Robert J. Russell

This collection of essays, part of the "Scientific Perspectives on Divine Action" series, dealt with the relationship between a theology of God's action on the one hand and evolutionary biology on the other. I personally found most of the essays to be rather dry, and was at least somewhat irritated that virtually all of the contributors adopted views of God akin to process theology - in short, drastically inadequate theologies. I did enjoy Francisco Ayala's essay "The Evolution of Life: An Overview" and Camilo J. Cela-Conde's essay "The homonid Evolutionary Journey: A Summary", as well as Thomas F. Tracy's concluding essay "Evolution, Divine Action, and the Problem of Evil". Most of what was in-between was rather dull, although I did similarly enjoy George F. R. Ellis' essay "The Thinking Underlying the New 'Scientific' World-views", which contained some extremely incisive criticisms of the way in which Richard Dawkins and Daniel Dennett approach science and religion. George F. R. Ellis is a leading expert in cosmology who co-authored a landmark work in the field with Stephen Hawking, and so certainly a match for Dawkins in terms of scientific credentials.… (altro)