Book Review: Darwin and Doctrine: The Compatibility of Evolution and Catholicism by Daniel Kuebler

Darwin and Doctrine: The Compatibility of Evolution and Catholicism by Daniel Kuebler

The supposed conflict between science and religion is the basis for a lot of arguments from people at the far end of both camps. Rather than meet in the middle by finding out about each other's positions, they hunker down in their trenches and lob truth bombs at each other. After several hundred years of conflict, you'd think they'd adopt a different tactic. For such people, the "I'm right, you're wrong" victory is more important than reconciling differences by finding the complicated, integrated truth together.

Daniel Kuebler seeks just such a reconciliation. Operating from the Catholic assumption that there is no genuine conflict between faith and reason, a concept that dates back at least as far as Saint Augustine, he looks at historic understandings of the issues. On the Catholic side, he details the growing understanding of the first chapters of Genesis and how a literal historical interpretation is both unnecessary and unlikely. The origin of the universe is described from a theological perspective at a time when the best science was a nascent science. Sure, a fundamentalist mentality can be found throughout Christian history. But wiser heads can also be found who have taken science seriously and made strides to reconcile the claims of science and the claims of Christianity. On the science side, Kuebler delves into the understanding of evolution as found in Darwin's writings which is quite different from what is asserted by many of Darwin's followers. Evolution is more complicated and incorporates more influences than natural selection. Other natural processes are involved. Digging into the details of current scientific thinking about evolution yields a more complicated and nuanced understanding of how species like homo sapiens came into existence and developed into prominence.

One issue in the debate is a matter of demarcation. Science is great at discovering and explaining processes in the natural world, including the relationships between living organisms (and those that used to live but have been relegated to the fossil record). Theology is great at discovering and explaining relationships between the divine and the human and how that impacts the lives of rational beings. Science and theology look at relationships of things but in different ways and with different ends in mind. They do not have two separate fields of truth, they have two related fields that can inform one another. 

This book is fascinating reading. It is written for a general audience, eschewing highly technical details in science and in theology. But the explanations get into enough detail to make their points. Also, the book is as up-to-date as can be, using the most current advances in both fields to establish how they can be reconciled with each other and provide mutual support and insight.

Highly recommended.

SAMPLE QUOTE:

"Much of the perceived conflict between evolution and Catholicism stems from a failure to distinguish what can legitimately be read from the Book of Nature and what can legitimately be read from the Book of Scripture. While scientific discovery--the 'reading' of the Book of Nature--can uncover how the planets move or how species are related, it cannot fully explain the purpose of man or answer why a universe that is order to support life exists in the first place." [p. 248]

Book Review: Science of Today and the Problems of Genesis by Fr. Patrick O'Connell, B.D.

Science of Today and the Problems of Genesis by Fr. Patrick O'Connell, B.D.

When reading a book about the "science of today" it is important to know what "today" is. This book was first published in 1959, with a second edition coming out in 1968. The copy I have was printed in 1993 by Tan, a traditionally-minded Catholic publisher. The book is unabashedly pro-Church (as in the Roman Catholic Church) and is also a serious effort to understand and use scientific research in supporting the author's arguments.

Father Patrick O'Connell was a missionary in China throughout the time that the Peking Man fossils (assumed to be a "missing link" species between apes and man) were discovered. Those fossils were subsequently lost in 1941 during the Japanese occupation. O'Connell attributes the loss to a cover-up of fraudulent fossils, though the scientific community (with its bias towards evolutionary interpretations) did and still accepts Peking Man as legitimate. It is interesting to note that the site was opened back up for excavation after the war and no additional fossils have been found, even to the present day (the present day being January 2020).

O'Connell argues against evolution a lot (about half the book) and also discusses the antiquity of man and evidence for Noah's flood. He sites many findings from paleontology and archaeology to back up his claims that Biblical account is highly compatible with scientific discoveries. His rhetoric is often a little too heavy handed, calling "absurd and ridiculous" claims that men were descended from apes or that mankind on Earth goes back half a million years. The style of writing would be off-putting for those not already sympathetic to his conclusions.

Which is a shame because O'Connell makes a lot of good arguments and ties together information from various disciplines (paleontology, archaeology, astronomy, and literary analysis of biblical and other ancient texts). He has read and discusses works from all sides of the arguments. He remains staunchly Catholic and argues that science and faith can be reconciled. He does a convincing job of that. And the interdisciplinary approach is indispensable for understanding complicated topics like evolution and human history.

Slightly recommended. The information is a bit old and the rhetorical style is a bit harsh.

If you want a reconciling of modern science with biblical faith, Seven Glorious Days is a much better book, though it is strictly focused on the Genesis creation account. See my review and the discussion of Seven Glorious Days on A Good Story is Hard to Find podcast.