Tippet Free Helpful Guideline

In principle, this book should be really good: a fundamentally important topic, a conversational format which has the potential to be highly engaging, an inquisitive interviewer who sincerely wants to understand, and a diverse cast of interviewees which includes some well-known thinkers. Unfortunately, the book doesn’t really work because it comes up somewhat short in all of these areas:

- Studying the interaction between science and religion is a great way to deepen understanding of both, as well as explore the big questions, but this book offers a relatively superficial treatment compared to the many other good books which are available on this topic.

- Instead of being engaging, the conversational format turns out to be rather rambling and unfocused.

- Tippett doesn’t contribute much insight of her own to the conversations, and she’s unable to adequately probe and challenge her interviewees. I think she has the potential to eventually be an effective interviewer on this topic, but she’s not there yet.

- Some of the interviews cover interesting ideas, but they’re only tangential to the topic of science/religion interaction.

To give more sense of the scope of the book, here are some notes on the ten interviews:

- Freeman Dyson emphasizes how mysterious reality is, and the related need to approach things with a sense of humor. Paul Davies expresses a sense of wonder at the intricate harmony of the universe and the existence of life and mind in it, thus suggesting a purpose to it all.

- Sherwin Nuland expresses wonder at the complexity of the human body and its ability to (usually) restore equilibrium. He also talks about how things can go wrong, especially the case of clinical depression.

- Mehmet Oz talks about the importance of integrative medicine, drawing on global medical knowledge and experience, and he (only) touches on the role spirituality might play in it.

- James Moore defends the view that Darwin didn’t oppose theology, but rather saw nature as a wondrous example of God’s handiwork.

- V.V. Raman emphasizes both the value and limits of both science and religion, and the resulting unavoidability of mystery. In my opinion, this may be the best interview in the book.

- Janna Levin presents quantum uncertainty, relativistic constraints, and Godel’s theorems as examples of the limits to our knowledge, while also expressing doubt about the possibility of free will (a contradiction?).

- Michael McCullough describes how we’re wired for both revenge and forgiveness because both have proven to be evolutionarily adaptive.

- Esther Sternberg describes how stress contributes to immunological disorders, and the resulting need to manage stress.

- Andrew Solomon, Parker Palmer, and Anita Barrows talk about depression and debunk the myth that it’s simply an intense form of sadness.

- John Polkinghorne tries hard to reconcile science and Christianity, thus offering creative but highly speculative ideas to explain free will, the existence of individual souls, the possibility of God’s intervening in the world, the problem of evil, the value of mystery, and the plausibility of God having limitations.

What does this all add up to? I think it’s too much of a mixed bag to be amenable to a useful synthesis, and Tippett makes no attempt at such a synthesis by providing an epilogue.

Overall, I appreciate Tippett’s effort and I do think this book has some value (hence my 3 stars), but it’s too rambling and superficial, especially for people who have already devoted a lot of reading and thought to the topic. Novices might get more out of the book, at least as a vehicle to get their feet wet, but I think they would also benefit from a more systematic presentation. For better options, the following are a few examples of good books on this topic:

Science and Religion: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions)
Science and Religion: From Conflict to Conversation
The Oxford Handbook of Religion and Science (Oxford Handbooks in Religion and Theology)

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