God's Undertaker

Now THIS is more like it! John Lennox is pretty much my favorite Christian author. He doesn’t get you lost in philosophical mumbo-jumbo. He actually speaks English, and he has very thoughtful arguments that need to be heard. In the debates I’ve watched between Lennox and Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, and Peter Atkins, I found that he responds much more directly to whatever his opponent is saying than Alister McGrath or William Lane Craig do. While there are some moments where I feel he might be oversimplifying things or not explaining what he means in great enough detail, I still appreciate the fact that what he says can resonate with me better than any other author. The only person who will think exactly the same way I do is…me, and I think I need to do a better job of accepting that.The book kicks off with a general discussion of the tensions between science and religion. Lennox, of course, settles on the view that they are compatible. In fact, he explains to us that Christianity was responsible for the origins of science. It was the belief in God of most early scientists that led them to study the universe around them in greater detail.Then Lennox discusses the limitations of science, which was a great chapter. In a nutshell, he tells us that science explains how things work rather than why they work the way they do. He is very articulate, gives examples to illustrate his points, and goes into more than enough detail to satisfy me.Then we get into reduction. Basically he tells us about how the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. I’ll admit that I am young and not all that smart, so I probably don’t fully understand this concept. But I think I get the general idea. God created the universe, which includes the parts we understand and the parts we don’t understand. While that number of things we don’t understand may shrink, we still only understand some of the individual laws that govern the universe. Understanding how they all fit together is a whole different story. Lennox also gets into the mind-boggling question of whether we can trust anything our brains tell us. If our brains are nothing but a cosmic accident, then we have no reason to believe that our brains are feeding us accurate information.The next chapter, titled “Designer Universe?” starts getting into the evidence for a designer. The chapter covers a lot of ground. He talks about the rational intelligibility of the universe, the role of faith in science, the fact that there’s something rather than nothing, the origins of the laws governing our universe, and the apparent fine-tuning that had to take place for the universe to be able to support life. There’s definitely some stuff that the average lay reader like me won’t fully understand, but Lennox does a good job making these concepts more accessible.The next chapter talks a lot about how God and evolution are compatible, and that belief to the contrary is usually more motivated by ideology and dogma than anything else. I don’t feel a need to go into further detail. Read it for yourself.Next up is more about evolution. My first John Lennox book was Seven Days that Divide the World, another excellent book that led me to believe that he was a theistic evolutionist. Turns out he is better described as a supporter of intelligent design, which still allows for evolution on a smaller scale. Lennox does a good job of explaining the different ways that the term ‘evolution’ is used, and what the difference is between microevolution and macroevolution. I hadn’t really understood the difference before, so I’m glad I read this. Lennox concludes that you may indeed be crazy if you don’t believe in any form of evolution, but that he doesn’t believe that irreducibly complex organisms could arise through the processes of evolution alone that we’ve observed. I hadn’t really understood what irreducible complexity had meant before either. Personally, I’m convinced that intelligent design has more merit to it than most scientists would have us believe. I figure that the fact that the majority of scientists are atheists makes them prone to the same kinds of bias that ID scientists are charged with.The rest of the book is mostly discussion of evidence pointing to a creator. The origins of life, the genetic code, and information get a lot of coverage. I won’t get into detail about the arguments made, as I’m sure I’m not the best one to explain them. I don’t fully understand everything he talks about, but I think I can usually get the gist of the points he’s making.I thoroughly enjoyed the book. It is a must-read for any believer in God. It talks so little about Christianity specifically that I could easily see even a deist enjoying it. And, of course, I’d like atheists to read it as well to get a different perspective than what they’re used to hearing. So I guess this book should be read by pretty much everyone.

The topic of science, faith, and how those two systems coincide in our world is a fascinating one, indeed. Yet, despite it being a subject so rich in information, the works published on it are often either so heavily biased in one direction or so poorly researched that it is a chore to work through them. And that is generally true for all sides of this discussion.What makes this book different starts with the man who wrote it. John Lennox is one of the more highly educated men in the world regarding both science and faith, in addition to holding very prominent positions in mathematics, philosophy, and theology at the famed Oxford University. He is imminently qualified to speak on this topic, and he does so frequently via debates and speaking engagements. And, despite his academically-dominated resume, he is a joy to listen to -- coming off more like your favorite uncle from Ireland than a stodgy professor.I was very pleased to find out that his writing style is much like his speaking voice -- clear, precise, and yet extremely accessible. Lennox writes much like C.S. Lewis would have if Lewis would have been a scientist; very deep and rich on content without beating the reader over the head with his intellect.This is not to say that Lennox doesn't get technical -- he does. He spends a significant portion of the book on the topic of biology and it does get complex. But I highly encourage you not to be discouraged by that, as the author is supremely gifted at walking the reader through some very technical subjects, to be sure.Regarding the supposed "debate" between Christianity and science, I will say this: there are, obviously, a great number of people who's minds will never be swayed by books like this one -- some, no matter how well the argument is presented, will forever be on the path they are on (and that is, of course, true for all sides of this discussion). However -- and this is, I believe, what is most important -- the arguments Lennox presents in "God's Undertaker" cannot be ignored. Despite your beliefs or education, this book speaks at a level that cannot be dismissed by any serious thinker because it goes far beyond the simple and quaint arguments used for so long; it presents a clear look at what science is and is not, and how wrongly the debate has been framed for so long. Coming from a man of Lennox's background, no one -- Christians, atheists, agnostics, etc. -- should give anything less than some pretty serious attention to his work.The book easily deserves 5 stars, not simply because I agree with the author or because he won me over to his beliefs, but because it is an extremely well thought out, well researched, and extremely well written piece on a very important topic. I highly encourage any and all who have even the smallest of interests in this topic to purchase this book prior to most any other in the genre. You won't be disappointed.