Review:
Michael Cocks
Creation and Double Chaos/Science and Theology in
discussion. Sjoerd L Bonting
Fortress Press, Minneapolis, 2005. 275 pp 30 pages of notes. 5 page
subject index ISBN 0-8004-3759-3 …..Can be ordered
from the publishers Augsburg Fortress PO box 59304 MN 5549-0304 Tel +1
612 330 3300 Fax +1 612 330 3455 Price $US 22 plus postage and
handling.
The author, Professor Sjoerd L. Bonting is a most interesting person in
that, although Dutch by nationality, he has spent half of his
academic life as a biochemist in the US, half in the Netherlands. He
was Professor of Biochemistry in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, for
twenty years and thereafter adviser to NASA in California, with regard
to biological research on the International Space Station. In 1964 he
was ordained an Anglican priest in Washington DC. During his
professorship in Nijmegen he established
four Anglican chaplaincies in the east of the Netherlands, where he
still lives. Further details of his career can be found at our issue of
November 2005. He is a well known writer on science and religion,
alongside Ian Barbour, Arthur Peacocke and John Polkinghorne.
From what point of
view is he writing Creation and Double Chaos.?
In discussing the issue of Truth in science and theology, he writes,
“Theology works with biblical accounts and religious experience
(analogous to the observations and experimental results of science) and
formulates from them doctrines (analogous to scientific theories). This
involves logical reasoning, similar to that used in the formulation of
scientific theory. A doctrine needs to fit in with the body of doctrine
of the church… and it must be accepted by the religious
community in order to be considered valid… It then becomes a
religious “truth” in a provisional sense, as is also the
case for scientific theories.”
Thus Bonting writes from the perspective of
both a biologist, and of a priest of the Anglican Church and pastor to
his congregation. On the back cover of this book, there is a note from
Arthur Peacocke that reads,
“In this
stimulating work, Sjoerd Bonting engages his expertise as scientist and
priest to reflect on the mystery of creation in the purposes of God and
comes to unconventional conclusions about traditional ideas of divine
‘creation out of nothing’”
I understand Bonting therefore as reflecting on this mystery in the
context of his experience of the divine in a particular faith
community, and of his experience as a very disciplined academic
biologist.
In any case, he writes in a most clear and
understandable way for the non-specialist, which includes this
reviewer. He is a very good communicator, inviting criticism and
discussion. It says something about him as a non-dogmatic person that
he has been warmly supporting this journal, which is approaching things
from a rather different perspective, and is for the time being one of
our consultants. He is very orderly in his presentation of his material
and as we survey the list of sections and subsection, we are very clear
what has been said. He surveys in brief some of the present
Science-Theology dialogue, discusses the scientific worldview with
regard to cosmic evolution and biological evolution. Alongside this he
looks at theological worldviews through the eyes of various creation
stories, then examines philosophies of creation, contemporary creation
theologies, chaos theology, chaos theory and chaos events, the problem
of evil, and then later, human ambivalence: Genetic modification, the
problem of disease. There is a chapter called “Are we alone?
Theological implications of possible extraterrestrial intelligent
life”. This is also an interesting chapter, given that Bonting
has been adviser in biological matters to NASA in California, regarding
space exploration. Any intelligent reader will enjoy his writing, and
be stimulated to think about these issues.
In chapter 9 Bonting
discusses, “God’s Action
in the World.” He says that, “the universe evolves
in the continuing creation according to the plan laid down in the
initial creation and with great freedom and self sufficiency. Yet God
still has to intervene at critical moments, visible in the
contingencies of cosmic and biological evolution.” This
intervention “implies an immanent activity”. His
intervention implies that he, “maintains transcendence; God does
not become identical with the creation.” “God will
intervene only gently and rarely by ‘nudging’ a chaos event
when necessary to safeguard the goal set for creation from the
beginning.” [pages 142-3]
Here he varies from Arthur Peacocke
who describes "God’s immanent activity as holistic (influencing
the entire cosmos)”. However, Bonting grants that the influencing
of a chaos event may have a holistic effect on the entire cosmos.
With
regard to Process theology, he sees it as a speculative philosophy
rather than a biblically based creation theology….
“God’s transcendence and the distinction between God and
creation are lost.” (p.144). “God’s immanent
activity in influencing chaos events means that the weather and our
bodies can be proper subject for prayer, as they are prone to chaos
events. In these events, God may act through the Spirit as information
transmitter without violating physical law.” He applies
this thinking to the concepts of Logos, Spirit and Wisdom.
Bonting’s thoughts
could be interpreted as depicting God as a separate entity in himself,
over against a separated entity, namely Creation. This separate entity
then ‘nudges’ a chaos event in this other separate
entity. In an email I asked Sjoerd, " If God and Creation are so
separate, where does prayer
fit in?", and he wrote, " My answer is: the
Spirit transmits our prayer from us on earth to God's throne. I do not
see an absolute barrier between the immanent and the transcendent
realms. The barrier may exist only for the unbeliever, but for the
believer it becomes more transparent the more we grow in the spiritual
life, particularly through openness to the Spirit."
Looking at his section, 10.2 Incarnation of the cosmic
Christ, we can note that Bonting is no fundamentalist, and uses careful
discretion in choosing Biblical texts. On page 162, he rejects the
virgin birth story as a pious legend, “that a virginal Mary would
have been made pregnant by the Spirit.” His quotation from
Luke 1.35 was most helpful in stressing the spiritual message lying
behind the two versions of this story, “The Holy Spirit will come
upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore
the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God.”
On page 164 it was most interesting to read how a Jewish scholar had
helped to establish the authenticity of a reference to the resurrection
of Jesus in Josephus. This passage had previously been regarded as a
later Christian insertion, yet in 1972 Shlomo Pines found this passage
in an early Arabic translation.
His analysis of theological errors with regard to the Ransom theory of
the Atonement, was most helpful. He traces the theory from Origen, who
formulated it, through Augustine, Anselm, Aquinas, Luther and Calvin,
and writes, "From all this emerges, in my opinion, a gruesome image of
a God who is so hopelessly imprisoned in God's own perfect justice that
the only possiblity to save humankind is by sacrificing God's own
Son." Salvation comes through repentence and faith in Christ.
As Sjoerd notes, he is not a holist, and sees God as over against his
creation. His faith and religious experience is very intertwined with
those parts of the Scriptures especially focused on by the
church. He paints a detailed picture of the ecological future of
the earth, but salvation will come at the Last Day, when God will
abolish the
remaining chaos element for ever. (Rev.21.1) Holists too might
have such a hope, and express themselves in other terms. But we should
not quarrel with his faith.
Sjoerd is a warm and open person, and a fine teacher. He plainly has an
outstanding mind, and his book is interesting and very well worth
reading. Open as he is, I am sure that he does not claim to give the
last word on things, and that he does welcome debate.
If you order a copy of
this book through Amazon, you will find a long and good review is also
provided there.
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