The Responsibility of Theology to Science

N O V E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 0 W W W. T I K K U N . O R G T I K K U N 37 yearning of all being that is manifest in every particular and that comes together as the consciousness of the entire universe. It is a yearning for greater consciousness, love, generosity, complexity, cooperation,playfulness,gratitude,andforgiveness.Ofcoursethis is a faith statement in the same way that scientism is a faith statement —because no amount of data is ever going to conclusively prove either this view or a more materialist and mechanistic view ofwhatdrivestheevolutionaryprocessforward. Most of the authors in this section on evolution are not rooted in that particular tradition, but some do share with Jewish mysticism this commitment to a fundamental unity of all being and a rejection of the radical disjunction between matter and spirit. As Christian de Quincey insists, consciousness (or mind or awareness) is part of every aspect of being “all the way down” to thetiniestcomponentofbeing,despitethefactthatsuchaclaimis socountertothe“commonsense”ofpost-Enlightenmentthought (thoughnottowhatDaveBeldenimaginativelydescribesfromthe future as the second Enlightenment in which scientism has been abandoned). It is Peter Gabel, my close friend for the past thirtyfiveyears ,andTikkun’s indispensible associate editor, who takes TheResponsibility ofTheologytoScience by Joan Roughgarden A rtists who create icons and sacred music often describe their activity as a form of prayer. I think too that if nature is understood, in some sense, as the work of God, then seeking to discover the ways of nature through science might also be experienced as a form of prayer. For this reason I felt drawn to applaudoneassertioninparticularmadebyRabbiArthurGreen in Tikkun’s March/April 2010 issue: “The evolution of species is the greatest sacred drama of all time.” I thank Tikkun for inviting me to join the conversation on God and science that Rabbi Green, Peter Gabel, and others started here this spring. I write as an evolutionary biologist and will begin by offering my response to Rabbi Green’s piece on “Sacred Evolution.” Iagreethatreligiousteachingmightprosperfromreinvesting storiesoforigin(orcreation)withnewmeaningratherthanhaving religious teachings continue to be, as Rabbi Green puts it, “over-involved with proclaiming the truth of our own particular stories” from the sacred texts of our several denominations. Yet,Idemurfromhisrecommendationthatweshouldinstead “understand the task of the theologian to be one of reframing, acceptingtheaccountsoforiginsandnaturalhistoryofferedbythe scientificconsensus,buthelpingustoviewtheminadifferentway, one that may guide us toward a more profound appreciation of that same reality.” Or, as a later commentary in Tikkun by Bruce Ledewitz puts it, accepting a framework of “science first and religion adapts.” This framework places great, even unquestioned, faith in the ability of scientists to offer a correct account of the Joan Roughgarden, an evolutionary ecologist and biology professor at Stanford University, is the author of The Genial Gene: Deconstructing Darwinian Selfishness and Evolution and Christian Faith: Reflections of an Evolutionary Biologist. this position and most forcefully defends the notion that evolution can best be understood as powered and directed by this spiritual aspect of all being. I hope you’ll carefully read these essays and allow yourself to imagine what the world would look like if the perspective being developedherewereinfactastrueasIbelieveittobe.Andimagine how much more powerful a progressive movement would be ifitconsideredchallengingglobalcapitalismonthegroundsthat it stands in conflict with the developing evolutionary consciousness of the universe and God. I SCIENCE AND SPIRIT: ONLINE EXCLUSIVES Visittikkun.org/sciencetoreadRaymondBarglow’sreviewofScienceand the Quest for Meaning by Alfred I. Tauber; Tony Campolo on the ethical implicationsofDarwinism;DavidLoyerespondingtoCampolo’schargesof Darwin’s racism; Michael Behe on the question of intelligence in nature andtheoriginsoftheuniverse;andDanLevineonthesacredbrain,neurobiology ,freewill,andthestory that evolutiondoesn’ttell. science.qxd:Politics 10/12/10 1:59 PM Page 37 processes in nature, a faith that will seem misplaced the more one delves into what scientists actually conclude from the evidence they actually possess. I do not challenge the scientific method, of course, nor doubt scientists’ ability, in principle, to deliver accurate and correct knowledgeofwhathappensinnature.Experiments,testsofalternativehypotheses ,andnewtechnologicallyenabledprobesofthe microscopic and of outer space do objectively reveal the state of nature—that is, when scientists actually bother to do all the experiments , bother to entertain alternative hypotheses, bother to usethelatesttechnology,andsoforth.Andwhoistodemandthat the science informing theological inquiry be the best available science? We will...