A Scientific Theology. Vol. 2: Reality

Trinity Journal, Spring 2003 by Bray, Gerald

Alister McGrath. A Scientific Theology. Vol. 2: Reality. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2002. xvii 343 pp. $50.00.

The second volume in Alister McGrath's great trilogy has appeared only a year after the first, which was dedicated to a consideration of Nature. The third and final volume, which we may assume will also appear in a year's time, will be entitled Theory, and draw together the threads of the vast project which he has undertaken in these volumes. Reality contains five substantial chapters, which are actually part three of the overall work, the first two parts having been contained in Nature. The first chapter (or seventh, according to the consecutive numbering which McGrath has adopted) is entitled "Rationality and Knowledge in Theology and the Natural Sciences" and consists mainly of an extensive discussion of the failure of Enlightenment foundationalism. According to McGrath, this has led to a rudderless intellectual world, in which discrete forms of postliberalism and postmodernity compete for attention, with little or no coherence or justification beyond themselves.

The second chapter, called "Natural Theology and the Trans-Traditional Rationality of the Christian Tradition" continues this theme and explores the possibility of going beyond self-contained worlds of discourse ("traditions") to recover a universal touchstone of knowledge. McGrath advances the twin claim that Christian theology can do this in a way that no other religion or philosophy can and that it is the most satisfactory explanation of the universal phenomena of creation. He argues for a recovery of realism, albeit in a more subtle form than has hitherto been offered, and maintains that in such a recovery, Christian theology and natural science will be seen to co-exist in mutual harmony. Chapter 9 (the 3d) examines the foundations of realism in the natural sciences and argues for its superiority over various alternatives such as idealism, positivism, and instrumentalism. The next chapter moves on to what McGrath calls "critical realism," following a theory first put forward by Roy Bhaskar in 1975, and developed since then by a small band of faithful disciples, of whom McGrath has recently become one. Finally, the last chapter discusses our encounter with reality and attempts to outline what the contours of a scientific theology must be.

To begin with the basic issues, it is clear that McGrath is attempting something which is of great importance for Christian theology, though it is often sadly neglected-the connection between theological discourse and the real world. If Christianity is a life-changing gospel, then it must connect with external reality at some point, and working out how is what McGrath is trying to do. His answer is that "reality" is a many-splendored thing, which cannot be reduced (as the Enlightenment supposedly tried to do) to simplistic canons of a rationality which claims to be universal. Instead, reality must be seen as something which exists in different layers, or strata, each of which has its own rules of engagement. The most fundamental stratum is God himself, the Creator who stands over against his creation but who is also intimately bound up with it. For Christians, the supreme link between the Creator and the creature is Jesus Christ, the Word become flesh, who in his being reveals the inner truth and mutual relationship of all the many strata of reality.

Christians will naturally warm to McGrath's project and agree with it, at least in broad outline. Others are unlikely to be persuaded, but so it has always been, and McGrath cannot be blamed for that. All he can realistically hope to achieve is a demonstration of the coherence of the Christian view of the universe, showing that it is plausible (indeed, more plausible than its main rivals) and intellectually respectable. That in itself is a major achievement, and if he succeeds, the Christian world will be greatly in his debt.

But will he succeed? This remains uncertain. McGrath is at his best when demolishing the views of his chosen opponents, though even he admits that some of them (Don Cupitt, Richard Rorty) are rather easy targets! Given the vast number of people who have written on this subject, it is impossible to engage with more than a handful of them in a book this size, though it is not immediately clear why some have been chosen for an extended critique while others have been passed over with no more than a footnote. As a result, the book reads curiously like a doctoral thesis, full of references to almost everyone the author can think of (presumably so that his examiners will realize that he has mastered his subject), but leaving out detailed discussion, because a thesis has a rather restrictive word limit. It is also full of the sort of cleverness which doctoral theses often contain-philosophical jargon, Latin tags, and even quotations from poetry-which may not be immediately relevant, but which serve to dazzle the reader with the candidate's apparent brilliance and depth of personal culture. Most readers will be duly impressed, but the technique is a dangerous one. Slips inevitably occur, and if they are spotted, can compromise the author's reputation for savantry. A couple of examples: on p. 313 McGrath speaks about the mind being created "in imagine Dei" (which means 'inside the image of God'), instead of the correct "ad imaginem Dei," and on p. 269 he says that Descartes defined God as "entis summe perfecti" (genitive), when this should read "ens summe perfectum" (nominative). Minor points no doubt, but just the sort of thing the external examiner is expected to pick up!