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Modem Physics and Ancient Faith
By Stephen M. Barr
Notre Dame, University of Notre Dame Press, 2003. 312 pp. $30.00.
The major alternative to religious belief in our culture is arguably a kind of atheism based upon a powerful attachment to science, scientific method, and technology. It is often based upon an existential trust in science and becomes a kind of quasi-religion. We might call this type of worldview scientism; in his new book, Stephen Barr calls it "scientific materialism." His well-written, cogent argument seeks to undermine scientific materialism from within its own stronghold: that is, upon the basis of science itself.
It is a happy day indeed when one finds a work by a scientist that is so clear, based upon serious reflection, and demonstrates a broad knowledge of philosophy and religion as well as science. Modern Physics and Ancient Faith is just such a work. Barr is a research physicist at the University of Delaware, and he has a wonderful way of explaining difficult theories in modern physics. Equally impressive is his ability to reflect upon the philosophical and theological implications of these theories and explain them to us in ordinary...