Two Great Truths: A New Synthesis of Scientific Naturalism and Christian Faith

Rating:
Summary: An Important Book on an Important Subject
Review: David Griffin is one of the most advanced thinkers alive today. His work in harmonizing science and religion is unsurpassed, even in a field where many great books have already been written. The present book provides a good summary of his analysis of the distorted truths of science, but this subject is treated more thoroughly in Griffin's previous book: "Religion and Scientific Naturalism, Overcoming the Conflicts (SUNY 2000)."

This "Two Great Truths" book, however, is most significant in its treatment of Christianity. Our postmodern civilization is still fully engaged in the political and cultural struggle to free itself from the fetters of Christianity's premodern legacy; but the farther we move away from our past, the more we will be able to recognize the aspects of Jesus' teachings that transcend the Christian religion. Just as teenagers come to recognize the wisdom of their parents when they become adults, Western civilization will inevitably come to see anew the sublime spiritual truths of Jesus' gospel. That is, when we finally move far enough away from the worn out shell of premodern Christianity, we will be better able to discern those aspects of Jesus' teaching that will continue to produce cultural and spiritual evolution well into the future. This book thus begins the important process of pruning away the dead aspects of Christian doctrine (the premodern myths that have been transcended) from the living truths of Jesus' teaching that remain spiritually potent today.

However, although Griffin identifies many objectionable aspects of Christianity that have become appended to the original teachings of Jesus, he fails to discuss the most problematic Christian dogma -- the so-called "atonement doctrine," which says that God required the sacrifice of an innocent in order to appease his wrath. The atonement doctrine was originally conceived by Paul as a way of making Jesus' religion more appealing to his fellow Jews. And while Paul was successful at building the early Christian church, his legacy has left many problematic distortions that must now be jettisoned. This idea that God required Jesus' death as a ransom to pay for his affection flies in the face of everything Jesus taught about his loving Father in Heaven. But even though Griffin fails to identify the atonement doctrine as an aspect of Christian truth that got distorted, he does a good job of describing many other problematic aspects of Christian dogma, while simultaneously identifying the core teachings of Jesus. The rediscovery of the enduring truths of Jesus teaching is a process that will undoubtedly engage our civilization throughout the 21st century. But this book is an excellent start to this process and I thus highly recommend it.