Can a Darwinian be a Christian?: The Relationship between Science and Religion

This is a very informative and helpful book, and a real delight to read. It is written in a charitable spirit and irenic tone with liberal doses of good humor. I happen to be both an ardent Darwinian and a devout Christian (Reformed with Roman Catholic leanings, and also very admiring of the Greek Orthodox tradition), and as such I wish to commend Ruse not only for writing so passionately yet soberly about Darwinism but also for engaging the Christian faith in such a thoughtful and respectful manner. In reading this book, I have come to realize how complicated some of the issues are. Yet his central argument-that one can affirm both Christian theism and Darwinian evolutionism-is not at all complicated. Among contemporary philosophers writing in this area, Ruse is much better informed about science and--surprisingly for one who is not himself a Christian--about the breadth and flexibility of the Christian tradition than, say, Alvin Plantinga is. Plantinga, the foremost Christian philosopher of religion in our time (and a friend and former coparishioner whom I greatly love and admire), has not taken the time to learn the science as Ruse has, nor the effort to seriously question the assumptions of literalist readings of Genesis. In this book Ruse gives Plantinga, if not exactly a butt-kicking, at least a spanking, and a well-deserved one at that. At the other end of the spectrum, blowhard atheists like Richard Dawkins and Daniel Dennett come off looking rather shortsighted and, in some ways, rather stupid in Ruse's book, even though Ruse has the utmost respect for them. I particular like the way that Ruse unpacks and clarifies the issues of pain (the problem of evil), freedom, and determinism. For me it is especially the Augustinian doctrine of original sin that needs serious rethinking in light of evolution, but on this point Ruse's treatment is so brief as to be only suggestive. Overall, I doubt that Ruse's book will gain a hearing from atheistic Darwinians, and certainly not from young-earth creationists. Agnostics might be willing to broaden their horizons with Ruse as their guide, but the real audience--and those with the most to gain--will be Christians who consider the evidence for evolution overwhelming and its implications glorifying to God. If Darwin made it possible for many people to be intellectually fulfilled atheists, Ruse has brightened the prospects for a lot of us becoming (even more) intellectually fulfilled theists.

I don't say this lightly. He comes from a real Friendly Quaker perspective on things, in the process strongly affirming Christ's presence and reality in all places, and looking to see the Light of Truth wherever he looks. As a biologist Ruse affirms evolution, but he also shows how one can understand how this impacts the walk with God, and who God is in light of this. He honestly grapples with the difficulties that evolution poses- and equally honestly points out that the difficulties are largely nothing new in theology or philosophy. The problem of suffering, for instance, remains a problem, no larger nor smaller with the presence of evolution. Ruse also approaches the myriad possible understandings of this controversy, both scientifically and religiously, with care and compassion, affirming the search for truth by others, even if it does not agree with his understanding of the truth.I found this book most helpful as a parallel to my own spiritual journey. I felt like Ruse was walking alongside me, helping me to clarify my own thoughts as he clarified his. Evolution doesn't bring up new problems for theology, true. But it magnifies those problems. So if we can solve those problems through the theory of evolution, or begin to, we come a lot closer to understanding God.

Asked in reverse order, "Can a Christian be a Darwinian?", Ruse's answer is really two-fold. If you are taking a very conservative or fundamentalist view of Christianity, then you probably are not, nor do you wish to be a Darwinian. For the liberal, and mainstream-secularized Christian, however, there isn't much incompatibility between Christianity and Darwinism. Because, both Christianity and Darwinism compass a wide range of views (as Ruse points out), some point of agreement and intersection is inevitable, as is some range of polar conflict. Ruse has written an engaging and entertaining book, and while many may disagree or challenge his conclusions, for those who value both the Christian tradition and Darwinian science this is an important book.

This is a good read and not too difficult - but I havn't finished it. I am confident I shall learn from it since the author has a good epistemological approach.Chris Abbess