God Chance and Necessity

Recent breakthroughs in the cosmological and quantum understanding of the origin of the universe, life and consciousness have caused scientists like Richard Dawkins and Stephen Hawking to feel that they have proved that God is unnecessary, irrelevant and illusory. In this well-reasoned and probing book, Ward, Regius Professor of Divinity at Oxford, seeks to expose what he sees as logical inconsistencies in the arguments railed against God. Meticulously, he builds up an impressive series of arguments in favor of theism by examining what he sees as the flaws in the conclusions of Darwinian evolutionary biology, sociobiology and cosmology. Ward argues that scientific materialism, which he believes colors many of the interpretations of science's findings, and not science itself, is the culprit in undermining belief in God. Although he argues that modern scientific knowledge points to the existence of God, Ward returns again and again to the argument that a focus on the attributes and qualities of God provides resolution to any conflict between science and religion. While the book is well written, the great flaw is Ward's failure to demand of religious argument the same rigors he demands of the scientists whose arguments he attacks. (Mar.)