A scrupulously researched and timely investigation for those with backgrounds in philosophy and theology.
A sweeping, scholarly investigation of the main ligature that connects religion and science: trust.
Fishman (co-author: Yoga and Multiple Sclerosis, 2007, etc.) wrestles with a notion that has always flummoxed philosophers: the relationship between religion and science, i.e., faith vs. reason. Bucking a trend to interpret the two as mutually exclusive or two parallel modes of discourse too different to effectively communicate with one another, he argues that they share a common core: the “mysterious phenomenon of trust.” In fact, Fishman contends that science blossomed from the seeds planted by religion; science, he says, refined religion’s preoccupation with the investigation of ultimate causes and the underlying demand of doctrinal consistency. Religion focuses on the “uncreated creator,” while “science traces the skein of all causes back to, yes, exactly one cause.” The common and fertile ground of both (as well as in law) is trust. “The Scholastics, with what many still consider utterly vain arguments, were actually doing the groundwork, the essential preparation for the social institution of science,” he says. The key was “satisfying a necessary precondition for a large group of somewhat different peoples to appreciate the same problems, and be able to agree about the conditions for their solutions.” Broad in its scope, Fishman’s approach is a deeply philosophical mediation. While he focuses on Christian sources of theology, he also discusses Islam, Confucianism, Taoism and other non-Western schools of thought. While the prose is lucid, this isn’t a book for a layperson; it presupposes a strong understanding of the development of Western philosophy. In the end, science ends up much more reliant on mutual trust within a community than one might think; meanwhile, religion, also dependent upon trust, can be much more rationally rigorous.
A scrupulously researched and timely investigation for those with backgrounds in philosophy and theology.Pub Date: May 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-1482584707
Page Count: 404
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Jan. 7, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Internationally renowned because of his earlier books, among them tape Letters, Surprised by Joy, Mere Christianity, C. S. Lewis making religion provoking, memorable and delightful is still more latest Reflections on the Psalms. Though he protests that he writes learned about things in which he is unlearned himself, the reader is likely thank God for his wise ignorance. Here especially he throws a clear lightly or not, on many of the difficult psalms, such as those which abound with and cursing, and a self-centeredness which seems to assume' that God must be side of the psalmist. These things, which make some psalm singers pre not there, have a right and proper place, as Mr. Lewis shows us. They of Psalms more precious still. Many readers owe it to themselves to read flections if only to learn this hard but simple lesson. Urge everyone to book.
Pub Date: June 15, 1958
ISBN: 015676248X
Page Count: 166
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Oct. 17, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1958
The name of C.S. Lewis will no doubt attract many readers to this volume, for he has won a splendid reputation by his brilliant writing. These sermons, however, are so abstruse, so involved and so dull that few of those who pick up the volume will finish it. There is none of the satire of the Screw Tape Letters, none of the practicality of some of his later radio addresses, none of the directness of some of his earlier theological books.
Pub Date: June 15, 1949
ISBN: 0060653205
Page Count: 212
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 17, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1949
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