In search of god at Columbia - Columbia University

Cross Currents, Spring, 2002 by Charles Henderson

The strength of Pollack's approach to the relationship between science and religion lies not alone in the productive conversations that inevitably ensue when scientists and theologians gather to work in a collegial way on issues of concern to both. The greater benefit that may be derived from the agenda that Pollack and others are working on at CSSR is the positive contribution that such a collaboration may make to both the practice of medicine and the shaping of public policy. As Pollack puts it:

We know from a century and a half of research in ecology and evolution that as a species our future lies not in minimizing our differences but in cherishing them. We know as well from millennia of religious insight that there is no possible way to justify any ranking of one person over another on grounds of any aspect of their physical being. From these two insights we have a chance of working toward a properly informed medicine, capable of using any and all insights from science in a context derived from the insights of many religions and thereby capable of reducing all data to one purpose: to help people in need, one person at a time.

In the pluralistic setting of a modern research university like Columbia, it is highly unlikely that new buildings will be constructed or new statues erected to the glorification of God. One might even imagine a time when someone initiates a court action to remove monuments from the past that proclaim faith in a particular God, as several Columbia University buildings still do. And while many would regret the loss of such symbols, including Bob Pollack, the actual presence of an "unknowable God who cares" will be better served, in the long run, not by symbols that have lost their anchor to a living faith, but rather in efforts to mine sacred traditions as a real source of wisdom and understanding. As long as work such as that presently being done as CSSR can continue, hopefully with the active support of academic as well as religious institutions, then it is highly likely that the words of the Hebrew Scriptures will continue to ring true in the hearts as well as the minds of generations of students and teache rs yet to come. "For with thee is the fountain of life; in thy light do we see."

Charles Henderson is the Executive Director of the Association for Religion and Intellectual Life.