most useful to those with some theological education who want to be given the benefit of a very readable scholarly introduction to a continuing revolution in the way theology and science may interact.