Shults, F. LeRon, The Evolution of Rationality: Interdisciplinary Essays in Honor of J. Wentzel Van Huyssteen (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2006), xiii + 426 Pps., $50.00.
- Wentzel van Huyssteen has spent numerous decades developing an interdisciplinary platform for the fruitful engagement of science and religion. Compiled to celebrate van Huyssteen’s 65th birthday, The Evolution of Rationality gathers an impressive array of essays by twenty-three scholars organized around van Huyssteen’s main areas of inquiry: philosophy, science, and theology. Following an introduction by Shults, individual contributors include John Hedley Brooke, Delwin Brown, Philip Clayton, Jean Clottes, F. W. Dobbs-Allsopp, David Fergusson, Niels Henrik Gregersen, David Lewis-Williams, George Newlands, Richard Robert Osmer, Arthur Peacocke, Kenneth A. Reynhout, Holmes Rolston III, Michael Ruse, Calvin O. Schrag, Christopher Southgate, Michael L. Spezio, Mikael Stenmark, Jerome A. Stone, Ian Tattersall, Roger Trigg, Keith Ward, Wesley J. Wildman. Collectively, it seeks to answer such questions as, How can science and religion move together toward a collegial future? Their essays are arranged in three parts: 1) modern and postmodern philosophical challenges to our understanding of rationality; 2) scientific perspectives on the nature and development of human rationality in relation to religion; 3) theological explorations of the evolution of rationality.
It seems almost counter-intuitive to pick out any of these essays to emphasize above the rest, as they are all representative of van Huyssteen’s impact on the shape and texture of interdisciplinary conversation, and of high quality. However, in what follows some of the more salient points of a few shall be highlighted. Directly following the introduction by Shults, Reynhout trace the evolution of van Huyssteen’s model of rationality. Therein, he provides an overview of van Huyssteen’s work over the last several decades, identifying three overlapping phases in the evolution of his thought, in which van Huyssteen pursues: 1) critical realism as a model for rationality in theology (ca. 1970–1989); 2) the interdisciplinary shaping of rationality in a postmodern context (ca. 1990–1999); and 3) the evolutionary origins of rationality and human uniqueness (ca. 2000–present). These three delineations reflect a distinct set of goals that van Huyssteen’s work addresses in reference to the problem of rationality. Reynhout points people to the complete bibliography of works by J. Wentzel van Huyssteen in the appendix in order for interested parties to explore his work in a more detailed fashion.
In the first main part of the book, Philosophical Explorations, seven essays are focused primarily upon the philosophical challenges to our conception of rationality, challenges by evolutionary biology, social science, and developments in postmodern culture. Notably, Wildman notes the similarities between van Huyssteen’s work and early pragmatists like Dewey and Peirce, arguing for a fidelity to empirical inquiry (44–46). Stenmark discusses how postmodernism challenges the very foundation(s) of science itself, noting how ‘value’ plays a role in scientific endeavors, and outlines a responsible science that is value-directed (53–54). The essay by Stone compares and contrasts van Huyssteen’s integrationist model of the relation between science and religion to similar models posited by Philip Hefner and Karl Peters. In a most intriguing contribution, Ward focuses on Hume, Hegel and Kant, and seeks to compliment van Huyssteen’s model of rationality by suggesting that in order to get beyond these giants of the Enlightenment, one must inculcate aesthetic and moral insights into our pursuit of knowledge regarding reality (129).
In the second part of the book, covering Scientific Explorations, eight essays explore how evolutionary thought may shed light upon the nature of rationality and its relation to religion. Therein, Rolston identifies five looming questions regarding the generation of life on earth, and concludes by inquiring whether God is the ground of all being that generates the manifold possibilities of life; he affirms that conceptioning (223). In what may be the most interesting essay of the lot, Ruse queries whether Darwin was a friend or foe concerning established religion; he argues that a ‘progressive’ form of evolution actually gives credence to Christian philosophical theology(238). Hedley Brooke explores the implications of Darwinian science upon a conception of the human self, especially as it regards human dignity, uniqueness, and immortality.
In the third and final part of the title, Theological Explorations, seven chapters focus on the theological and religious issues in the interdisciplinary dialogue. Peacocke, for example, offers a chapter that identifies how music models divine creation and creativity, emphasizing the immanent presence of God in biological evolution following the creation ex nihilo. Brown offers an intriguing analysis of the four ways of thinking about the God of Christian faith; for example, one may see God as the source of, as an agent within, as incarnate amid, or as the goal of the overall process of cosmological and biological evolution. Fergusson notes the appropriateness of natural theology, and details five functions that it has – and perhaps continues to – fulfilled in the church: 1) as a witness to the reliability of Scripture, 2) as the cornerstone of a deist commitment to naked reason, 3) as an aid to faith (cf. Aquinas), 4) as an apologetic defense of the faith, and 5) as a display of how reason can coexist profitably with revealed religion (386–87).
There is only one line of possible criticism by me in reference to this otherwise stellar collection of essays: because all of the authors are themselves involved in interdisciplinary dialogue, the philosophical-scientific-theological arrangement of chapters is not clearly distinct at times, as virtually every essay engages issues that overlap all three fields. Depending upon one’s perspective, this could be seen as a pronounced strength, however, forming an extremely rich blend of thought. In sum, however, I heartily recommend this interdisciplinary collection written by world-renowned philosophers, scientists, and theologians, as it is a fitting tribute to J. Wentzel van Huyssteen.
Bradford McCall, Regent University, Virginia Beach, VA.