Soul: God, Self and the New Cosmology. - book reviews

National Catholic Reporter, Feb 4, 1994 by Michael J. Farrell

A kindred example is Soul: God, Self and the New Cosmology, by Angela Tilby (Doubleday, 1993, 310 pages, $22.50), based on Tilby's BBC television series, also called "Soul," subsequently broadcast in the United States on The Learning Channel. Tilby interviewed people of such disparate backgrounds as cosmologists Stephen Hawking, physicist Steven Weinberg, geologian Thomas Berry and creation theologian Matthew Fox.

"I have always been fascinated by the relation between God and the universe," the author echoes an old refrain.

"Fascinated and appalled, because to the observer the universe is both a beautiful and an inhuman place."

She does not so much offer a thesis or solution to heal the fissure between the beautiful and cruel worlds, rather she presents a smorgasbord of diverse views from the so-called cutting edge, casting the latest light on many old festering questions.

An interesting aspect is the extent to which euphemisms and silver linings are put aside in order to tell it like it is or seems to be. And it seems to be grim:

In the materialist picture, which

still emotionally dominates science,

nature gives nothing to human beings,

makes no allowances for them, is

unaware of or indifferent to their

existence. Personal meaning and

integrity can only be gained by a

heroic struggle against despair.

"Some people rejoice in such a picture," Tilby goes on, without naming names, but one thinks of John Paul Sartre and other existentialists rejoicing to be "alone in the universe" and industriously creating themselves as they went.

But it's not as if religion has any better practical solution for today's mess than do the materialists. Tilby quotes St. Paul's admitting that creation is "subjected to futility" (Rom 8:20). Her explanation is in line with the traditional Catholic and most mainline expressions of the dilemma:

The fact that everything runs

down and dies suggests a kind of

cosmic hopelessness and frustration

which is actually part of the will of

God. God does not intend this

ambiguous natural world to satisfy the heart

and soul. Its very brokenness can

function as a sign pointing away

from itself to the One who alone can

meet human longing and terror and

the striving for righteousness.

It is no secret that the mainline churches, at the heart of whose theology is this very view of God, do not enjoy the success, if one may use so base a word, that they once did. There may be many reasons for that -- possibly including the will of God. But in human terms -- and human terms are all we have -- there seems to be ample anecdotal evidence (at least) that people do not find the traditional verities as compelling as in the so-called ages of faith.