(This is a copy of my my review at Amazon)
You can know “what” without knowing “how”, but you can’t know “how” without knowing “what” – my short summary of this wonderful book. Modern science seeks to study complex things by isolating parts and assessing the various interactions between them. The book masterfully demonstrates that such a technique cannot be accomplished without a prior recognition of form, essence, and categories. In other words, the scientist must identify “what” a thing is and “what” its parts are before applying the scientific method of isolating those parts. But “what a thing is” is an irreducibly metaphysical question, rooted in the concept of differences. It is a question of being rather than merely a question of action. Hanby shows that the question of what makes things different cannot be answered from within a purely physical world, but only outside or above that world, requiring a “meta” physical viewpoint. However, the modern Darwinist claims there is no “outside” of the physical world, that there is no God or spiritual force beyond mere matter. Thus their science is at an end, unless they borrow concepts of form and essence from outside their system. Hanby counsels modern scientists to understand the impossibility of their task and to embrace the metaphysical concepts that everyone tacitly accepts in their lives as actually lived.
Hanby further shows how the metaphysics required to identify things – the “what” – requires not a vague spirituality, but the trinitarian God described in the Bible. He catalogs the impasse the ancient Greeks encountered in trying to determine the essence of objects and shows how the biblical doctrines of creation and the incarnation of Christ are required to solve the puzzles that ultimately stumped Plato, Aristotle, and Plotinus. Relying heavily on classical sources, Hanby summarizes the principle doctrines the church fashioned throughout the Middle Ages. From here, he begins a self-described “theological speculation” into the very nature of reality including the tensions between unity and diversity, past and future, being and action. Having no formal training in philosophy, this was very slow going for me but was my favorite part of the book. I look forward to re-reading these sections and mining the insight here and within several of the sources he quotes.
Hanby defines creation as “the ontological identity of the world”, not simply the sequence described in the early chapters of the Bible. My very short summary of his description of “what the world is” would go something like this: Creation is gift, an unnecessary overflow of God’s life, reflecting His nature as three persons in eternal relationship. God is all, yet creation is “not God” strictly. The world is a tension of being and action, each of which exists through the other in an intrinsic relation of polarity rather than an extrinsic relation of mutual exclusion.
If creation is gift, our proper response is grateful wonder. From this posture, scientific investigation has a secure foothold. Hanby encourages experimentation, investigation, measurement, and all elements commonly associated with the scientific method. He urges modern science to turn back from its irrational reductionism that seeks in vain to empty the world of metaphysical assumptions. He describes many of the “dangerous fantasies” that such irrationality has unleashed in our day where technology has triumphed over relationship.
I find Hanby’s thesis convincing. He offers not merely biblical texts as evidence but develops his position with intense philosophical rigor drawn from a wide variety of respected sources. He is also familiar with current Darwinian attempts to get around the roadblocks that even committed Darwinists are beginning to acknowledge. He is aware that his “theological speculation” may be more than his intended audience of thoughtful Darwinists can bear. However, I believe he will succeed in holding their attention as he speculates only after proving his depth of experience in philosophical concepts classic and modern.
Parts of the book have an almost meditative character. Many biblical concepts came to mind as I read and pondered. I’d like to see Hanby attempt a future work of further speculation from a devotional perspective. The many biblical texts of thanksgiving; the various Psalms that describe creation as allowing creatures to be: “Let the sea roar, and all it contains; Let the field exult, and all that is in it.” and many others would be welcome sources for the authors speculations. I also kept thinking about the non-material parts of creation – angels and the “principalities and powers” described in the Bible – and what place the author might find for these.
The writings of others also leapt to mind as I pondered the book. The writings of Chesterton and Wendell Berry fit well within these speculations. Berry has written prolifically of the confusion and destruction our modern practice of fragmentation has wrought, reminding us that “the context of everything is everything else”. G. K. Chesterton’s characteristic tone of wonder and gratitude venture into speculations akin to Hanby’s with brilliant insights such as: “Until we realize that things might not be we cannot realize that things are. Until we see the background of darkness we cannot admire the light as a single and created thing. As soon as we have seen that darkness, all light is lightening, sudden, blinding, and divine. Until we picture nonentity we underrate the victory of God, and can realize none of the trophies of His ancient war. It is one of the million wild jests of truth that we know nothing until we know nothing.”
I highly recommend the book and look forward to more from the author. He mentions that this book was 20 years in the making. I will be waiting for his future work, only hoping I do not have to wait another 20 years. I appreciate the publisher sending me a free copy of this book to review and will be early in line for the next.
See my full review at Amazon
Here’s the author with a brief overview of the book:
And Ken Myers, of Mars Hill Audio, on the book – mentioning Wendell Berry, as my (earlier written) review does: