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Book Review: The Cosmos in the Light of the Cross

George Murphy sets out to give a survey of the relationship between science and theology in which the discussion is controlled by a theology of the cross, rather than a theology of glory. As the phraseology suggests, there is a strongly Lutheran tone to the writing. The usual topics are covered. Murphy sees a role for natural theology, but follows Thomas Torrance in emphasizing that it should be pursued in association with revealed theology and not treated as a stand-alone discipline. Chapters follow on realism (critical not naive), divine action, and the origin of the universe. One of the best chapters in the book deals with evolution, understood as God’s way of acting through nature, though Stephen J. Gould’s assertion of the arbitrary happenstance of ‘wonderful life’ should have been counterbalanced by reference to the ideas of Simon Conway-Morris about convergence onto a limited range of biologically accessible and survival-effective basic forms. A comparatively unusual feature in a book of this kind is the inclusion of three chapters devoted to ethical questions. The most helpful of these is the one devoted to medical ethics, where the author is able to focus on a number of specific issues and avoid speaking simply in general terms. A less satisfactory chapter follows, somewhat oddly linking anthropic principle matters with eschatological hopes. Murphy espouses the currently fashionable idea of the influence of the future, in discussing which he flirts with some dubious notions such as time travel. In general, the science is simply explained and clearly presented, though the question of a relationship between quantum mechanics and consciousness is much more controversial than is suggested here (p. 66), and the strange proposal is made that anthropic principle considerations discourage the expectation of extraterrestrial life (p. 181). An interesting feature of the book is that it contains many more scriptural references than is common in writing of this kind. The emphasis on the theology of the cross – or ‘chiasmic cosmology’, as Murphy likes to call it – turns out principally to involve taking seriously the idea that creation is a kenotic act of self-limitation on the part of the Creator. This is certainly a very important insight, but one which has frequently been invoked in contemporary writing about science and theology, particularly in connection with a theodicy that acknowledges the inevitable shadow side of the evolutionary process by which creatures are allowed, in Charles Kingsley’s phrase, ‘to make themselves’. All in all, those familiar with contemporary original work in science and theology will not find much new in this