Reinventing the Sacred: A New View of Science, Reason, and Religion

Reinventing the Sacred: A New View of Science, Reason, and Religion
by Stuart Kauffman

Reinventing the Sacred: A New View of Science, Reason, and Religion
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Book Summary Information

Author: Stuart Kauffman
Edition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2008-05-05
ISBN: 0465003001
Number of pages: 320
Publisher: Basic Books

Book Reviews of Reinventing the Sacred: A New View of Science, Reason, and Religion

Book Review: Reinventing the Wheel
Summary: 3 Stars

I greatly enjoyed this book and its wide, yet shallow conversations regarding evolution, quantum mechanics, ethics, reductionism and the origin of life. All of the topics discussed are in my favorite pile so I couldn't help but like the book.

However, in today's world of growing atheism and the trend among the remaining believers for syncretism, I was hoping the goal of the book was to fall off the fence on one side or the other. The author certainly leaned toward the side of atheism but then surprised me with his proposition that we replace religion with the worship (or near-worship) of nature. I know I have simplified the matter but this is really what the book boils down to.

Instead of reading radical, new ideas, I see that we have circled back to imbuing natural forces with divine sparks. How sad. Again, not to over simplify but the premise of this work could be taken a step forward (backward) to a return to sun gods and fertility rites. For goodness sakes, we could just join a Wicca coven and be done with it.

Stuart Kauffman is obviously a very intelligent man and has written a very enjoyable book. Nevertheless, at its heart, it is neither new nor very intelligent.

I hope you find this review helpful.

Michael L. Gooch

Summary of Reinventing the Sacred: A New View of Science, Reason, and Religion

A compelling and sweeping argument that complexity theory can build a bridge between science and religion.

Consider the woven integrated complexity of a living cell after 3.8 billion years of evolution. Is it more awe-inspiring to suppose that a transcendent God fashioned the cell, or to consider that the living organism was created by the evolving biosphere?

As the eminent complexity theorist Stuart Kauffman explains in this ambitious and groundbreaking new book, people who do not believe in God have largely lost their sense of the sacred and the deep human legitimacy of our inherited spirituality. For those who believe in a Creator God, no science will ever disprove that belief. In Reinventing the Sacred, Kauffman argues that the science of complexity provides a way to move beyond reductionist science to something new: a unified culture where we see God in the creativity of the universe, biosphere, and humanity.

Kauffman explains that the ceaseless natural creativity of the world can be a profound source of meaning, wonder, and further grounding of our place in the universe. His theory carries with it a new ethic for an emerging civilization and a reinterpretation of the divine. He asserts that we are impelled by the imperative of life itself to live with faith and courage--and the fact that we do so is indeed sublime. Reinventing the Sacred will change the way we all think about the evolution of humanity, the universe, faith, and reason.

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