Duet or Duel?

Originally delivered as the 1998 John Albert Hall Lectures at the Centre for Studies in Religion and Society at the University of Victoria, British Columbia, van Huyssteen's reflections ponder the possibilities of dialogue between theology and science. Van Huyssteen, professor of theology and science at Princeton Theological Seminary, contends that the epistemological pluralism of postmodernism opens new paths for a conversation between theology and science. He proceeds to argue for the existence of what he calls an ""evolutionary epistemology,"" according to which human rationality arises from and is shaped by the mechanisms of evolution. Using the diverse theories of physicists Stephen Hawking and Paul Davies, van Huyssteen writes that ""contemporary cosmology argues for treating the universe as a single object, which therefore implies that the universe must somehow have intelligibility as a single object of study."" Human rationality, he contends, offers the key to ""understanding the universe."" From this pluralism of knowledge and these cosmological theories, he asserts, theology and science can fashion a lively interdisciplinary dialogue that respects the methods and conclusions of each discipline. Van Huyssteen takes care to provide definitions of difficult concepts and moves readers in a step-by-step fashion through his arguments so that his book provides an excellent introduction to the dialogue of theology and science. (Sept.)