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The New Sciences of Religion
Copyright ©William Grassie
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grassie@metanexus.net
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Metanexus Imprints
New York, NY
All rights reserved.
First published by Palgrave MacMillan in 2010.
Re-released as a Metanexus Imprint in 2019.
ISBN: 9781070628325
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Cover!image:!The!dome!of!the!Church!of!the!Holy!Sepulcher,!
Jerusalem.!Photograph!by!Jeff!Lefever!©!2009.!
https://www.lefever.com!
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i!
Table of Contents
Preface'to'the'2019'Edition'........................................................................................'iii!
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Acknowledgements'.........................................................................................................'ix!
Permissions'......................................................................................................................'xiii!
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Introduction'........................................................................................................................'1!
PART'ONE:''Religion'from'the'Outside'In'............................................................'19!
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Chapter!1:!!The!Challenge!of!!Comparative!Religion!................................!21!
Chapter!2:!The!Old!Sciences!of!Religion!........................................................!41!
Chapter!3:!The!Economics!of!Religion!...........................................................!65!
Chapter!4:!The!Evolution!of!Religion!..............................................................!99!
Chapter!5:!!The!Cognitive!Neurosciences!of!Religion!...........................!127!
Chapter!6:!!The!Medicine!of!Religion!...........................................................!153!
PART'TWO:''Religion'from'the'Bottom'Up'.......................................................'181!
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Chapter!7:!!The!Narratives!of!Religion!........................................................!183!
Chapter!8:!!The!New!Religion!of!Science!....................................................!219!
Chapter!9:!God-By-Whatever-Name!............................................................!257!
Chapter!10:!!Reiterations!and!Reflections!.................................................!289!
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About'the'Author'.........................................................................................................'301!
Bibliography'..................................................................................................................'303!
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219!
Chapter 8:
The New Religion of Science
!
In!our!bottom-up!approach!to!exploring!religious!intuitions!and!
truth!claims,!we!will!now!consider!contemporary!science!to!see!
how!far!we!can!climb!from!science!to!the!sacred!without!invoking!
special!revelation.!I!call!this!“the!new!religion!of!science,”!but!not!in!
the!sense!of!scientism,!the!faith!of!philosophical!naturalism.!I!am!
not!the!reincarnation!of!Auguste!Comte;!this!is!not!a!resurrection!of!
the!Enlightenment!project!of!replacing!the!old!religions!with!
science.!Our!ambitions!are!more!modest,!more!interesting,!and!
more!compelling.!Instead!of!replacing!or!displacing!the!“old”!
religions,!we!look!to!reinterpret!and!reinvent!them!through!a!
constructive!dialogue!with!contemporary!science,!supposing!that!
the!received!traditions!have!intuited,!experienced,!discovered,!and!
transmitted!important!insights!into!ultimate!reality.!This!is!a!
theology!of!nature!from!the!bottom!up,!initially!without!reference!
to!revealed!scriptures!and!received!traditions.!We!shall!take!nature!
as!understood!by!contemporary!science!as!the!primary!revelation!
to!be!read!and!interpreted!in!religious!categories.!Contrary!to!
popular!belief,!contemporary!science!is!actually!conducive!to!
certain!religion-friendly!interpretations.!Approaching!religion!
through!science!will!help!us!get!closer!to!some!of!the!truth!claims!
intuited!by!religions!over!millennia!that!inform!religious!belief!and!
behavior.!!
This!approach!provides!an!important!service!to!contemporary!
religions!as!they!seek!to!adapt!to!new!realities!in!our!global!
civilization.!The!distinction!between!science!and!the!interpretation!
of!science!needs!to!be!more!sharply!drawn!on!both!sides!of!the!
religion-science!divide.!Good!science!is!the!precondition!to!the!
responsible!interpretation!of!science!by!philosophers!and!
theologians,!clergy!and!laity,!believers!and!practitioners!of!all!
kinds.!The!world!desperately!needs!the!constructive!integration!of!
scientific!realities!and!religious!systems!of!meaning,!if!we!are!to!
meet!the!challenges!of!the!twenty-first!century.!!
!
!
220!
The!actual!history!of!all!religions!involved!similar!periods!of!
reinterpretation!and!reinvention,!so!there!is!historical!precedence!
for!this!enterprise!in!intellectual!and!religious!history.!For!instance,!
Islam,!Judaism,!and!Christianity!were!all!dramatically!transformed!
in!the!medieval!period!through!the!rediscovery!of!and!encounter!
with!the!“lost”!writings!of!Aristotle,!Plato,!and!others.!
Aristotelianism!was!the!best!science!at!the!time.!The!adoption!of!
this!science!required!some!interesting!theological!adaptations!on!
the!part!of!the!three!Abrahamic!faiths.
256
!Similarly,!the!rise!of!neo-
orthodoxy!and!fideism!in!the!modern!period!can!be!seen!as!a!
reinterpretation!in!reaction!to!the!remarkable!success!of!
mechanistic!and!materialist!science!in!the!nineteenth!and!early!
twentieth!centuries.
257
!Today,!the!sciences!are!very!different,!so!the!
plausible!religious!interpretations!of!science!will!also!be!quite!
different.!
!
Is#Science#Simply#Another#Story?#
!
First,!we!must!ask!why!we!should!privilege!science!in!this!
inquiry.!Is!not!science!just!another!story,!like!all!the!other!stories!
that!we!considered!in!the!last!chapter?!Why!should!we!let!science!
make!claims!on!the!interpretation!of!sacred!scriptures!and!
received!traditions?!Religious!fundamentalist,!postmodernist,!
feminist,!and!postcolonialist!hermeneutics!are!all!inclined!to!argue!
that!science!is!simply!another!story,!indeed!one!infected!with!many!
modes!of!domination!and!oppression.
258
!To!answer!these!
objections!means!that!we!must!consider!the!philosophy!of!science.!
The!philosophy!of!science!has!long!been!preoccupied!with!
distinguishing!science!from!nonscience!based!on!some!notion!of!a!
unique!epistemology.!The!idea!of!science!as!a!privileged!way!of!
knowing,!however,!is!widely!rejected!today!in!philosophy.!This!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!
256
Richard E. Rubenstein, Aristotle’s Children: How Christians, Muslims, and Jews Rediscovered
Ancient Wisdom and Illuminated the Middle Ages (New York: Harcourt, 2003); Norbert M.
Samuelson, Judaism and the Doctrine of Creation (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1994); Samuelson, Jewish Faith and Modern Science: On the Death and Rebirth of Jewish
Philosophy (New York: Rowman and Littlefield, 2009).
257
Carolyn Merchant, The Death of Nature: Women, Ecology, and the Scientific Revolution (New
York: Harper & Row, 1980).
258
See, for instance, Sandra Harding, ed., The “Racial” Economy of Science (Bloomington:
Indiana University Press, 1993); Harding, The Science Question in Feminism (Ithaca, NY:
Cornell University Press, 1986).
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!
259
The corollary of this is that someone might be competent in linguistics and quite incompetent in
learning foreign languages. Similarly, one can be competent in the philosophy of science and
not really be an expert in any particular science.
260
Aristotle, “Physics,” MIT, http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/physics.2.ii.html.
261
For a discussion of the Aristotle’s four causes as they pertain to the modern scientific
revolution, see Holmes Rolston, Science and Religion: A Critical Survey (Philadelphia: Temple
University Press, 1987), 34-36; and Merchant, Death of Nature, 11-12.
!
!
222!
Fast!forward!now!to!your!science!classes!in!high!school,!where!
you!were!probably!introduced!to!something!called!the!“scientific!
method”!or,!more!philosophically,!the!hypothetical-deductive!
method.!The!claim!is!that!modern!science!is!based!on!a!method—in!
other!words,!an!epistemology!or!way!of!knowing.!We!begin!with!a!
hypothetical!inference,!conduct!empirical!observation,!and!then!
employ!deductive!reasoning!to!verify!our!initial!inference.!The!
hypothetical-deductive!method!begins!by!posing!a!problem!or!
inferring!a!theory!about!reality!and!then!formulating!this!as!a!
question!for!verification.!This!hypothesis!is!tested!through!
empirical!observations.!The!results!of!these!structured!
observations!lead!to!the!acceptance!or!rejection!of!the!theory!
based!on!deductive!or!logical!reasoning!about!the!sequence!of!
events!and!their!apparent!causal!relationships.
262
!
This!formulation!of!the!scientific!method!is!naively!accepted!
by!most!scientists!and!science!educators,!but!few!philosophers!of!
science!today!consider!this!adequate.!On!closer!examination,!this!
description!of!science!as!an!epistemology!fails!to!distinguish!
science!from!nonscience.!As!so!described,!my!dog!is!a!scientist!
when!trying!to!solve!dog!problems!like!how!to!provoke!me!to!share!
some!of!my!food!with!her!from!the!dinner!table.!As!so!described,!a!
religious!person!is!also!a!scientist,!where!creeds!and!beliefs!serve!
the!same!function!as!theories!that!are!tested!through!lived!
experiences!from!which!rational!deductions!lead!to!verification!or!
falsification.!The!so-called!hypothetical-deductive!process!turns!
out!to!be!a!tautology!and!represents!very!muddy!water!in!the!
philosophy!of!science.!The!problem!lies!in!the!tricky!“logic”!of!
induction.!“The!theory!of!Induction,”!wrote!Alfred!North!
Whitehead,!“is!the!despair!of!philosophy—and!yet!all!our!activities!
are!based!upon!it.”
263
!
In!this!abbreviated!tutorial!in!the!philosophy!of!science,!we!
need!to!fast!forward!through!the!logical!positivism!of!Moritz!
Schlick!(1882–1936),!to!the!falsification!theory!of!science!
advocated!by!Karl!Popper!(1902–1994),!and!to!the!theory!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!
262
This presentation of the scientific method was taught to me in middle school. As the discussion
below indicates, what science really is as a methodology is not so clear. For an excellent
collection of essays on the philosophy of science, see Richard Boyd, Philip Gasper, and J. D.
Trout, eds., The Philosophy of Science (Cambridge, MA, and London: MIT Press, 1991).
263
Alfred North Whitehead, Science and the Modern World (New York: Free Press, [1925] 1967),
35.
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223!
dependency!of!observations!of!Willard!Quine!(1908–2000)!and!
Hilary!Putnam!(b.!1926),!among!others.
264
!The!end!result!of!this!
rational!and!empirical!reflection!on!the!nature!of!science!was!the!
collapse!of!positivism!and!formalism!in!the!philosophy!of!science.!
There!is!no!way!to!define!science!abstractly!as!a!particular!and!
uniquely!privileged!epistemology.!Fortunately,!none!of!these!
philosophical!debates!has!in!any!way!hampered!science!from!
making!tremendous!discoveries!over!this!same!time!period,!an!
important!point!to!which!we!will!return.!
Enter!now!Thomas!Kuhn!(1922–1996)!and!his!1962!book!,-(.
/'#0*'0#(."!./*)(+')!)*.1(2"&0')"+34.Kuhn!applies!historical,!causal!
analysis!to!the!developments!of!modern!science!and,!in!so!doing,!
unleashes!a!revolution!of!his!own.!Kuhn!turns!the!analytic!tools!of!
science!on!itself!in!search!of!causative!formative!factors!within!the!
development!of!science.!He!uses!“science”!to!study!science,!not!as!
some!idealized!epistemology!but!as!an!actual,!historically!
dependent!process.!To!say!that!the!developments!and!results!of!
modern!scientific!inquiry!are!socially!and!historically!contingent,!
and!not!simply!the!product!of!a!universally!verifiable!method!of!
inquiry,!was!a!radical!move!at!the!time.!It!contributed!mightily!to!
the!intellectual!dethronement!of!science!in!the!humanities.!
Fortunately,!none!of!this!intellectual!tempest!in!a!teapot!really!
hindered!the!exponential!advance!of!the!scientific!enterprise!in!the!
ensuing!decades,!because,!as!previously!stated,!you!do!not!need!the!
philosophy!of!science!to!do!good!science.!Philosophy!of!science,!
however,!is!essential!when!it!comes!to!interpreting!science,!which!
is!the!purpose!of!this!chapter.!
Not!only!is!the!practice!of!science!theory-dependent,!Kuhn!
argues,!but!the!observations!are!also!theory-dependent.!In!those!
moments!in!history!when!two!theories!collide,!the!data!cannot!
always!be!appealed!to!as!a!final!arbitrator!between!conflicting!
theories.!Kuhn!does!a!historical!analysis!of!what!he!calls!“scientific!
revolutions”!or!“paradigm!changes,”!in!which!there!is!no!rational!
basis!to!choose!the!new!paradigm!over!the!old!because!there!was!
an!underdetermination!in!the!observational!data.!He!defines!
scientific!revolutions!to!be!“those!non-cumulative!developmental!
episodes!in!which!an!older!paradigm!is!replaced!in!whole!or!in!part!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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264
Boyd, Gasper, and Trout, Philosophy of Science.
!
!
224!
by!an!incompatible!new!one.”!In!these!instances!in!the!history!of!
science,!the!choice!between!the!old!and!the!new!paradigms!“cannot!
be!determined!merely!by!the!evaluative!procedures!characteristic!
of!normal!science,!these!depend!in!part!upon!a!particular!
paradigm,!and!that!paradigm!is!at!issue.”
265
!!
Kuhn’s!work!is!filled!with!historical!examples!of!how!these!
paradigm!changes!have!actually!functioned!in!the!real!practice!of!
science.!In!subsequent!decades,!his!approach!unleashed!a!vast!
quantity!of!new!scholarly!research!on!the!history,!anthropology,!
sociology,!and!psychology!of!science.!Feminists,!postmodern,!and!
postcolonial!studies!of!science!all!draw!on!Kuhn’s!basic!insight,!as!
they!seek!to!deconstruct!the!underlying!“irrational”!and!
“oppressive”!forces!operating!within!the!actual!practice!of!
science.
266
!!
What!“the!theory!dependency!of!observation”!means!in!the!
common!parlance!is!“I!wouldn’t!have!seen!it,!if!I!hadn’t!believed!it.”!
And!therein!lies!its!problem.!However!compelling!Kuhn’s!
arguments!may!be,!his!social-constructionist!approach!to!science,!
and!those!who!have!followed!in!his!footsteps,!has!been!criticized!as!
subjectivist,!relativistic,!and!irrational.
267
!Kuhn!responds!that!he!is!
not!subjectivist!in!an!individualistic!sense!but!in!an!intersubjective-
group!context!and!that,!within!a!given!group,!the!discourse!is!
highly!structured,!rule-governed,!and!rational.!This!is!something!
more!akin!to!the!way!language-communities!function,!though!Kuhn!
leaves!us!uncertain!about!the!possibility!of!translation!between!
incommensurate!scientific!paradigms.
268
!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!
265
Thomas S. Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (Chicago: University of Chicago
Press, [1962] 1972), 92-94.
266
See, for instance, Trevor Pinch, “Theory Testing in Science—The Case of Solar Neutrinos: Do
Crucial Experiments Test Theories or Theorists?” Philosophy of Sociology of Science 15
(1985); H. M. Collins and T. J. Pinch, “The Construction of the Paranormal: Nothing
Unscientific Is Happening,” in On the Margins of Science: The Social Construction of Rejected
Knowledge, ed. Roy Wallis (Keele: The Sociological Review, 1978); Ronald N. Giere, “The
Philosophy of Science Naturalized,” Philosophy of Science 52 (1985); and Paul Thagard, “The
Conceptual Structure of the Chemical Revolution,” Philosophy of Science 57 (1990). For a
bibliography and review of the literature, see Steve Fuller, “The Philosophy of Science since
Kuhn: Readings on the Revolution That Has yet to Come,” Choice 27 (1989).
267
Kuhn responds to his critics in a Postscript to The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, 174–75.
268
Perhaps Ludwig Wittgenstein is the background here. In the Tractatus (1921), Wittgenstein is a
logical positivist, indeed an active member of the Vienna School along with Moritz Schlick.
Late in his life, Wittgenstein wrote Philosophical Investigations (1953), in which he promotes
the idea of incommensurate “language games.” One could talk about rationality and
irrationality within particular language games, but comparing language games was comparing
!
!
225!
Within!a!given!scientific!paradigm,!what!Kuhn!calls!“normal!
science”!or!“puzzle!solving,”!there!is!a!deductive-thought!process!
with!rules!for!“rational”!discourse.!Between!scientific!paradigms,!
however,!the!rationality!of!one!group!makes!no!sense!to!a!group!
that!follows!an!incommensurate!paradigm.!In!this!formulation,!
science!can!be!seen!as!just!another!story,!which!we!are!free!to!
believe!or!not.!Thoughtful!religious!doubters!of!evolution,!for!
instance,!draw!heavily!on!Thomas!Kuhn!(as!well!as!Karl!Popper)!to!
justify!their!rejection!of!evolution.!So!too!do!those!who!seek!to!
rationalize!some!complementary!and!alternative!medicine!practice!
as!a!“paradigm!shift.”!Unrealistic!epistemological!abstractions,!
social!constructionism,!and!postmodernism!have!gotten!us!in!a!real!
philosophical!pickle!and!led!to!some!unfortunate!confusion!and!
heated!debates.!
A!purely!social-constructionist!model!for!the!history!and!
philosophy!of!science!tends!to!render!the!predictive,!practical,!and!
explanatory!results!of!scientific!inquiry!as!miraculous!and!
unintelligible!coincidences.!The!physical!reality!of!the!“external”!
world!has!a!kind!of!“facticity”!that!the!“internal”!realm!of!“mere”!
human!sensation-perception-preference-ideology!does!not!have.!
When!physicists!design!nuclear!power!plants!or!physicians!
administer!antibiotics,!there!is!more!going!on!than!simply!
“incommensurate!theory-dependent!observations”!with!some!
other!worldview.!When!we!log!on!to!the!Internet!or!use!fossil!fuels!
that!are!200!million!years!old,!we!affirm!the!reality!of!science,!
although!we!may!not!understand!this!reality.!There!is!a!dangerous!
schizophrenia!in!contemporary!technoscientific!civilization.!In!his!
last!book,!The.Demon-Haunted.World,!the!late!astronomer!Carl!
Sagan!wrote:!
!
We’ve!arranged!a!global!civilization!in!which!most!crucial!
elements!profoundly!depend!on!science!and!technology.!We!
have!also!arranged!things!so!that!almost!no!one!understands!
science!and!technology.!This!is!a!prescription!for!disaster.!We!
might!get!away!with!it!for!a!while,!but!sooner!or!later!this!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!
other-rationalities. Ludwig Wittgenstein, The Wittgenstein Reader, ed. Anthony Kenny
(Oxford: Blackwell, 1994).
!
!
226!
combustible!mixture!of!ignorance!and!power!is!going!to!blow!
up!in!our!faces.
269
!
!
The!miracle!of!science!is!that,!in!spite!of!our!all-too-human!
imperfections,!which!scientists!possess!in!equal!distribution!as!the!
rest!of!humanity,!science!continues!to!progress!and!evolve!
evermore!factual!insights!into!the!workings!of!the!universe!and!
ourselves.!Science!is!a!self-transcending!learning!process,!but!how!
does!it!work?!One!implication!from!our!discussion!so!far!is!that!we!
might!better!teach!the!actual!history!of!discovery,!the!methods!and!
madness!of!real!scientists,!rather!than!teach!the!abstract!
formulation!of!some!imagined!hypothetical!deductive!method.!
All!that!being!said,!we!still!need!to!account!for!why!the!actual!
content!of!science!is!reliable!knowledge.!And!with!that,!why!and!
how!should!it!be!thought!of!as!privileged!knowledge?!While!there!
is!no!unified!scientific!epistemology,!it!turns!out!that!science!is!a!
unified!body!of!knowledge,!knowledge!that!also!turns!out!to!be!an!
interesting!new!metanarrative!of!the!universe!and!ourselves.!Yet!
the!interpretation!of!that!metanarrative,!we!will!learn,!is!open!to!
many!possibilities.!How!and!where!do!we!draw!the!line!between!
the!content!of!science!and!the!interpretation!of!science,!given!that!
we!propose!to!reinterpret!science!in!religious!categories!and!need!
some!rules!for!doing!so?!
!
Critical#Realism#
!
The!consensus!in!the!philosophy!of!science!today!might!be!
called!pragmatic!operationalism!or!instrumentalism.!In!this!view,!
there!are!many!different!scientific!specializations,!each!one!having!
its!own!methods!and!history!of!discovery.!Different!sciences!have!
different!rules!of!evidence!and!verification,!different!peer-review!
processes!and!standards,!different!professional!associations!and!
journals.!Depending!on!what!one!wants!to!study,!one!pragmatically!
poses!questions!as!appropriate!to!the!phenomenon.!The!
established!science!then!makes!its!way!down!into!disciplinary!
textbooks,!which!are!regularly!expanded!and!updated.!There!is!no!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!
269
Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark (New York:
Ballantine Books, 1996).
!
!
227!
grand!unified!epistemology!of!science,!but!within!the!many!
domains!of!science,!there!are!exponentially!more!reliable!facts.!
Most!philosophers!of!science!also!now!recognize!that!the!
traditional!fact-value!distinction!is!bogus.!This!distinction!has!been!
prominently!mapped!onto!the!science-and-religion!divide.!Science!
is!supposed!to!be!about!facts;!religion!is!supposed!to!be!about!
values.!Science!answers!“what”;!religion!answers!“why.”!Science,!
however,!is!not!a!value-free!enterprise!(and!religion,!for!that!
matter,!also!makes!truth!claims).!!
Science!is!best!when!it!comes!with!a!passion!for!rigor!and!
debate.!Scientists!exhibit!an!intrinsic!fascination!with!how!things!
work.!Most!scientists!presuppose!a!profound!commitment!to!
studying!natural!entities!from!the!microcosmic!to!the!macrocosmic!
that!they!perceive!to!being!endlessly!fascinating.!They!share!
amazement!at!the!intricate,!beautiful,!and!elegant!structures!of!
stuff,!life,!and!consciousness.!In!other!words,!the!universe!that!
science!studies!is!filled!with!intrinsic!values,!though!scientists!are!
at!a!loss!for!words!to!say!why!this!is!so.!Scientists!preach!a!passion!
for!truth!wherever!it!leads.!Thou!shalt!not!cook!the!data.!Science!
thrives!in!a!spirit!of!competition!but!also!in!highly!evolved!
cooperation.!Scientists!preach!humanistic!purposes!informed!by!
the!best!knowledge!obtainable!and!promote!codes!of!ethics,!such!
that!the!powers!unleashed!through!science!benefit!and!not!harm!
humanity!or!the!unique!and!precious!planet!that!we!inhabit.!When!
scientists!are!at!their!best,!they!practice!what!I!call!“altruistic!
fidelity!to!the!phenomena,”!a!phrase!we!will!need!to!unpack!later.!
These!values!often!put!science!at!odds!with!authorities,!be!they!
religious,!corporate,!or!governmental.!!
Of!course,!this!is!an!idealized!account!of!science!and!scientists.!
Science!is!also!a!very!messy!business.!There!are!egos!and!interests!
involved.!Personalities,!power,!and!politics!are!also!part!of!the!
often-chaotic!process.!There!are!Promethean!tragedies!enacted!and!
feared,!terrible!possibilities!unleashed,!powers!and!principalities!
supported!by!the!applications!of!science.!Scientists!can!be!corrupt.!
They!can!also!blindly!follow!money!or!ideologies.!Scientists!may!
also!possess!increased!powers!of!selfish!rationalization.!They!tend!
to!be!overly!compartmentalized!in!their!lives.!Their!myopic!visions!
can!become!dogmatic!propositions.!They!are!humans,!after!all,!and!
exhibit!all!the!flaws!and!failings!that!we!encounter!in!other!
!
!
228!
domains!of!human!life.!Science!is!always!social,!political,!personal,!
economic,!cultural,!and!historical.!In!spite!of!this,!the!miracle!of!
science!is!that!there!is!a!progressive!unfolding!of!reality,!a!process!
that!allows!for!self-transcending!knowledge,!if!not!always!
appropriate!wisdom!and!noble!purpose.!
I!want!to!propose!that!the!problem!with!the!social-
constructionist!account!of!science,!and!its!postmodern!and!
postcolonial!offshoots,!is!that!it!draws!the!circle!of!intersubjectivity!
too!narrowly.!A!purely!social-constructionist!account!of!science,!for!
instance,!fails!to!explain!why!physicists!came!to!accept!quantum!
mechanics!in!the!1930s,!when!none!of!them!wanted!to!believe!it!
was!true.!The!phenomena!can!trump!the!community’s!dogmatic!
preferences,!indeed!often!do.!If!we!include!all!nature!as!part!of!the!
intersubjective!community,!the!phenomena!playing!an!active!role!
in!the!conversations!of!scientists,!then!the!problem!of!philosophical!
relativism!disappears.!Philosophical!anthropocentrism!is!the!
downfall!of!social!constructionism.!Nature-centrism!rescues!social!
constructionism!and!gives!us!a!more!robust,!realist,!and!critical!
philosophy!of!science.!!
Critical!realism!then!leads!to!the!concept!of!symbolic!realism.!
To!grant!the!nonhuman!an!active!“voice”!in!our!scientific!
conversations!requires!a!more!expanded!understanding!of!
“language”!and!ultimately!also!a!new!metaphysics.
270
!I!call!this!
symbolic.realism.
271
!In!this!view,!nature!is!already!“linguistic”!
through!and!through.!If!nature!were!not!already!symbolic!and!filled!
with!semantic!meanings,!we!could!not!be!a!linguistic!species.!
Nature!teaches!us!how!to!speak!our!own!human!languages!in!the!
coevolution!of!our!nature-body-brain-minds-languages-cultures!
over!millions!of!years.
272
!The!innate!intelligibility-intelligence!of!
nature!is!itself!the!precondition!of!any!science!of!nature.!Science,!
then,!is!a!particular!genre!of!translation!projects!in!which!scientists!
listen!carefully!to!natural!phenomena!and!try!to!translate!their!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!
270
David Abram prefers the term “more-than-human” in his effort to build a nature-centric
understanding of human language. See David Abram, The Spell of the Sensuous: Perception
and Language in a More-Than-Human World (New York: Pantheon, 1996).
271
Here I am drawing on the synthetic philosophy of Paul Ricoeur, which I discussed in chapter 3
of my dissertation. William J. Grassie, "Reinventing Nature: Science Narratives as Myths for an
Endangered Planet," Ph.D. diss., Temple University, 1994.
272
See Abram, Spell of the Sensuous; and Terrence W. Deacon, The Symbolic Species: The Co-
Evolution of Language and the Brain (New York: Norton, 1997).
!
!
229!
languages!into!symbolic!systems!that!we!can!understand!and!use.!
The!dominant!metaphor!for!seeking!scientific!truth!shifts!from!
“seeing”!to!“listening.”!!
I!define!science!as!altruistic!fidelity!to!phenomena;!in!other!
words,!selfless!listening!to!the!“voices”!of!natural!phenomena.!We!
can!say,!for!instance,!that!rocks!participate!in!the!science!of!geology!
by!way!of!presenting!themselves!as!a!limited!field!of!plausible!
interpretation!at!different!levels!of!analysis.!Leave!the!rocks!out!of!
geology!and!we!cannot!understand!the!geologists.!And,!yes,!of!
course,!the!geologists!are!profoundly!influenced!by!social,!
economic,!political,!cultural,!and!historical!factors;!but!without!the!
rocks,!mountains,!volcanoes,!plate!tectonics,!earthquakes,!erosion,!
fossils,!chemistry,!radioactive!dating,!and!the!rest,!there!would!be!
no!geologists.!Science!is!about!trying!to!put!the!phenomena!first—
hence!the!fidelity!and!the!altruism.!In!the!next!chapter,!we!will!
explore!a!new!metaphysics!based!in!part!on!these!insights,!as!we!
work!toward!a!new!concept!of!transcendence.!
By!including!natural!phenomena!as!active!participants!in!the!
explorations!of!science,!an!obvious!though!neglected!perspective!in!
scientific!philosophy,!we!strengthen!pragmatic!instrumentalism,!
social!constructionism,!and!critical!realism!in!our!philosophy!of!
science.!Note!that!this!new!philosophy!of!science!is!not!unlike!our!
proposed!nonreductive!functionalist!approach!to!religions.!Science!
cannot!be!reduced!to!a!single!epistemology;!instead,!it!is!a!diversity!
of!methods!that!function!and!sometimes!dysfunction!in!specific!
contexts.!
The!upshot!of!this!truncated!discussion!of!the!philosophy!of!
science!is!perhaps!a!new!definition.!Science!is!(1)!different!
methods!for!detecting!patterned!phenomena!and!explaining!causal!
relationships,!(2)!applied!by!communities!of!specialists!(3)!in!
rigorous!“dialogue”!with!phenomena,!(4)!always!implicated!in!lived!
historical!contexts!and!limitations,!(5)!resulting!in!a!self-correcting,!
self-transcending,!and!progressive!learning!process!that!(6)!makes!
strongly!objective!truth!claims,!(7)!which!facts!are!pragmatically!
verified!in!practical!applications.!We!will!further!expand!this!
definition!of!science!below.!
!
!
!
!
!
230!
Reductionism#and#Holism#
!
Typically,!science!tries!to!understand!a!phenomenon!by!taking!
it!apart,!by!trying!to!see!how!the!constituent!components!work!to!
create!the!whole.!This!is!reflected!in!the!etymology!of!the!word!
science,!which!derives!from!the!Latin!scire,!to!know,!probably!akin!
to!the!Latin!scindere!“to!split”!and!the!Sanskrit!chyati,!“to!cut!off.”!
Recall!that!the!etymology!of!the!word!religion!is!the!Latin!verb!
religare,!“to!bind!together.”!So,!in!the!etymology!of!these!two!
words,!religion!and!science,!we!have!some!indication!of!conflict!but!
also!a!necessary!relationship.!Science!is!to!split!apart;!religion!is!to!
bind!the!parts!together.!The!concepts!of!reductionism!and!holism!
are!embedded!in!the!very!etymology!of!the!two!words.!
For!instance,!in!the!science!of!botany,!we!might!see!what!
plants!are!made!of!with!our!microscopes!and!other!tools,!noting!
the!existence!of!differentiated!cells,!the!chemical!composition!of!
these!cells,!the!molecular!processes!inside!the!cells,!the!genetic!
structure!of!different!plant!species,!the!taxonomy!of!different!
plants,!the!interactions!of!plants!with!their!environment,!and!the!
evolution!of!a!plant!over!eons.!The!working!assumption!is!that!a!
plant,!or!any!phenomenon,!is!best!understood!by!a!reductionist!
approach,!one!that!takes!phenomena!apart,!seeing!how!all!the!
pieces!fit!together.!The!science!of!botany!would!further!assume!
that!the!causal!influences!that!give!rise!to!the!particular!plant!in!
question!are!all!material;!there!are!no!mystical!vitalist!forces!
behind!living!things,!just!a!lot!of!complicated!chemistry!underneath!
the!biology!and!physics!underneath!the!chemistry.!Science!works!
by!pursuing!causation!from!the!bottom!up,!even!if!the!scientist!
herself!is!an!example!of!causation!from!the!top!down.!
Let!us!look!at!an!example!from!simple-cell!biology,!the!inner!
life!of!a!bacteria!as!described!by!Bill!Bryson!in!his!remarkable!book!
A.Short.History.of.Nearly.Everything:!
!
Blown!up!to!a!scale!at!which!atoms!were!about!the!size!of!
peas,!a!cell!would!be!a!sphere!roughly!half!a!mile!across,!and!
supported!by!a!complex!framework!of!girders!called!the!
cytoskelton.!Within!it,!millions!upon!millions!of!objects—some!
the!size!of!basketballs,!others!the!size!of!cars—would!whiz!
about!like!bullets.!There!wouldn’t!be!a!place!you!could!stand!
!
!
231!
without!being!pummelled!and!ripped!thousands!of!times!every!
second!from!every!direction.!Even!for!its!full-time!occupants!
the!inside!of!a!cell!is!a!hazardous!place.!Each!strand!of!DNA!is!
on!average!attacked!or!damaged!once!every!8.4!seconds—ten!
thousand!times!in!a!day—by!chemicals!and!other!agents!that!
whack!into!or!carelessly!slice!through!it,!and!each!of!these!
wounds!must!be!swiftly!stitched!up!if!the!cell!is!not!to!perish.!
The!proteins!are!especially!lively,!spinning,!pulsating!and!
flying!into!each!other!up!to!a!billion!times!a!second.!Enzymes,!
themselves!a!type!of!protein,!dash!everywhere,!performing!up!
to!a!thousand!tasks!a!second.!Like!greatly!speeded-up!worker!
ants,!they!busily!build!and!rebuild!molecules,!hauling!a!piece!
off!this!one,!adding!a!piece!to!that!one.!Some!monitor!passing!
proteins!and!mark!with!a!chemical!those!that!are!irreparably!
damaged!or!flawed.!Once!so!selected,!the!doomed!proteins!
proceed!to!a!structure!called!a!proteasome,!where!they!are!
stripped!down!and!their!components!used!to!build!new!
proteins.!Some!types!of!protein!exist!for!less!than!half!an!hour;!
others!survive!for!weeks.!But!all!lead!existences!that!are!
inconceivably!frenzied.
273
!
!
A!typical!cell!contains!twenty!thousand!different!types!of!
proteins.!A!small!cell!contains!perhaps!100!million!protein!
molecules.!The!adult!human!body,!for!instance,!contains!some!10!
trillion!(1013)!cells!in!210!tissue!types.!Remember!that!these!all!
began!as!a!single!fertilized!cell!in!your!mother’s!womb,!a!cell!that!
replicated!and!differentiated!into!these!210!tissue!types!in!their!
proper!organs,!performing!their!proper!function.!In!addition!to!
these!eukaryotic!“human”!cells!that!compose!our!bodies,!there!are!
perhaps!100!trillion!prokaryotic!cells!living!in!our!intestinal!track!
(as!well!as!on!our!skin.)!This!rich!ecology!of!bacteria!in!our!gut!is!
symbiotic.!They!do!not!“belong”!to!us!but!are!freeloaders!who!
happen!to!add!a!lot!of!value,!as!we!do!to!them.
274
!This!is!pretty!
amazing!stuff,!and!most!of!what!is!described!above!is!new!to!
science.!Fifty!years!ago,!not!much!of!this!was!known!in!any!detail.!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!
273
Bill Bryson, A Short History of Nearly Everything: Special Illustrated Edition (New York:
Broadway Books, 2003, 2005), 477-78.
274
Scott F. Gilbert and David Epel, Ecological Developmental Biology: Integrating Epigenetics,
Medicine, and Evolution (Sunderland, MA: Sinauer Associates, 2009), 98.
!
!
232!
We!can!learn!a!lot!of!interesting!things!about!a!cell!by!studying!
its!parts!and!its!chemistry.!A!quick!perusal!of!the!typically!heavy!
undergraduate!textbook!on!cell!biology!should!be!adequate!to!
demonstrate!just!how!much!we!have!learned!in!the!last!century!
through!this!kind!of!reductionist!approach.!That!being!said,!the!cell!
itself!could!not!be!adequately!described!solely!on!the!basis!of!its!
constituent!components,!even!less!so!the!phenomenon!of!the!
particular!plant.!The!plant!is!an!emergent!phenomenon,!both!in!its!
ontogeny—!developmental!biology—and!its!phylogeny—
evolutionary!biology.!To!this!we!must!add!ecological!systems!in!
which!the!plant!both!contributes!to!creating!the!selective!
environment!and!is!also!acted!on!by!the!selective!environment!in!a!
fine!piece!of!circular!logic.!Ecology,!we!are!told,!is!a!“subversive!
science”!precisely!because!it!is!about!emergent!phenomena!and!
does!not!fit!the!dominant!reductionist!paradigm!in!science.
275
!The!
concept!of!emergence!says!simply!that!the.whole.is.more.than.the.
sum.of.its.parts—in!this!case,!an!ecology!is!more!than!the!sum!of!all!
the!species!within!a!bioregional!system,!just!as!a!cell!is!more!than!
the!sum!of!its!proteins!and!other!chemical!processes.!
While!we!have!learned!a!lot!about!how!a!cell!works,!the!
unified!phenomenon!of!a!cell!could!hardly!be!predicted!by!studying!
its!100!million!parts,!and!much!less!so!could!the!phenomenon!of!
your!personhood!be!described!by!separately!examining!the!10!
trillion!cells!in!your!body.!As!science!has!acquired!exponentially!
more!knowledge!through!reductionism,!it!has!also!increasingly!
embraced!robust!concepts!of!emergence!as!essential!to!scientific!
explanation.!!
Emergence!is!not!just!“soft”!concepts!from!cell!biology!and!
ecology!that!burst!the!reductionist!dream!of!a!completely!
mechanistic!account!of!complex!phenomena.!From!the!surface!
tension!of!water!in!a!glass!to!superfluidity!and!superconductivity!in!
a!physicist’s!lab,!the!behavior!of!huge!numbers!of!particles!cannot!
be!deduced!from!the!properties!of!a!single!atom!or!molecule.!In!
accepting!the!Nobel!Prize!for!Physics!in!1998,!Robert!Laughlin!
noted:!
!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!
275
Paul Shepard and Daniel McKinley, eds., The Subversive Science: Essays toward an Ecology
of Man (Boston, MA: Houghton-Mifflin,1969).
!
!
233!
The!world!is!full!of!things!for!which!one’s!understanding,!i.e.!
one’s!ability!to!predict!what!will!happen!in!an!experiment,!is!
degraded!by!taking!the!system!apart,!including!most!
delightfully!the!standard!model!of!elementary!particles!itself.!I!
myself!have!come!to!suspect!most!of!the!important!
outstanding!problems!in!physics!are!emergent!in!nature,!
including!particularly!quantum!gravity.
276
!
!
Materialism#and#Information#
!
To!say!that!one!is!a!materialist!today!requires!some!
explication,!because!matter!turns!out!to!be!rather!bizarre!stuff.!
Atoms!are!not!fundamental;!they!are!divisible,!on!the!first!order,!
into!protons,!neutrons,!and!electrons.!Far!from!being!“matter,”!the!
atom!turns!out!to!be!mostly!empty!space!on!a!scale!difficult!to!
conceptualize.!The!single!proton!at!the!center!of!a!simple!hydrogen!
atom!is!something!like!a!baseball!sitting!on!the!pitcher’s!mound!at!
Yankee!stadium,!and!the!single!electron!is!not!even!the!size!of!a!flea!
buzzing!around!in!a!“probability!space”!at!the!farthest!edge!of!the!
stadium.!If!we!break!these!atomic!components!down!further,!we!
end!up!with!other!subatomic!particles!whose!“materiality”!is!rather!
strange!indeed.!Materialism!reduced!to!this!level!of!“matter”!
disintegrates!into!forces!and!fields,!entangled!relationships,!and!
ephemeral!existence—quarks,!leptons,!electrons,!neutrinos,!
photons,!gluons,!W!&!Z,!and!gravitons.!!
Reductionism!and!materialism,!however!useful!as!
methodological!approaches!in!science,!self-destruct!as!
philosophical!propositions!when!we!push!them!to!the!limits!of!the!
very!small,!the!very!fast,!the!very!cold,!the!very!hot,!the!very!dense,!
the!very!large,!and!the!very!complex.!Frankly,!it!is!embarrassing!
that!otherwise!brilliant!people!think!nothing!of!invoking!
“materialism”!today!as!one!of!the!hallmarks!of!science.!The!concept!
of!materialism!deconstructed!itself!with!the!advent!of!quantum!
mechanics!and!particle!physics.!None!of!this!means!that!we!are!
compelled!to!adopt!some!form!of!supernaturalism,!but!the!
fundamental!nature!of!nature!turns!out!to!be!fantastically!super.
277
!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!
276
Robert B. Laughlin, “Fractional Quantisation,” Review of Modern Physics 71, no. 4 (1998).
277
Naturalism is a similarly tricky term, an abstraction that defines itself largely by what it
opposes. In other words, “naturalism” is anything that is not “supernaturalism,” so we are
!
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!
thrown back into metaphysics. This is one of the reasons that I spurn the use of the term
“supernatural” in my preferred definition of religion. If God exists, then God is completely
“natural” and only works through emergent “natural” processes. Mythological stories are not
description of real events in history but profound metaphorical interpretations produced by
prescientific peoples.
278
Varadaraja V. Raman, Truth and Tension in Science and Religion (Center Ossipee, NH: Beech
River Books, 2009), 115.
!
!
235!
to!its!supervenience,!but!the!character!and!nuances!of!this!new!
metaphysical!vision!have!barely!been!explored.!!
In!physics,!we!now!talk!about!the!information!states!of!
quantum!phenomena.!In!cosmology,!we!speculate!about!a!
preexistent!mathematical!order,!through!which!the!cosmos!
unfolds.!Challenge!a!hard-nosed,!reductionistic!physicist!about!his!
mathematics,!and!you!are!likely!to!find!a!soft-hearted!Neoplatonist.!!
With!the!genomic!revolution,!biologists!now!also!talk!about!
information!residing!at!the!center!of!life!processes.!In!cellular-
signal!transduction,!the!genomic!“Word”!becomes!living!flesh.!
Though!species!come!and!go!in!the!evolutionary!epic,!much!of!the!
genomic!memory!of!the!past!is!retained!in!contemporary!genomes.!
As!new!evolutionary!niches!are!explored,!the!“figurative”!becomes!
“literal,”!as!new!species!are!reconfigured!by!selection!into!new!
emergent!possibilities,!adding!new!chapters!to!the!book!of!life.!
The!neurosciences!today!see!the!brain!as!an!information-
processing!system.!While!no!doubt!beautiful!to!the!discerning!eye!
of!a!scientist,!a!single!neuron!is!rather!dumb.!A!hundred!billion!
neurons!in!the!human!brain,!however,!wired!in!a!massively!parallel!
system,!become!potentially!the!most!complex!entity!in!the!
universe.!The!neurons!fire!in!on!and!off!states!through!the!synaptic!
media!to!mediate!every!human!experience!and!memory,!including!
the!self-transcending!neuronal!activities!of!scientists!doing!science.!
Laying!down!neural!networks!is!another!way!of!talking!about!
encoding!information,!as!the!inside!informational!world!of!the!
brain!maps!with!the!outside!informational!world!of!nature,!culture,!
and!cosmos.!
This!new!metaphysical!movement!in!the!sciences!has!largely!
been!mediated!by!the!computer!as!both!tool!and!metaphor.!Among!
diverse!scientific!disciplines,!the!real!scientific!revolution!in!the!
last!decades!of!the!twentieth!century!has!been!the!ability!to!collect!
and!analyze!large!data!sets!and!to!manipulate!these!data!sets!
further!through!powerful!computer!simulations.!Computers!
provide!not!just!the!tools!for!new!scientific!discoveries!but!also!the!
new!metaphors!that!now!also!dominate!scientific!discourse.!
Algorithms,!binary!code,!hardware,!software,!and!networks!are!
terms!that!have!traveled!widely!outside!the!domain!of!the!
computer!sciences.!Computational!finitude,!however,!also!points!
toward!a!complexity!horizon!that!may!thwart!our!unbridled!
!
!
236!
desires!for!controlling!and!predictive!knowledge.
279
!The!universe!
may!be!a!single!database,!but!it!is!so!profoundly!relational!that!the!
easy!hackings!of!the!codes!by!earlier!science!may!soon!be!
exhausted.
280
!!
This!new!relational,!information-centered!ontology!arising!in!
the!sciences!today!provides!a!wonderful!moment!for!the!recovery!
and!reinterpretation!of!traditional!religious!worldviews.!Many!
religions!have!understood!language!to!be!in!some!way!primordial!
to!the!material!constitution!of!the!universe.!In!Hinduism,!the!
Upanishads!talk!of!a!primal!word,!Om,!that!functions!as!the!creative!
source!of!all!nature.!In!Jewish!Midrash,!the!grammatical!ambiguity!
of!the!first!line!of!Genesis!and!the!extravagant!linguistic!creativity!
of!Elohim!lead!to!philosophical!speculation!about!a!preexistent!
Torah,!which!God!uses!to!speak!reality!into!being.!In!medieval!
Judaism,!this!rabbinic!tradition!gave!rise!to!the!wild!speculations!
and!philosophical!subtleties!of!the!Kabbalah.!The!Greeks,!including!
Plato,!drew!upon!Heraclitus’s!notion!of!logos,!viewing!the!
embodied!word!as!the!fire!that!animated!and!ruled!the!world,!to!
explain!their!understanding!of!primeval,!material!language.!In!the!
Gospel!of!John,!Christians!celebrate!this!Word!or!Logos!in!a!radical!
incarnationalist!vision!of!a!cosmic!Christ!in!whom!and!through!
whom!all!things!come!into!being.!Today,!the!universe!is!far!grander!
than!our!ancestors!could!have!possibly!imagined,!but!somehow!
they!seem!to!have!already!intuited!the!deep!informational!
structure!of!the!universe!through!which!all!things!come!into!being.!
!
Hierarchies#of#Explanation#
!
At!this!point,!we!have!a!number!of!interesting!categories!in!
our!new!metaphysics!of!science.!We!have!space-time,!matter-
energy,!and!information.!We!also!have!a!powerful!dialectic!
between!reductionism!and!emergence.!We!have!diverse!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!
279
David Harel, Computers Ltd.: What They Really Can’t Do (New York: Oxford University
Press, 2000); John D. Barrow, Impossibility: The Limits of Science and the Science of Limits
(New York: Oxford University Press, 1999); Orrin H. Pilkey and Linda Pilkey-Jarvis, Useless
Arithmetic: Why Environmental Scientists Can’t Predict the Future (New York: Columbia
University Press, 2007); William Grassie, “Useless Arithmetic and Inconvenient Truths: A
Review,” Metanexus (2007), https://metanexus.net/useless-arithmetic-and-inconvenient-truths/
280
John Horgan, The End of Science: Facing the Limits of Knowledge in the Twilight of the
Scientific Age (New York: Addison-Wesley, 1996).
!
!
237!
methodologies!for!studying!different!types!of!phenomena.!All!these!
are!in!some!sense!both!symbolic!and!real!in!that!they!can!be!
intelligibly!represented!in!the!semiotics!of!human!language.!We!can!
now!introduce!hierarchies!of!scale,!time,!and!complexity!into!our!
reading!of!contemporary!science.!
The!sciences!are!organized!hierarchically!from!the!
microcosmic!to!the!mesocosmic!to!the!macrocosmic.!You!will!recall!
from!chapter!two!that!August!Comte!already!proposed!such!a!
hierarchy!of!the!sciences,!but!we!know!so!much!more!than!he!or!
his!contemporaries!could!have!imagined.!At!the!bottom!of!the!
reductionist!hierarchy!is!particle!physics,!which!is!required!for!
atomic!physics.!The!properties!of!atoms!are!necessary!for!simple!
and!complex!chemistry!to!arise.!Chemistry!is!necessary!for!there!to!
be!biology,!geology,!and!other!mesocosmic!sciences.!Biology!is!
necessary!for!there!to!be!human!consciousness!and!culture.!Our!
sciences!of!religion!enter!into!this!hierarchy!at!this!stage,!but!our!
new!religion!of!science!must!deal!with!the!synthetic!interpretation!
of!the!entire!cosmological!hierarchy.
281
!
Of!course,!a!universe!is!required!to!contain!the!atomic!
particles!and!give!rise!to!the!properties!of!physics!in!the!first!place,!
a!time!and!a!place!for!all!the!complex,!evolving!stuff!we!see!around!
us.!So,!we!need!a!universe!of!space-time!and!matter-energy.!In!
ways!not!fully!understood,!it!also!appears!that!the!science!of!the!
very!small,!particle!physics!may!tell!us!something!important!about!
the!science!of!the!origins!of!the!universe!as!a!whole,!so!the!
microcosmic!and!macrocosmic!scales!may!loop!back!together.!
Particle!physics!turns!out!to!be!helpful!in!thinking!about!
cosmological!questions!about!the!early!universe.
282
!This!is!the!
hierarchy!of!scale.!Everything!discovered!by!science!is!related!in!
size.!!
There!is!also!a!hierarchy!of!time!in!the!chronological!unfolding!
of!the!13.7-billion-year!evolving!universe.!Stellar!fusion!creates!the!
heavy!elements,!which!then!give!rise!to!complex!chemistry!in!
second-!and!third-generation!solar!systems,!which—at!least!on!one!
planet—gave!rise!to!life!and!consciousness.!Thus,!there!is!both!a!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!
281
For a discussion of emergent hierarchies in science, see George F. R. Ellis and Nancey Murphy,
On the Moral Nature of the Universe: Theology, Cosmology, and Ethics (Minneapolis, MN:
Fortress Press, 1996).
282
Joel R. Primack and Nancy Ellen Abrams, The View from the Center of the Universe:
Discovering Our Extraordinary Place in the Cosmos (New York: Riverhead, 2006).
!
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I1/+!2,2)628!'=2)!+5,2!:2)2!4/;2)7!'<!5&0)2/75&6!0',.4235+;?!
%&!'(+45&2!<'),9!:2!0/&!+/4>!/*'(+!72=2&!7+/6279!2/01!'<!:1501!1/7!/!
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:5+1!+12!)/.58!2='4(+5'&!'<!5&+244562&02!/&8!+201&'4'6;!+1)'(61!
0'4420+5=2!42/)&5&6?!H12!.)2=5'(7!2.'017!8'!&'+!857/..2/)?!
S(*/+',50!./)+504279!<')!5&7+/&029!/)2!.)272&+!+1)'(61'(+9!*(+!&2:!
0',.4235+527!/)2!/8828!'&+'!+12!(&82)4;5&6!7+)(0+()27?
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0/40(4/+27!+12!2&2)6;-82&75+;!<4':7!/+!85<<2)2&+!42=247!'<!
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<4':5&6!+1)'(61!/!7;7+2,!5&!)27.20+!+'!5+7!,/77!'=2)!+5,29!5&!+157!
0/72!,2/7()28!/7!2)6!.2)!720'&87!.2)!6)/,7!a2)6!7-#!6!-#c?!H12!
2/)+1]7!045,/7.12)29!:1501!0'&757+7!'<!+12!/+,'7.12)2!/&8!'02/&79!
1/7!)'(614;!/!1(&8)28!+5,27!+12!2&2)6;-82&75+;!<4':!'<!/!+;.50/4!
7+/)!')!6/4/3;?!H1)'(61!.1'+'7;&+127579!.4/&+7!/0152=2!/&!2&2)6;-
82&75+;!<4':!)'(614;!/!+1'(7/&8!+5,27!,')2!+1/&!+1/+!'<!/!7+/)?!H12!
1(,/&!*'8;!57!7(7+/5&28!*;!/!8/54;!<''8!5&+/>2!)27(4+5&6!5&!/&!
2&2)6;-82&75+;!<4':!/*'(+!+:2&+;!+1'(7/&8!+5,27!,')2!+1/&!+1/+!
'<!/!+;.50/4!7+/)?!V2,2,*2)!+1/+!:2!/)2!0',./)5&6!+12!)/+5'!'<!
2&2)6;!0'&7(,28!+'!,/77!'<!+12!'*F20+7?!g2)2!57!/&'+12)!:/;!+'!
+15&>!'<!+157?!%<!/!1(,/&!*'8;!0'(48!*2!70/428!(.!+'!+12!,/77!'<!'()!
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5+!0'(48!'*+/5&!2&'(61!<''8!2&2)6;Xc?!H12!1(,/&!*)/5&9!:1501!
0'&7(,27!/*'(+!"L!.2)02&+!'<!'()!2&2)6;!5&+/>2!:1542!0'&7+5+(+5&6!
/*'(+!"!.2)02&+!'<!'()!*'8;!:2561+9!1/7!/&!2&2)6;-82&75+;!<4':!
#QL9LLL!+5,27!+1/+!'<!/!+;.50/4!7+/)?!B&89!<5&/44;9!,'82)&!1(,/&!
05=545J/+5'&!1/7!/&!2&2)6;-82&75+;!)/+5'!7',2!<5=2!1(&8)28!
+1'(7/&8!+5,27!+1/+!'<!/!+;.50/4!7+/)?
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'(+!+'!*2!/!(72<(4!:/;!+'!+15&>!/*'(+!2,2)62&+!0',.4235+;?!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!
283
Eric Chaisson, Epic of Evolution : Seven Ages of the Cosmos (New York: Columbia
University Press, 2006).
284
Chaisson, Cosmic Evolution: The Rise of Complexity in Nature (Cambridge, MA: Harvard
University Press, 2001), 139; Chaisson, Epic of Evolution, 293 - 96; Christian, Maps of Time:
An Introduction to Big History (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2004).
!
!
239!
In!the!background!of!this!discussion!of!increasing!complexity!
is!the!second!law!of!thermodynamics,!which!states!simply!that!
entropy!increases!in!any!closed!system.!Without!new!sources!of!
energy!flowing!into!a!system,!the!system!will!deteriorate!into!less!
complex,!more!diffuse!states.!In!lay!terminology,!the!second!law!of!
thermodynamics!is!the!certainty!of!death!and!taxes.!Everything!
tends!toward!equilibrious!disordered!states!(e.g.,!death),!while!
disequilibrious!ordered!states!(e.g.,!life)!can!only!be!maintained!by!
paying!energy-intake!taxes.!In!other!words,!there!are!no!free!
lunches,!and!you!work!until!you!die.!!
The!complexity!of!life!on!earth!is!ultimately!sustained!by!the!
flow!of!energy!from!the!sun!to!the!planet,!which!energy!is!then!
captured!by!photosynthesis.!The!food!we!eat,!and!with!which!we!
think!and!act,!is!ultimately!solar!energy!passed!along!through!the!
food!chain.!Fossil!fuels!can!be!thought!of!as!part!of!this!
photosynthetic!energy!flow.!Contemporary!ecoromantics!get!it!
partly!wrong!and!partly!right.!There!is!always!a!cost!to!life,!which!
we!can!refer!to!as!the!Great!Eucharistic!law:!eat!and!be!eaten.!
Without!killing!and!harvesting!energy!from!other!sources,!which!
means!ultimately!the!sun,!we!would!cease!to!exist.!The!slogan!
“reduce,!reuse,!recycle”!is!only!partly!right!because!what!drives!the!
evolution!of!increasing!complexity!on!our!planet!and!in!the!
universe!is!actually!“consume!more!energy!in!order!to!be!more!
complex.”!The!real!evolutionary!morality!tale!can!be!better!
summed!up!in!the!new!aphorism!“minimize!entropy,!maximize!
creativity.”!What!environmentalists!get!right!is!the!centrality!of!
solar!energy!to!our!lives!and!the!possibility!that!we!can!do!
complexity!better,!more!elegantly,!and!less!destructively.!Note!that!
sun-worshipping!religions!of!the!past!intuited!something!profound!
about!contemporary!science!and!thermodynamics.!
While!nothing!violates!the!letter!of!the!law—the!second!law!of!
thermodynamics—the!actual!evolutionary!history!of!the!universe!
violates!the!spirit!of!the!law.
285
!Science!offers!no!adequate!
explanation!for!why!the!particular!complexity!we!observe!today!
should!have!evolved.!Many!other!universes!and!many!other!types!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!
285
One possible exception to the second law of thermodynamics is the impact of gravity in giving
structure to the early universe. By drawing clouds of hydrogen and helium together into denser
and denser regions, gravity ignited stellar fusion. Once stellar fusion begins, the second law
applies to the life cycle of a star, but apparently not before.
!
!
240!
of!complexity!can!be!imagined.!The!observed!complexification!of!
the!universe!allows!us!to!postulate!a!purposeful!directionality!in!
the!universe.!This!purpose!we!shall!tentatively!characterize!as!
increasing!complexification.!This!inference!can!be!made!based!on!
the!observed!history!of!the!universe;!the!evolution!of!life!on!the!
planet;!and!the!development!of!human!culture,!economics,!science,!
and!technology.!!
At!this!point,!it!is!useful!to!distinguish!between!teleonomy!and!
teleology.!The!latter!refers!to!a!goal!to!which!something!aspires,!as!
in!Aristotle’s!notion!of!final!cause.!Teleonomy,!on!the!other!hand,!
can!be!thought!of!as!an!implied!trajectory!based!on!past!history!
and!need!not!make!reference!to!future!purposes.!The!observed!
history!of!the!universe––its!teleonomy––is!indicative!of!increasing!
complexification!as!the!“purpose”!of!the!universe––a!possible!
teleology.!
Skeptics!will!immediately!retort!that!the!trajectory!of!the!
universe!is!death,!in!either!an!entropic!dispersal!of!matter-energy!
or!a!cosmic!collapse!in!a!so-called!“Big!Crunch.”!When!the!sun!
exhausts!its!nuclear!fuel!in!another!4!billion!years,!we!can!well!
predict!the!end!of!the!earth,!if!not!sooner.!Earth’s!complexity!will!
eventually!cease.!The!increased!complexification!that!earth!has!
experienced!over!the!preceding!4!billion!years!is!because!of!the!
energy!flow!from!the!sun.!For!the!time!being,!the!earth!is!not!a!
closed!system,!so!increasing!complexity!overrules!the!intractable!
necessity!of!entropy.!!
We!do!not!really!know,!however,!whether!the!universe!as!a!
whole!is!actually!a!closed!system,!though!this!is!the!default!
assumption!in!cosmology.!The!theistic!hypothesis,!of!course,!is!that!
the!universe!is!not!a!closed!system,!that!there!is!some!kind!of!
force—mind!or!being—that!transcends!the!universe.!In!this!
formulation,!information!may!be!the!key!to!understanding!what!it!
means!to!talk!of!God-by-whatever-name!and!the!nature!of!divine!
intervention.
286
!This!divine!intervention,!however,!would!be!
something!more!like!Adam!Smith’s!image!of!an!“Invisible!Hand”!at!
work!within!economic!markets.!We!shall!come!back!to!this!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!
286
This interpretation has been advanced by physicist-turned-theologian John Polkinghorne. See,
for instance, John C. Polkinghorne, Science and Providence (London: SPCK, 1989);
Polkinghorne, Faith of a Physicist, The: Reflections of a Bottom-up Thinker, Gifford Lectures
for 1993-4 (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1994); Polkinghorne, Belief in God in an
Age of Science (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1998).
!
!
241!
interpretation!in!the!next!chapter,!when!we!further!explore!the!
implied!purposes!of!the!universe,!as!we!work!from!the!bottom!up!
toward!God-by-whatever-name.!
!
Emergence#and#Transcendence#
!
The!concept!of!emergence!gets!us!closer!to!the!possibility!of!
certain!religious!truth!claims!being!plausible.!An!emergent!and!
layered!understanding!of!science!leads!to!different!levels!of!
explanation.!Particle!physics,!for!instance,!is!not!the!least!bit!
helpful!in!doing!botany.!Indeed,!particle!physics!has!limited!utility!
in!even!normal!chemistry.!Nor!does!knowing!chemistry!help!an!
economist.!The!pursuit!of!a!reductionist!account!of!phenomena!has!
not!led!to!a!grand!unified!theory!of!science!but!to!now!thousands!of!
disciplines!and!specializations!within!science.!As!already!detailed,!
there!is!no!such!thing!as!a!“scientific!method”!true!for!all!these!
different!disciplines!and!specializations.!Scientists!try!to!solve!
particular!problems!within!the!parameters!set!by!the!phenomenon!
in!question,!pragmatically!adopting!the!tools!and!methods!most!
appropriate!to!that!problem.!There!are!levels!of!analyses;!and!
biologists,!or!even!economists,!can!safely!know!nothing!about!
particle!physics!and!still!do!excellent!science.!!
There!are!different!meanings!of!emergence!in!our!bottom-up!
approach!to!transcendence.!First,!there!is!ontological!emergence!in!
evolution.!New!entities!come!into!being!that!previously!did!not!
exist.!For!a!long!time,!there!were!no!carbon!atoms!in!the!universe,!
but!then!stellar!fusion!created!carbon.!For!a!long!time,!there!was!no!
life!in!the!universe,!but,!on!at!least!one!planet,!complex!chemistry!
catalyzed!into!a!self-replicating,!adaptive,!and!thermodynamic!
process.!For!a!long!time,!there!was!no!eyesight!in!the!universe,!but!
finally!eyes!evolved,!and!the!capacity!of!sight!emerged!as!a!novel!
event!in!evolution.!Ontological!emergence!entails!epistemological!
emergence,!different!ways!of!knowing!appropriate!to!different!
levels!of!reality!and!complexity.!
The!concept!of!emergence,!as!we!have!already!examined,!also!
means!that!different!levels!of!reality!require!different!scientific!
practices!appropriate!at!each!level.!Emergence!puts!some!
limitations!on!reductionist!explanations.!For!instance,!emergence!
places!philosophical!limits!on!the!claims!of!some!social!scientists!to!
!
!
242!
explain!away!religion!reductionistically!or,!for!that!matter,!any!
other!complex!human!or!natural!phenomenon.!Emergence!is!
central!to!nonreductive!functionalism!because!religion!is!an!
emergent!phenomena!both!in!its!ontogeny!and!its!phylogeny.!
A!robust!understanding!of!emergence,!and!with!it!different!
levels!of!analysis!and!interpretation,!opens!up!a!possibility!space!
within!the!soul!of!the!scientific!enterprise!for!religious!notions!of!
transcendence,!the!God-by-whatever-name!mystery.!We!will!
tentatively!define!God-by-whatever-name!as!the!set!of!all!
phenomena—past,!present,!future—as!well!as!that!which!may!also!
in!some!sense!precede!and!transcend!this!universe.!Contemporary!
science!is!actually!more!suggestive!of!some!notion!of!
transcendence!than!it!is!of!atheistic!materialism.!There!is!a!cultural!
lag!in!absorbing!these!insights!on!both!sides!of!the!religion-science!
divide.!!
While!it!is!possible!to!think!from!the!bottom!up!toward!the!
possibility!of!God-by-whatever-name,!it!is!not!possible!to!think!
from!the!bottom!up!to!establish!God-by-any-particular-name!of!any!
specific!revealed!tradition.!Science!will!not!give!us!the!God!of!
Abraham,!Isaac,!and!Jacob,!or!Jesus!Christ,!my!Lord!and!Savior,!or!
Allah!and!Mohammad!as!His!Prophet!(PBUH),!the!avatars!of!
Brahma,!or!the!Buddha!Nature!in!All!Things.!Once!we!grant!the!
possibility!of!a!God-by-whatever-name,!however,!we!should!also!
grant!the!possibility,!that!this!may!also!be!a!God-by-a-particular-
name.!Who!are!we!to!tell!God!what!God!can!and!cannot!be!in!the!
realm!of!ultimate!reality.!Any!such!“god”!that!we!could!contain!
within!our!intellectual!constructs!would!simply!not!be!God.!Top-
down!revelation!is!a!real!possibility.!God!may!well!“speak”!to!us!in!
human!languages!and!in!very!personal!ways.!Of!course,!the!
interpretations!and!faith!commitments!of!particular!religious!
communities!are!certainly!self-serving!on!this!point,!but!God!may!
well!enough!choose!one!particular!historical!moment!and!one!
particular!revelation!to!be!the!definitive!text.!
For!instance,!maybe!the!revelation!received!by!Mohammad,!
peace!be!upon!him,!is!indeed!God’s!final!revelation,!given!to!an!
illiterate!merchant!in!the!language!of!Arabic!some!1,400!years!ago!
in!the!deserts!of!Arabia.!Science!cannot!rule!out!that!the!God!might!
choose!to!reveal!herself!to!humans!through!certain!privileged!
revelations,!but!science!can!put!some!parameters!on!the!
!
!
243!
plausibility!of!different!readings!of!those!traditions.!In!other!words,!
certain!readings!of!the!first!chapters!of!Genesis!or!the!Qur’an!are!
just!wrong,!not!that!the!Bible!or!the!Qur’an!are!stupid—far!from!it.!
God,!as!often!understood!by!traditional!religions,!seems!rather!
small!and!parochial!in!view!of!what!we!now!understand!to!be!a!
fantastically!large!universe,!but!the!concept!of!God!is!no!less!robust!
in!light!of!contemporary!science.!There!is!a!secular!logic!to!
religious!exclusivism,!as!there!is!to!human!languages,!which!has!to!
do!with!the!dynamics!of!being!human,!even!if!it!makes!no!sense!for!
our!bottom-up!theology!of!nature.!The!logic!of!group!selection!in!
evolutionary!psychology,!the!economics!of!irreversible!choices,!and!
the!perennial!psychological!need!for!certainty!in!the!face!of!
cognitive!dissonance!mitigate!against!a!truly!universalist!
reinterpretation!and!reinvention!of!our!received!religious!
traditions.!We!will!come!back!to!this!exclusivist-universalist!
challenge!in!the!next!chapter.!
Just!because!nature!turns!out!to!be!super,!fantastically!super,!
does!not!mean!that!it!is!“supernatural.”!And!while!much!of!science!
is!also!fantastically!strange,!this!does!not!mean!that!every!strange!
belief!and!practice!humans!have!or!have!had!is!therefore!true.!Just!
because!quantum!mechanics!is!weird!does!not!mean!that!every!
weird!idea!that!people!come!up!with!is!true,!even!if!it!is!dressed!up!
with!the!patina!of!quantum!mechanics.!Just!because!there!is!
ontological!emergence!of!novelty!in!the!evolution!of!the!universe!
does!not!mean!every!novel!notion!that!people!invent!is!true.!!
The!concept!of!emergence!creates!a!possibility!space!for!a!lot!
of!strange!beliefs!and!practices—the!i-Ching,!the!Bible-code,!Reiki,!
the!Book!of!Revelations,!astrology,!parapsychology—but!it!does!
not!mean!that!any!of!this!stuff!is,!in!fact,!true.!Should!these!
paranormal!processes!actually!exist,!science!will!not!be!of!much!
use!in!verifying!“unnatural”!emergent!phenomena.!Strictly!
speaking,!miracles!are!possible!within!the!metaphysical!system!
that!we!are!exploring!here,!but!why!postulate!“miracles”!unless!
they!are!based!on!one’s!own!lived!experiences?!If!one!has!a!
profound!personal!experience!of!a!miraculous!or!mystical!nature,!
one!should!not!necessarily!discredit!these.!And!while!emergent!
“unnatural”!or!“paranormal”!phenomena!may!be!possible!in!this!
framework,!it!is!also!important!to!recognize!that!certain!
interpretations!of!religion!can!also!be!falsified,!as!in!the!example!of!
!
!
244!
Young!Earth!Creationists!promoting!an!alternative!natural!history!
of!the!planet!based!on!uninformed!biblical!literalism!and!no!
serious!understanding!of!science.!Remember!the!scriptures!are!not!
true;!they!are!profound.!
In!the!same!vein,!we!should!not!read!popular-science!writers!
as!offering!the!necessary!and!correct!interpretation!of!science.!
There!is!a!difference!between!the!content!and!interpretation!of!
science,!just!as!there!is!a!difference!between!a!sacred!text!and!the!
interpretation!of!the!sacred!text.!The!dominant!culture!of!science!
today!reads!the!content!of!science!with!Stoic!and!Existentialist!
biases,!what!is!called!scientism.!This!is!not!a!necessary!
interpretation,!though!like!all!fundamentalisms,!scientism!seeks!to!
present!its!interpretation!as!the!“one-true-story.”!
Let!me!give!two!examples!of!antireligious!biases!in!the!
interpretation!of!contemporary!science—multiverse!theory!and!
Darwinian!evolution.!
!
Which#Universe#Do#You#Live#In?#
!
The!success!of!modern!cosmology!in!understanding!the!
history!and!structure!of!the!universe!has!led!to!a!profound!crisis!in!
the!field,!which!has!a!curious!religious!subtext.!The!topography!of!
the!universe!discovered!by!astronomers,!physicists,!and!
cosmologists!is!extraordinary.!Our!sun,!at!a!distance!of!93!million!
miles,!is!but!a!small!star!in!a!vast!galaxy!of!some!100!billion!stars.!
This!galaxy!is!but!one!of!100!billion!other!galaxies!stretching!back!
some!13!billion!years!at!the!speed!of!light!into!an!infinitely!dense!
and!infinitely!hot!originating!mystery.!It!was!not!until!1922!that!
the!astronomer!Edwin!Hubble!(1889–1954)!discovered!galaxies!
and!we!began!to!understand!the!large-scale!structure!of!the!
universe.!!
One!thing!this!new!cosmology!teaches!us!is!that!whatever!
humans!in!the!past!believed!about!God!is!way!too!small.
287
!Most!
cosmologists,!astronomers,!and!physicists,!however,!are!not!
interested!in!doing!God-talk;!but!those!of!us!who!do!talk-the-talk!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!
287
Hindu cosmologies are the only ones in traditional religion that approach the scale of our
contemporary understanding of the universe, albeit framed in unbelievable characters and
details that have nothing to do with science.
!
!
245!
should!certainly!be!paying!attention!to!the!current!cosmos!
conversation.!
The!situation!is!such.!Imagine!that!you!walk!into!a!classroom!
and!notice!that!there!is!a!pencil!standing!on!its!point!on!the!table.!
In!all!those!years!in!elementary!school,!no!matter!how!hard!you!
tried,!you!could!not!make!a!pencil!stand!up!on!its!point.!But!here,!
one!day!in!graduate!school,!you!walk!into!an!empty!classroom,!and!
there!is!this!pencil!standing!on!its!point.!So,!you!call!in!the!physics!
department!to!help!study!this!strange!occurrence.!!
One!possibility!is!that!there!is!some!strange,!invisible!force!
that!causes!this!pencil!to!stand!on!its!point.!Gravity!aside,!
physicists!are!averse!to!postulating!strange,!invisible!forces,!so!
perhaps!this!strange!pencil!is!just!a!weird,!fluky!event,!however!
improbable.!Physicists,!however,!do!not!tend!to!go!for!weird,!fluky!
improbabilities.!
Such!is!the!case!in!contemporary!cosmology!in!what!is!
referred!to!as!“the!fine-tuning!problem.”!There!are!a!dozen!such!
fine-tuning!issues!that!confound!cosmologists.!The!expansion!rate!
of!the!universe,!the!ratio!of!matter!to!antimatter!in!the!early!
universe,!the!specific!values!of!the!weak!and!strong!nuclear!forces,!
the!mass!ratios!between!electrons,!protons,!and!neutrons—the!list!
goes!on.!If!any!of!these!variables!was!ever!so!slightly!different,!then!
none!of!the!complexity!we!see!around!or!inside!us!would!be!
possible.!In!other!words,!life!and!consciousness!could!not!have!
evolved.!Where!biologists!see!random!drift!and!natural!selection!in!
the!messy!story!of!life,!physicists!see!elegant!improbabilities!in!the!
ordered!and!intelligible!nature!of!the!cosmos.!
Some!extend!the!weird!role!of!the!observer!in!fixing!the!
uncertainty!in!quantum!events!to!apply!to!the!universe!as!a!whole.!
Perhaps!the!universe!as!a!whole!is!a!kind!of!quantum!event!that!
requires!an!observer!with!something!like!human!consciousness!to!
observe!it.!“The!more!I!examine!the!universe!and!study!the!details!
of!its!architecture,”!writes!the!physicist!Freeman!Dyson,!“the!more!
evidence!I!find!that!the!universe!in!some!sense!must!have!known!
we!were!coming.”
288
!This!interpretation!is!referred!to!as!the!
anthropic!principle.!It!comes!in!weak!and!strong!flavors.!This!
interpretation!implies!a!kind!of!future!necessity!of!our!just-so!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!
288
Freeman Dyson, Disturbing the Universe (New York: Basic Books, 1979), 250.
!
!
246!
universe,!such!that!present-day!consciousness!determines!past!
actualities.!Physicists,!however,!are!also!averse!to!invisible!
necessities!in!which!future!possibilities!determine!past!realities.!
At!this!point,!the!normal!graduate!student!trying!to!figure!out!
why!the!pencil!is!standing!on!its!point!would!probably!be!happy!to!
reconsider!the!possibility!of!an!invisible!force.!Our!physicists!and!
cosmologists!are!very!clever!with!mathematics,!which!allows!them!
not!only!to!discover!realities!but!also!to!imagine!possibilities!that!
may!not!be!real!at!all.!Such!is!the!case!with!multiverse!theory!and!
its!cousin!string-theory,!the!big!new!fads!in!contemporary!
cosmology.!The!theory!goes!something!like!this:!we!just!happen!to!
live!in!a!universe!in!which!the!pencil!stands!on!a!point.!There!are!
an!infinite!number!of!parallel!universes,!in!which!the!pencil!
realizes!every!other!potential!state!by!falling!down.!While!there!are!
sophisticated!mathematical!models!that!might!predict!the!
existence!of!multiple!universes,!as!there!have!long!been!for!
multiple!dimensions,!it!is!not!clear!that!we!could!ever!have!
empirical!knowledge!of!these!other!universes,!if!they!really!exist.!
As!the!physicist!Paul!Davies!has!observed,!in!both!cases,!theism!or!
multiverse!theory,!we!are!compelled!to!postulate!an!infinite!
something!unseen!to!account!for!a!finite!something!that!is!seen.
289
!
Multiverse!theory!has!standing!within!the!community!of!
cosmologists;!theism!has!no!standing.!
Far!be!it!for!me,!uninitiated!and!dimly!lit,!to!weigh!in!on!these!
complex!cosmological!considerations.!I!do!not!understand!the!math!
or!the!physics.!“Since!our!theories!are!so!far!ahead!of!experimental!
capabilities,!we!are!forced!to!use!mathematics!as!our!eyes,”!notes!
Brian!Greene,!a!Columbia!University!cosmologist!and!author!of!a!
popular!text,!The.Elegant.Universe.!“That’s!why!we!follow!it!
[mathematics]!where!it!takes!us!even!if!we!can’t!see!where!we’re!
going.”
290
!!
In!the!past,!mathematics!has!brought!us!to!many!stunning!new!
insights!about!the!universe.!There!may!be!compelling!reasons!to!
suppose!that!our!universe!really!is!one!piece!of!a!vast!multiverse,!in!
which!case!the!theists!will!need!to!revise!the!scale!of!God’s!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!
289
Paul C. W. Davies, “Science and Religion in the 21st Century,”
http://www.metanexus.net/magazine/tabid/68/id/2592/Default.aspx.
290
As quoted by Dennis Overbye, “Pure Math, Pure Joy,” New York Times, June 29, 2003,
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/29/weekinreview/29OVER.html.
!
!
247!
exuberant!creativity!that!much!more.!On!the!other!hand,!
multiverse!theory!may!be!the!twenty-first-century!equivalent!of!
counting!how!many!angels!will!fit!on!the!head!of!a!pin.!In!the!latter!
case,!all!these!sophisticated!mathematical!contortions!are!merely!a!
way!of!avoiding!postulating!an!invisible,!intelligent,!and!conscious!
force!underlying!the!fine-tuned!structures!of!the!universe.!This!is!
the!antireligious!subtext!to!multiverse!theory.!!
!
What#Is#with#Evolution?#
!
Charles!Darwin!(1809–1882)!did!not!invent!the!idea!of!
evolution.!Scientists!and!philosophers!had!been!interested!in!
evolutionary!theories!for!some!time!before!Darwin!arrived!on!the!
scene.!And!yet!for!some!reason!in!the!contemporary!scientific!and!
public!debates!about!the!meaning!of!evolution,!we!have!collapsed!
the!distinction!between!evolution,!an!observed!pattern!in!natural!
history,!and!Darwinism,!a!theory!for!how!that!pattern!occurs.
291
!
There!is!an!important!religious!subtext!in!the!obfuscation!of!this!
distinction.!
The!evidence!in!favor!of!evolution!of!different!species!from!
common!ancestors!over!deep!time!has!grown!dramatically!in!the!
last!century.!We!must!affirm!with!Theodosius!Dobzhansky!that!
“[n]othing!in!biology!makes!sense!except!in!the!light!of!
evolution.”
292
!The!overwhelming!evidence!for!evolution,!however,!
does!not!then!imply!that!Darwin’s!theory!of!natural!selection!is!
necessarily!an!adequate!account!of!how!that!process!actually!
occurs.!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!
291
The pre-Socratic philosopher Heraclitus (ca. 535–475 B.C.E.) famously proposed an early
vision of a universe characterized by transformation and change. Certainly, Buddhism, arising
in a different place around the same time, also promoted a concept of endless change as the
fundamental characteristic of reality. In the modern Europe, we encounter the French
philosopher Denis Diderot (1713–1784) speculating about evolution in a 1769 book. The
French biologist Jean Baptiste Lamarck (1744–1829) proposed a theory of evolution prior to
Darwin’s theory of natural selection in the first decade of the nineteenth century. In 1803,
Erasmus Darwin, Charles’s grandfather, invoked evolutionary concepts in his book The Temple
of Nature. Erasmus appeals to his Muse to tell him “how rose from elemental strife / Organic
forms, and kindled into life.” The Muse responds with an evolutionary story of how “imperious
man, who rules the bestial crowd, / . . . Arose from rudiments of form and sense.” Richard
Lewontin, “Why Darwin?” New York Review of Books 56, no. 9 (2009).
292
Theodosius Dobzhansky, “Biology, Molecular and Organismic,” American Zoology 4 (1964):
443.
!
!
248!
The!logic!on!natural!selection!is!simple!and!compelling.
293
!
Darwin’s!“long!argument”!consists!of!a!few!simple!premises.!First,!
there!are!among!offspring!not!only!similar!hereditary!
characteristics!resulting!from!having!the!same!parents,!but!there!
are!also!variations!among!offspring!from!the!same!parents.!Second,!
every!species!exhibits!an!exponential!ratio!of!increase!resulting!
from!the!number!of!offspring!it!is!able!to!produce.!Third,!this!
exponential!rate!of!increase!results!in!a!universal!struggle!for!
survival!as!individual!members!of!a!species!compete!for!food,!
water,!habitat,!and!mates.!Fourth,!those!variations!among!offspring!
that!increase!the!likelihood!of!survival!and!reproduction!for!
individual!members!of!a!species!will!tend!to!persist!over!time,!
while!those!variations!that!do!not!increase!the!likelihood!of!
survival!and!reproduction!will!tend!to!die!off.!Fifth,!the!
accumulation!of!all!these!incremental!“selections”!over!long!
periods!of!time,!involving!also!changes!in!the!environment!and!
geographic!isolation,!will!result!in!the!transmutation!of!one!species!
into!others,!hence!the!title!of!Darwin’s!revolutionary!book!The.
Origin.of.Species.!Today,!we!add!the!insights!from!population!
genetics!in!what!is!called!the!Neo-Darwinian!synthesis.!The!
catechism!of!natural!selection!is!random!drift,!universal!
competition,!differential!survival,!differential!reproduction,!all!
leading!to!the!transmutation!of!species!into!new!species,!which!
processes!are!accentuated!by!changing!environments!and!
geographical!isolation!of!breeding!populations!over!long!periods!of!
time.!!
Darwin’s!argument!is!seductively!simple,!so!much!so!that!even!
philosophers!and!lay!readers!can!understand!the!logic.!As!Alfred!
North!Whitehead!warned,!however,!“[t]he!guiding!motto!in!the!life!
of!every!natural!philosopher!should!be:!seek!simplicity—and!
distrust!it.”
294
!Real!biology!is!hugely!complicated!and!context-
specific,!as!any!contemporary!undergraduate!biology!textbook!
reveals.!The!simple!theory!becomes!a!stand-in!for!having!to!learn!
about!the!incredibly!complicated!fields!of!biochemistry,!genetics,!
proteomics,!epigenesis,!ecology,!and!so!forth.!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!
293
See, for instance, Daniel C. Dennett, Darwin’s Dangerous Idea: Evolution and the Meaning of
Life (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1995).
294
A. N. Whitehead, The Concept of Nature (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1926), 163.
!
!
249!
To!reduce!evolution!to!random!drift,!competition,!survival,!and!
reproduction!is!inadequate!in!light!of!new!insights!arising!from!
developmental!biology,!ecology,!multilevel!selection!theory,!
complexity!theory,!symbiosis,!and!many!other!areas.!Evolution,!as!
in!common!descent!with!modification,!has!never!been!more!true;!
but!how!evolution!occurs!is!now!open!to!serious!scientific!debate.!
The!typical!account!of!evolution!offered!in!popular!literature!is!
inadequate!and!misleading.
295
!When!these!categories—random!
drift,!competition,!survival,!and!reproduction—are!then!translated!
into!interpreting!the!human!person,!as!is!done!by!evolutionary!
psychology,!we!are!at!risk!of!getting!things!very!confused.!!
This!new!integrated!developmental!perspective!on!evolution,!
sometimes!referred!to!as!evo-devo!or!developmental-systems!
theory,!plays!havoc!with!simple!Darwinism.
296
!The!natural!
selectionist!algorithm!breaks!down!into!thousands!of!feedback!
loops!and!contextual!variables.!Complexity!and!chaos!now!replace!
survival!and!reproduction!as!the!driving!force!in!the!evolution!of!
life!and,!by!extension,!all!the!more!so!in!the!evolution!of!human!
culture,!including!that!dimension!of!culture!that!we!label!religion.!
Any!simple!theory!of!evolution!has!imploded.!We!should!be!all!that!
much!more!skeptical!of!simplistic!attempts!to!understand!religion!
and!other!cultural!phenomena!in!the!framework!of!survival!and!
reproduction,!as!we!explored!in!chapter!4.!Applying!Darwinian!
categories!to!the!study!of!religion!may!just!be!a!huge!category!
mistake,!like!trying!to!measure!the!success!of!computer!science!and!
the!computer!industry!by!studying!the!reproductive!success!of!
computer!programmers.!!
Particularly!pernicious!in!Darwinism!is!the!use!of!the!terms!
“random”!or!“chance.”!Darwin!himself!talks!about!“variations,”!not!
“random!chance.”!Evolution!is!a!historical!science.!We!have!only!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!
295
See a standard introductory biology textbook, for instance, William K. Purves et al., Life: The
Science of Biology (Sunderland, MA: Sinauer Associates, 1998). For discussions of the
inadequacies of natural selection as explanation, see David Depew and Bruce Weber,
Darwinism Evolving: Systems Dynamics and the Genealogy of Natural Selection (Cambridge,
MA: MIT Press, 1996); Robert Wesson, Beyond Natural Selection (Cambridge, MA: MIT
Press, 1991); Simon Conway Morris, Life’s Solution: Inevitable Humans in a Lonely Universe
(New York: Cambridge University Press, 2003); Ian Stewart, Life’s Other Secret: The New
Mathematics of the Living World (New York: Wiley & Sons, 1998). See especially Gilbert and
Epel, Ecological Developmental Biology: Integrating Epigenetics, Medicine, and Evolution.
296
For a discussion of the philosophical implications of developmental systems theory, see the
coda in Gilbert and Epel, Ecological Developmental Biology: Integrating Epigenetics,
Medicine, and Evolution.
!
!
250!
one!case!study!of!the!macroevolution!of!life!on!the!planet.!We!
cannot!run!history!through!multiple!iterations!as!in!a!laboratory!
science.!We!simply!cannot!tell!whether!what!we!observe!in!the!
macrohistorical!record!is!“chance”!or!in!some!sense!“necessity.”
297
!
The!same!dilemma!should!also!inform!our!interpretations!of!the!
fine-tuning!problem!in!cosmology,!which!we!discussed!in!the!
previous!section.!Distinguishing!between!random!and!necessary!
events!requires!the!possibility!of!multiple!iterations,!like!flipping!a!
coin.!We!cannot!do!that!with!historical!events!locked!in!the!past,!
hence!the!important!distinction!between!laboratory!and!historical!
sciences,!which!necessarily!have!different!criteria!for!evidence!and!
validation.!What!we!have!access!to!is!an!observed!pattern!in!
evolutionary!history,!and!we!need!to!distinguish!this!actual!history!
from!the!question!of!how!this!occurs.!
The!religious!subtext!to!Darwinism!plays!out!on!both!sides!of!
the!“chance”!and!“necessity”!divide.!In!emphasizing!chance,!there!is!
an!implied!rejection!of!natural!theology!in!which!one!argues!from!
“design!in!nature”!to!the!concept!of!a!“Designer.”!Many!thoughtful!
religious!interpreters,!however,!embrace!this!notion!of!
randomness!because!it!provides!a!way!to!introduce!free!will,!both!
human!and!divine,!into!the!evolutionary!epic.!A!“necessary”!
evolution!is!more!conducive!to!deterministic!philosophies!of!
science.!A!necessary!evolution!is!also!more!conducive!to!
deterministic!theologies,!for!instance,!in!the!Calvinist!concept!of!
predestination,!in!which!God!is!seen!as!an!all-knowing!and!all-
powerful!dictator!in!the!sky.!
Note!that!one!cannot!simply!dispense!with!the!theology!of!
nature!with!a!wave!of!the!hand!or!an!invocation!of!David!Hume.!
Whether!for!or!against!some!concept!of!God-by-whatever-name,!
both!atheists!and!believers!are!making!inference!judgments!based!
on!science,!nature,!and!lived!experiences!about!the!existence!and!
nature!of!a!creator,!sustainer,!and!redeemer!God.!Inductive!
generalizations!are!always!tricky!when!contrasted!with!deductive!
logical!processes.!The!interpretation!of!the!whole!of!science!is!an!
inductive!process,!which!science!qua!science!is!not!qualified!to!do.!
Similarly,!the!problem!of!evil!is!often!used!as!evidence!against!
the!existence!of!God.!Of!course,!this!problem!of!evil!existed!long!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!
297
Jacques Monod, Chance and Necessity: An Essay on the Natural Philosophy of Modern
Biology, trans. Austryn Wainhouse (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1971).
!
!
251!
before!evolutionary!theory!and!modern!science.!The!theodicy!
argument!against!the!existence!or!goodness!of!God!has!been!with!
us!since!the!beginning!of!human!wonderment.!The!existence!of!
natural!and!human!evil,!much!like!the!question!of!chance!or!
necessity!in!evolution,!can!be!interpreted!in!divergent!religious!and!
antireligious!ways.!!
The!sciences!of!evolution!challenge!the!plausibility!of!certain!
interpretations!of!traditional!cosmologies,!true,!but!in!no!way!
challenge!the!judgment!of!whether!God-by-whatever-name!exists.!
Evolution!and!the!interpretation!thereof!do!have!implications!for!
how!we!understand!the!nature!of!a!creator,!sustainer,!and!
redeemer!God,!should!one!posit!the!existence!of!such!a!God-by-
whatever-name!for!whatever!reasons.!This!will!be!the!topic!of!the!
next!chapter.!
The!evolution!of!the!cosmos,!life,!and!humans!is!not!just!any!
old!story;!it!is!a!privileged!narrative.!This!epic!of!evolution!can!be!
interpreted!in!many!different!ways,!but!it!trumps!earlier!
cosmologies!of!ancient!religions.!Literal!readings!of!ancient!
religious!cosmologies!are!a!great!embarrassment!to!religions!and!
actually!undermine!the!intellectual!integrity!of!religious!
movements!that!are!seduced!to!follow!this!unfortunate!strategy.!
Mythological!interpretations!of!ancient!religious!cosmologies,!on!
the!other!hand,!often!turn!out!to!be!profoundly!true!to!life.!
!
A#Privileged#Narrative#
!
In!the!previous!chapter,!we!considered!the!narrative!structure!
of!different!religions!and!ideologies.!We!engaged!in!an!elaborate!
philosophical!reflection!on!the!hermeneutics!of!different!
worldviews!and!world!doings.!These!metanarratives!structure!the!
way!people!think!and!even!what!they!consider!to!be!the!relevant!
evidence.!We!were!confronted!with!the!spectra!of!postmodern!
relativism!in!which!ideological!and!religious!disagreements!could!
only!be!solved!by!a!will!to!power.!I!developed!a!hermeneutical!
approach!to!adjudicating!between!these!different!worldviews!by!
intentionally!adopting!multiple!perspectives,!including!scientific!
perspectives,!in!what!I!called!intellectual!nonviolence.!!
In!trying!to!weave!together!the!many!entangled!narratives,!
inhabiting!as!many!different!perspectives!and!truths!as!possible!
!
!
252!
with!our!limited!intellect!and!lifespan,!it!is!important!to!realize!that!
we!have!now!a!loom!on!which!to!weave!the!many!pieces!of!truth!
and!goodness!that!we!discover!along!the!way,!including!the!
scientific!truths.!That!loom!is!the!history!of!our!species!over!the!
last!million-plus!years,!the!evolution!of!life!and!our!planet!over!the!
last!4!billion!years,!and!the!evolution!of!the!universe!over!some!13!
billion!years.!This!is!the!story!that!science!has!discovered!over!the!
last!few!decades,!though!it!really!represents!the!achievement!of!all!
humanity!over!the!millennia.!The!German!physicist!Carl!Friedrich!
von!Weizsäcker!(1912–2007)!considered!this!“history!of!nature”!to!
be!“the!most!important!discovery!of!modern!science.”
298
!
Few!of!us!have!explored!what!it!would!mean!to!integrate!this!
new!story!of!the!universe!into!our!own!special!metanarratives!and!
received!traditions.!One!of!the!greatest!challenges!today!is!to!
integrate!this!new,!remarkable,!and!evolving!scientific!story!of!the!
cosmos,!society,!and!self!into!our!diverse,!traditional!narratives.!
Science!turns!out!not!to!be!a!privileged!epistemology!but!rather!a!
privileged!narrative.!Some!call!it!“Big!History;”!others!call!it!“the!
Epic!of!Evolution”!or!“the!History!of!Nature.”!I!prefer!to!call!it!“Our!
Common!Story”!because!it!includes!all!humanity,!all!plants!and!
animals,!the!solar!system,!and!the!galaxies.
299
!!
The!grand!scientific!metanarrative!is!quite!new!and!still!
evolving,!so!much!so!that!we!do!not!really!have!an!adequate!
interpretative!tradition!surrounding!it.!In!brief!outline,!this!
omnicentric!universe!began!some!13!billion!years!ago!as!
something!approaching!infinite!heat,!infinite!density,!and!total!
symmetry.!The!universe!expanded!and!evolved!into!more!
differentiated!and!complex!structures—forces,!quarks,!hydrogen,!
helium,!galaxies,!stars,!heavier!elements,!complex!chemistry,!
planetary!systems.!Some!3.5!billion!years!ago,!in!a!small!second-!or!
third-generation!solar!system,!the!intricate!processes!called!life!
began!on!at!least!one!small!planet.!Animate!matter-energy!on!Earth!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!
298
Carl Friedrich von Weizsaecker, Die Geschichte Der Natur (Frankfurt: Vandenhoeck &
Ruprecht, 1962), cited in the foreword to Bernd-Olaf Küppers, Der Ursprung biologischer
Information (Munich: R. Piper and Co., 1986); Küppers Information and the Origin of Life,
trans. Paul Wooley (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1990), xi.
299
Christian, Maps of Time; Cynthia Stokes Brown, Big History : From the Big Bang to the
Present (New York: New Press : Distributed by W.W. Norton, 2007); Chaisson, Epic of
Evolution; McNeill and McNeill, The Human Web: A Bird’s-Eye View of World History (New
York: W.W. Norton, 2003); Bryson, A Short History of Nearly Everything; Primack and
Abrams, The View from the Center of the Universe; Berry and Swimme, The Universe Story.
!
!
253!
presented!itself!as!a!marvelous!new!intensification!of!the!creative!
dynamic!at!work!in!the!universe.!Then,!some!2!million!years!ago,!as!
if!yesterday!in!the!enormous!time!scales!of!the!universe,!
protohumans!emerged!on!the!savanna!of!Africa!with!their!
enormously!heightened!capacities!for!conscious!self-reflection,!
language,!and!tool!making.!And!this!unfolding!leads!us!all!the!way!
to!today,!to!this!collection!of!atoms!reading!this!particular!book,!all!
of!us!recycled!stardust-become-conscious-beings,!engaged!in!this!
global!conversation!about!our!entangled!and!competing!
worldviews,!brought!to!use!by!ephemeral!electrons!and!photons!
cascading!through!the!Internet!and!bouncing!off!satellites.!How!
then!do!we!interpret!this!new!story!of!creation!and!evolution?!
!
Interpreting#Science#
!
To!our!earlier!definition!of!science,!we!can!now!add!two!more!
points.!Science!is!(8)!a!cumulatively!related!body!of!knowledge!(9)!
that!can!be!organized!hierarchically!by!chronology!of!emergence,!
scales!of!size,!and!degrees!of!complexity.!The!unity!of!science!turns!
out!not!to!be!a!privileged!epistemology!but!rather!a!privileged!
metanarrative.!Science!qua!science,!however,!does!not!authorize!
any!particular!grand!synthetic!interpretation!of!this!new!book!of!
nature.!The!metanarrative!is!open!to!multiple!interpretations,!
including!robust!theistic!interpretations,!which!we!will!soon!
explore.!Here!I!am!drawing!a!distinction!between!the!content!of!
science!and!the!interpretation!of!science,!though!the!distinction!
will!be!more!like!a!membrane!than!a!hermetic!boundary.!There!are!
stories!about!science!and!then!there!is!science,!which!is!more!than!
mere!story.!
Contestations!about!science!are!very!much!part!of!our!
entangled!world!of!competing!religious!and!ideological!stories,!as!
witnessed!by!antievolution!debates!among!Christians!and!Muslims!
and!various!ethnosciences!proposed!in!postcolonial!societies.!
Unless!we!better!police!the!boundaries!between!science!and!the!
interpretations!of!science,!we!are!bound!to!get!self-defeating!
confusion.!The!new!metanarrative!of!science!is!not!open!to!debate.!
Some!version!of!deep!time!and!evolution!is!here!to!stay.!It!is!a!
metanarrative!in!which!all!our!separate!stories!must!necessarily!
!
!
254!
find!their!home!and!their!partial!validity.!The!metanarrative!of!
science,!however,!is!open!to!multiple!interpretations.!!
We!recall!Hayden!White’s!modes!of!emplotment—romantic,!
tragic,!comic,!and!ironic.!The!new!universe!story!is!a!
historiography!that!includes!many!tragedies,!too!immense!even!to!
comprehend;!but!it!is!also!a!story!of!cosmic!and!comic!
improbabilities!resulting!in!many!fortuitous!new!possibilities.!It!is!
a!story!with!irony,!for!instance,!foisted!upon!us!by!our!biology!and!
our!brains,!ironic!also!because!none!of!the!scientists!involved!in!
piecing!this!puzzle!together!really!understood!that!the!
collaborative!results!would!be!a!fantastic!and!evolving!creation!
story!of!stunning!complexity!and!grandeur.!Finally,!it!is!a!story!
with!a!great!deal!of!romantic!appeal!for!all!its!majesty!and!beauty.!
Science!has!done!the!work!of!continuing!revelation!in!the!twentieth!
century.!
This!new!story!of!the!universe!necessarily!includes!humans,!
contrary!to!the!abstractions!of!the!scientists.!All!our!subjective!
experiences!are!part!of!this!new!objective!story!of!the!cosmos.!
Indeed,!subjective!experience!is!the!most!fundamental!way!in!
which!we!relate!to!each!other!and!the!universe.!It!is!a!story!in!
which!all!the!different!narratives!told!by!humans!around!the!world!
have!their!place!within!the!unfolding!plot,!all!within!their!
appropriate!context.!!
Some!say!that!the!story!of!the!universe!and!humans!within!it!is!
meaningless,!employing!an!ironic!trope.!The!emplotment!of!this!
new!universe!story,!however,!is!a!free!choice,!first!because!the!data!
can!be!read!in!multiple!ways!and!second!because!the!story!itself!
has!not!ended.!The!emplotment!can!be!Jewish,!Christian,!Muslim,!
Hindu,!Buddhist,!secular,!and!so!on.!That!is!a!free!choice!of!the!
interpreter,!though!the!skill!of!the!synthesizer!and!storyteller!will!
need!to!be!convincing!and!accurate!to!the!science.!Remember!
Ricoeur’s!warning!in!the!last!chapter:!even!though!we!have!the!
same!text,!not!all!interpretations!are!plausible,!not!all!
interpretations!equal.!Today,!we!have!a!new,!evolving!book!of!
nature,!and!the!reading!and!interpretation!of!that!common!text!are!
perhaps!the!greatest!challenges!that!humans!have!ever!faced.!How!
we!interpret!the!new!book!of!nature!will!largely!determine!how!we!
reinvent!nature!and!ourselves!in!what!scientists!are!now!calling!
the!Anthropocene,!a!new!era!in!the!evolution!of!the!planet!in!which!
!
!
255!
human!desires!and!activities!come!to!dominate!the!biosphere.!
Humans!turn!out!to!be!a!Lamarckian!wildcard!in!the!epic!of!
evolution.!Metaphysics!turns!out!to!be!politics!by!other!means.!
In!the!end,!our!entangled!religious!and!ideological!narratives!must!
somehow!incorporate!and!answer!to!the!unfolding!discoveries!of!
the!scientific,!evolutionary!cosmology.!Triumph!or!tragedy,!it!is!
certainly!an!epic!story,!an!epic!of!evolution.!Hayden!White!
neglected!to!include!epic!as!a!possible!trope,!assuming!that!the!
category!is!subsumed!by!one!of!the!other!four!tropes,!but!this!need!
not!be!so.!An!epic!need!only!be!a!story!that!never!ends,!that!has!
many!twists!and!turns,!but!just!goes!on!and!on.!!
Every!time!we!use!a!cell!phone,!pump!200-million-year-old!
rainforests!into!the!gas!tanks!of!our!cars,!travel!across!the!
continents!in!an!airplane,!or!log!on!to!the!Internet,!we!affirm!the!
reality!of!this!new!scientific,!evolutionary!cosmology!in!deed,!if!not!
in!thought!or!understanding.!With!this!common!cosmology!as!a!
basis,!a!hermeneutical!foundation!that!also!happens!to!be!
progressively!true,!our!global!civilization!would!be!much!better!
situated!to!solve!the!great!religious!and!ideological!debates!and!
practical!challenges!of!our!time.!Of!course,!we!would!not!all!have!
the!same!interpretations!of!this!evolutionary!cosmology,!but!we!
would!have!a!common!conversation!and!a!better!possibility!for!a!
future!“fusion!of!horizons.”!!
This!story!of!the!universe!and!all!our!separate!metanarratives!
within!it!are!woven!together!on!a!cosmic!loom,!each!of!us!a!thread!
in!a!greater!tapestry!of!unfolding!truth.!If!we!listen!carefully!to!
each!other!and!to!nature,!adopting!a!hermeneutics!of!intellectual!
nonviolence,!then!our!common!future!may!also!be!a!self-
transcending!process!leading!to!greater!truth,!beauty,!and!
goodness.!!
This,!then,!is!the!new!religion!of!science.!It!is!a!commitment!to!
general!scientific!literacy,!the!unity!of!knowledge,!and!an!open-
ended!and!rigorous!dialogue!about!plausible!and!probable!
interpretations!of!science!in!conversation!with!the!received!and!
evolved!wisdom!traditions!of!humanity.!
We!have!defined!science!as!(1)!different!methods!for!detecting!
patterned!phenomena!and!explaining!causal!relationships,!(2)!
applied!by!communities!of!specialists!(3)!in!rigorous!“dialogue”!
with!phenomena,!(4)!always!implicated!in!lived!historical!contexts!
!
!
256!
and!limitations,!(5)!resulting!in!a!self-correcting,!self-transcending,!
and!progressive!learning!process!that!(6)!makes!strongly!objective!
truth!claims,!(7)!which!facts!are!pragmatically!verified!in!practical!
applications!(8)!and!cumulatively!related!in!a!unified!body!of!
knowledge!(9)!that!can!be!organized!hierarchically!by!chronology!
of!emergence,!scales!of!size,!and!degrees!of!complexity.!This!
definition!of!science!embraces!pragmatic!operationalism,!social!
constructionism,!and!critical!realism,!in!part!by!granting!the!
phenomena!an!active!role!in!the!intersubjective!communities!of!
science.!The!latter!I!have!called!“symbolic!realism”!in!a!
phenomenal!universe!that!we!understand!to!be!“linguistic”!in!
nature!and!imbued!with!“intelligibility/intelligence,”!as!the!
precondition!of!any!science.!I!draw!a!distinction!between!the!
content!of!science!and!the!interpretation!of!science.!In!the!next!
chapter,!I!will!offer!a!religious!interpretation!of!science.!
!