Summary
Title: The Vanquished Gods: Science, Religion and the Nature of Belief
Author: Richard H. Schlagel
Publisher: Prometheus Books
ISBN: 1573928984
Pro:
• May be good for skeptical, doubting believers
• Important contribution to an important debate
Con:
• Devout believers won't accept the arguments
Description:
• Argues that religion has had its chance to show what good it is - and has failed
• Argues that science and religion are not compatible - and that the age of religion is over
• Explains how and why science is a better means for understanding our world than religion
Book Review
The question of what Athens has to do with Jerusalem represents a fundamental cultural conflict which has afflicted the West through most of its history. For some, like Tertullian, Judeo-Christian religiosity — represented by Jerusalem — is where people’s focus and attention should be. Others, like Schlagel, contend that our focus and attention should be directed towards the skeptical and scientific philosophies first developed in Athens.
And, according to Schlagel, Jerusalem has had its chance to show us what it can do and has ultimately failed. From now on, Athens should take center stage and Jerusalem will continue to recede into the background, relegated to an ever more irrelevant status:
- “I maintain, without serious misgivings or regrets, that the Age of Religion is coming to an end.”
His book, then, is an effort to explain why this should be the case.
In support of this thesis, Schlagel, the Elton Professor of Philosophy at The George Washington University, engages in a very wide ranging discussion of biblical criticism, religious history, scientific progress and ideas, and particularly modern biology and its implications for society.
Schlagel’s ultimate conclusion is that science and religion are simply not compatible: they come from different worlds and use different methods. This is not to say that religion has no value at all — he acknowledges that it can still serve important psychological, social and ethical functions. But even in these areas its influence is reduced.
Sometimes, however, I think he overstates his case when arguing that religion impedes scientific progress. Yes, it is true that they have conflicted, but it does not mean that nothing in religion, including Christianity, has aided the development of science.
