Abstract
As the first publication of the Ian Ramsey Centre Studies in Science and Religion series, Alister McGrath ‘offers a tentative and provisional mapping of human rationality, surveying the forms of reasoning and criteria of rationality that have characterized the production of knowledge across culture and history, and within specific disciplines’ (p. 3). By such doing, McGrath wishes to advance ‘discussions about the possibilities of interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary discourse and reflection’ (p. 4), which focuses mainly on science and theology in this volume.
In the first part, McGrath explores the notion of rationality. In the first chapter, he disapproves the Enlightenment’s universal form of rationality and favours the intimate relationship between human rationality and historical and cultural context. Following this, it is argued that while speaking of the singularity of human reason, the multiplicity of rationality should not be overlooked. Given the domain-specific character of rationality, McGrath focuses chapter two on examining rationalities in Christian theology and the natural sciences. Having criticised scientism, he maintains, on the one hand, that Christian theology and the natural sciences provide two distinct perspectives on reality, and on the other hand, that they aim at distinct levels of reality. In chapter three, McGrath demonstrates that epistemic communities as the context within which human rationality functions. For natural scientists, the research group as a whole is the epistemic community. In like manner, the theologian undertakes theological research within epistemic communities, the community of worship par excellence.
Having laid out the notion of multiple rationalities as the approach to religion and science, McGrath investigates the rationality in science and theology in the second part (chapters 4-8). In chapter four, McGrath attempts to make it clear how rationality functions in theory choice in science and religion. By arguing that theories are shaped via reflection on observations, he suggests the approach of Inference to the Best Explanation, which stresses ‘explanation [as] prior to inference’ and seeks to identify the best explanation of what is observed (pp. 102–3). Hence, he points out some theoretical virtues that can help one’s enquiry and make theory choice. In the fifth chapter, McGrath probes in the meaning of ‘explain’ in both science and theology. He advocates a unificationist approach to explanation, which articulates a theory that can enfold other theories and assimilate previously irrelevant theories to be a part of a coherent whole. He stresses that the doctrine of the Trinity underlies the Christian unificationist approach to the explanation of reality as a whole.
In chapter six, McGrath spells out the theorisation of what is observed. Having drawn a distinction between the discovery of a theory and its justification, he demonstrates that the deductive, inductive and abductive reasoning, which are typically used in natural science, can offer support to reveal the rationality of the Christian belief. Rather than underscoring the absolute capacity of human reason to theorise whatever observed, McGrath in the seventh chapter examines the limitation of the human mind so as to defend the complexity and mystery of the universe. Then, he asserts that the recognition of mystery facilitates the development of both the natural sciences and Christian theology insofar as it implies something intriguing and draws one to engage more deeply. In chapter eight, finally, McGrath seeks to offer an account of rational consilience through the lens of the transdisciplinarity and interdisciplinarity, which depict the unified picture and single grand narrative of reality. According to him, this approach is of significance for the construction of a meta-rationality that synthesises the respective insights of science and theology.
I suggest that McGrath’s work can be further enriched by neo-Calvinistic organicism. Recent neo-Calvinistic scholarship demonstrates that unity-in-diversity and diversity-in-unity are of theological significance for organicism, which takes its root in the doctrine of the Trinity ultimately. This can lend support to illuminate McGrath’s view of ‘One Reason but Multiple Rationalities’ in a richer way.
Nonetheless, the merits of McGrath’s work are explicit. First, throughout the volume, he persistently presents the Multiple Situated Rationalities as the new context where the dialogue of theology and science can be facilitated. By such doing, he points the way forward for science-theology dialogue which goes beyond Ian Barbour’s fourfold model. Second, McGrath articulates an equilibrium of science and theology, which drives one to reject both scientism and privileging theology in science-theology dialogue. Third, this volume is extensively documented. The bibliography takes up 55 pages of the whole book (288 pages). In light of the three strengths, this volume is highly recommended for those who seek to articulate the dialogical relationship between the natural sciences and Christian theology.