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The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief
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Average Rating:  out of 303 Reviews
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Price: $15.00
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Sale: $7.00
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Manufacturer: Free Press
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EAN (European Article Number): 9781416542742
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Number of Items: 1
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Binding: Paperback
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Author: Francis S. Collins
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Publisher: Free Press
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Dewey Decimal Number: 215
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Publication Date: 2007-07-17
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Reading Level: 294
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Description: Dr. Francis Collins, head of the Human Genome Project, is one of the world's leading scientists. He works at the cutting edge of the study of DNA, the code of life. Yet he is also a man of unshakable faith in God and scripture. Dr. Collins believes that faith in God and faith in science can coexist within a person and be harmonious. In The Language of God he makes his case for God and for science. He has heard every argument against faith from scientists, and he can refute them. He has also heard the needless rejection of scientific truths by some people of faith, and he can counter that, too. He explains his own journey from atheism to faith, and then takes readers for a stunning tour of modern science to show that physics, chemistry, and biology can all fit together with belief in God and the Bible. The Language of God is essential reading for anyone who wonders about the deepest questions of faith: Why are we here? How did we get here? What does life mean?
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Customer Reviews
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Review Summary: Evidence for Science, Not for Belief |
Date: 2008-12-03 |
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Details: I really liked this book. I do not buy any of Dr. Collins' arguments for God, but I really appreciated the depth of his understanding of evolution. This book is much better than Dawkins' The God Delusion for promoting science to people of faith. I have friends who do not believe in evolution because they feel it contradicts their understanding of Christianity. This is a book I would heartily recommend to them to help them better understand the fact of evolution without offending their religious convictions. Dr. Collins' "evidence" for the existence of God was clearly lacking and most of his arguments stem from C.S. Lewis (thus I am about to read Mere Christianity to better understand this perspective). He points to the moral law and the longing for God as evidence of God's existence. Evolution accounts for a moral law and can be observed in some form in nonhuman primates (for example, reciprocity). The longing for God does not mean that God is real; I long for my grandfather to still be alive, but this does not make him alive. Also, the longing for God being evident in every culture does not adequately address the fact of polytheism and other forms of faith that do not include the Christian conception of God, and also neglects Buddhism, which is transcendent but nontheistic. Dr. Collins' conception of God is much grander than the Bible's as it has been informed by science. But because there are still mysteries as to the beginning of the universe and the origin of life this means that the Christian conception of God is accurate seems to be lacking as an argument. Dr. Collins like people of faith in centuries past still believes that humans are part of the grand scheme and purpose of the universe and relates to facts of life as lessons from a loving God. For example, Dr. Collins relates how his daughter was raped. Collins' response to this was to believe that he was being taught by God that he could not protect his daughter. This to me seems like the early Christians believing that they are the center of the universe and everything that happens is to do with them. How Collins can believe in a loving and all-powerful God that allows his daughter to be raped is beyond me. I recognize that this belief helped him in this situation and I think it is good that he wants to forgive the perpetrator. However, this does not mean that God exists. Dr. Collins recognizes that the universe began 13.7 billion years ago and that life evolved, without God intervening, over millions of years. Dr. Collins then states that when humans came to be they were gifted with an immortal soul. It just seems unlikely and unparsimonious to assume this as a fact. I believe Dr. Collins has emotional reasons for believing in God, but this does not mean that God exists. To the extent that this belief creates better human beings, I am all for it. I think Jesus was an extraordinary moral teacher and people following his ethical example can only be a good thing. But it just seems more likely that God does not exist as conceived by religions. There is no Zeus, and likewise there is no Yahweh. It is important to remember the actual context of the Old Testament and God's behavior and come to realize that this God does not exist just as all of the other gods do not exist. And if he did exist, he wouldn't be worthy of worship in my opinion. Dr. Collins argues elegantly against the "God of the gaps" in evolutionary theory, but I feel he still appeals to this God in other areas such as the beginning of the universe. There is something we don't understand, so God must have done it. There is something to the argument, however to make the leap that the universe is so complex it must have been created by a god does not mean this is the Christian God. Why not Brahman or Aten? There are just too many leaps of faith to be considered evidence as the subtitle of the book suggests. That said, if one is to believe in God, surely this is the way to go about it, with a clear understanding of science and a realistic view of the natural world. Collins has a magnificent balance in his view that I admire, though I must confess that even though Collins considers it the most irrational position, I remain an atheist. Dr. Collins believes that Jesus rose from the dead and other similar myths. Certainly Dr. Collins recognizes myth when it comes from other cultures, but to ignore this in one's own culture to me seems irrational. Thank you for reading. |
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Review Summary: Interesting synthesis of science and religion |
Date: 2008-11-17 |
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Details: Dr. Frances Collins, a microbiologist in charge of the Human Genome Project, lays out his reasons for belief in God and why he believes faith and science are compatible. He discusses how he came to change from atheism to Christianity and the evidences he found of God's existence, such as "Moral Law" (the universal acceptance in all cultures of "right" and "wrong"). He also discusses the contributions of science in helping us to understand so much of the world around us. His explanation of the Big Bang and evolution are especially interesting, and cleared up some questions I had. He is critical of some currently popular concepts and movements such as Intelligent Design and Creationism, pointing out why they are baseless and counterproductive to their aims. He also tries to bridge the contentious gap between faith and science, arguing that each has its limits and how they complement each other.
I read this book expecting it to be heavier on science than religion and was a bit disappointed to find it was the opposite. As someone who believes in God yet has always been fascinated by science, I appreciated most of all the discussions and evidences for the Big Bang theory and Darwin's Theory of Evolution (he also discusses the different uses of the word "theory"). His conversion story and explanations for his belief were nice, but I also appreciated his frank discussions of where many religious people go overboard. On the other side, his discussions of the contributions of science and it's limits was very enlightening. But Dr. Collins goes further to draw some conclusions which I'm not sure I can agree with or even if I fully understood. He argues for a concept called Theistic Evolution (which he proposes to rename BioLogos) which seeks to reconcile evolution with the story of creation.
Overall, a very interesting book that will be most enlightening to those who can read it with an open mind. While I don't agree with all his conclusions it has certainly given me some things to think about. |
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Review Summary: Not Convinced Yet |
Date: 2008-11-15 |
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Details: I have been moved tremendously by everything I have read about Dr. Collins work, the human genome project, and the incredible information science has uncovered. What is heartwarming is that he is a seeker of God, and gives God the credit as the creator of this universe. I believe humankind will continue to discover information that will show us there is a designer behind all we see around us.
His analytical comments in the book criticizing Paley for his watch story as being childish in its reasoning, could just as well be applied to his own reasoning in putting it down.
On pages 132 when he tries to address the fossil record and macro evolution, his explanations to me are a total gloss. He goes to the finch beak story and moves quickly away from it to an example more significant to him showing macro evolution. He references "sticklebacks", as "proof" that macro evolution occurs around us all the time. Whoa!! He goes on to speak of his contacting malaria somehow, after having been vaccinated against the disease, as somehow playing into his "scientific" support for macro evolution.
I came away from the book marveling, appreciative of understanding, and respecting very highly the work of all involved in the human genome project. I also was in no way convinced evolution has occurred in the way he tries to take God out of the picture, and stick him back in at the same time.
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Review Summary: Contribution to the body of knowledge for reconciling science and God |
Date: 2008-11-10 |
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Details: Francis Collins, an acclaimed and respected scientist and leader of the Human Genome Project, offers commentary on reconciling science, evolution, deism, and the Judeo-Christian beliefs.
In the first section of the book, Collins begins by invoking C.S. Lewis (which he does throughout the book) and his "Mere Christianity" argument for The Moral Law. This concept is key for Collins and provides the foundation for his beliefs since, as a biologist, he is fully committed to the theory of the evolution. He argues the Moral Law cannot be explained by science and evolution since "It cannot be accounted for by the drive of individual selfish genes to perpetuate themselves". Later in the book he confesses "The Moral Law still stands out for me as the strongest signpost to God".
Here Collins indeed submits valid logic for Moral Law as proof for God, for refutation of Freud's assertion that God is "wishful thinking, inventing an answer because we want it to be true" and for the question of "why would a loving God allow suffering", but does not fully develop it. Basically he has just rehashed Lewis without shoring up any of Lewis' holes or adding fresh insight.
It is tempting to stop here and question his argument, but that discourse is not really what "The Language of God" is about. Instead, rather, Collins hits his stride in the middle of the book with his well-researched assertion that the Big Bang theory and evolution are not necessarily mutually exclusive with deism and even the Judeo-Christian God. Collins' subject matter expertise in biology and genetics provide the means for an effective and convincing argument.
It is during this discussion he introduces "God of the gaps" thinking which is the resorting to the explanation of specific divine action by God when scientific or human understanding fails. Way, way too many fundamentalists and evangelicals fall into this trap, and as Collins says, it does a disservice to Christianity. I have been searching for the phraseology to describe this for a long time.
In the last section of the book, Collins takes on all extremes - Richard Dawkins and the atheists, the evangelical creationists, and the Intelligent Design camp. He provided a fair summary of these views and a compelling case against their biases.
For me, what stands out in this part is the notion that as much as traditional fundamentalist-evangelical Christians want the Bible to be true, literal and inerrant (as one would think the Inspired Word of God should be), the scientific evidence inherently defeats that ... short of severe rationalization and cognitive dissonance, and quite frankly, blind stupidity. Unfortunately, the non-literal interpretation of any of the Bible puts believers on a slippery slope to eviscerating the tenets of the belief. Collins says "mature observers are used to living on slippery slopes and deciding on where to place a sensible stopping point" for liberal theology. He says "many sacred texts do indeed carry clear marks of eye-witness history" while "stories of Job and Jonah, of Adam and Eve, frankly do not carry that same historical ring." Maybe that could be a valid statement, but what is the test to determine whether an interpretation is literal or not? Collins does not offer one. Apparently he has not thought any further other than to to postulate that we *should* know.
In his final formal chapter, Collins revisits his conversion from atheism and shares some deeply spiritual moments which do not really fit the tone of the previous ten chapters. He also makes passing comments that summarily dismiss proven and documented evidence that many New Testament passages have been discredited due to poor translation or biased editing of the copyists.
"The Language of God" is a significant contribution to the body of knowledge that reconciles religion and science. Collins skillfully argues "the scientific and spiritual worldviews both have much to offer. Both provide differing but complementary ways of answering the world's greatest questions, and both can co-exist happily within the mind of an intellectually inquisitive person living in the 21st century". Unfortunately, the book is marred by under-developed logic on theology and textual criticism and some quite unexpected sappy sentimentalism. If the author had stayed on subject, I would have given a four or five star-rating, but as is, just a three.
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Review Summary: An Honest Discussion by a Leading Scientist |
Date: 2008-11-08 |
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Details: Francis Collins is perhaps the world's leading scientist. His writing defeats the myth that science and religion are not compatible. They actually are similar in methodology and in their concern for truth. |
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