Pascal's Fire: Scientific Faith and Religious Understanding

by Keith Ward

Groundbreaking, ingenious and devastatingly clear, Keith Ward’s Pascal’s Fire is guaranteed to reignite the timeless dispute of whether scientific advancement threatens religious belief. Turning the conventional debate on its head, Ward suggests that the existence of God is actually the best starting-point for a number of the most famous scientific positions.

From quantum physics to evolution, the suggestion of an ‘ultimate mind’ adds a new dimension to scientific thought, enhancing rather than detracting from its greatest achievements. Also responding to potential criticisms that his ultimate mind is unrecognisable as the God of Abraham, Ward examines our most fundamental beliefs in a new light. Emerging with a conception of God that is consistent with both science and the world’s major faiths, this ambitious project will fascinate believers and sceptics alike.

Genres: Religion, Philosophy, Theology

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Keith Ward was formerly the Regius Professor of Divinity and Head of the Faculty of Theology at the University of Oxford. A priest of the Church of England and Canon of Christ Church, Oxford, he holds Doctor of Divinity degrees from Cambridge and Oxford Universities. He has lectured at the universities of Glasgow, St. Andrew's and Cambridge.

Reviews

[Roger Morris · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. I like Ward's style or writing and agree with much of his critique of dogmatic materialism and the relationship of science and religious faith.

Unfortunately, in his attempt to reconcile God with the god of science and the god of the philosophers, Ward is guilty of reducing God to a rather more deistic and less glorified divine being than taught in Scripture. Ward's version of God is more distant, more disinterested, less sovereign and more constrained by the physical laws of the cosmos (which, of course, He himself created) then the God of Scripture. And in his eagerness to support evolution, Ward ends up with a subhuman anthropology and undercooked view of the soul/spirit.

Ward's universalism becomes quite obvious in the final chapters. On this, we disagree.

Apart from that, an excellent and entertaining read.

[Lubna · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book discusses how scientific knowledge impacts religious faith & belief in God. It does a good job of laying out how quantum physics, evolution, cosmology, etc all impact on religious faith & do not necessarily lead to an atheistic mindset. However, I feel like it doesn't really bridge the gap between having a 'scientific' view of God (as the ultimate intelligence) & the 'religious' view of God - while he does discuss the issue, I wasn't satisfied with that part of the book. Overall though, a good read.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like fantasy author Robin Hobb says, 3 stars doesn’t mean I disliked the book. I enjoyed it very much and actually learned a good deal from it. I rate it only 3 stars because I am disappointed in how Keith Ward, a priest of the Church of England, handles the discussion of comparative religion. Ultimately, I believe, equating the god of philosophy to the God of Christianity is not treating the beliefs of Christians seriously. Nobody comes to the Father except through the Son.

I recommend this book to people to anyone who wants to learn about the god of the philosophers and theoretical physicists, but I strongly urge anyone reading this book to draw their own philosophical and theological conclusions using outside sources. I recommend the Bible to anyone who wants to seriously understand the beliefs of Christians.

[Aidan · Rating 3 out of 5]

He is a great thinker/ theologian but a CRAPPY WRITER!

[Paul Bruggink · Rating 4 out of 5]

Keith Ward wants “to convince friendly scientists that the scientific view of an ultimate cosmic intelligence is much more like the religious God than they many think.” (p. 3)

His book consists of three parts: (1) the four major revolutions in worldview brought about by Galileo, Newton, Darwin and quantum theory, (2) the claim of some scientists that naturalistic science can explain everything and how God might provide a more satisfactory explanation, and (3) closing the gap between the god of the physicists and the personal, active, and miracle-working God of Christianity.

Keith Ward’s main argument is that the religious and scientific Gods are not as far apart as we might think, “that belief in God is a rational option, which completes the scientific quest for understanding the universe and does not compete with it.” (p. 234)

He concludes that “Contemporary science shows the scientific God to be a coherent and plausible possibility.” and “To move on to acceptance of the religious God requires some personal experience that can be reasonably interpreted as access to the presence and power of the divine.” (p. 254)

Each of the seventeen chapters begins with an abstract and a paragraph describing the AIM of that chapter. The book includes a seven-page bibliography, a subject index, and a name index.

The title of the book is a reference to an experiential encounter that Blaise Pascal had with God in 1654, the description of which he entitled “Fire.” I assume that Keith Ward chose “Pascal’s Fire” for the title of this book because of his emphasis on the importance of experiential evidence of a transcendent mind.

I recommend this book for scientists interested in Christianity and Christians interested in science.

[Annetter · Rating 4 out of 5]

I nibbled at this book from Fall 2007 to Spring 2008. I really appreciated many of the author's points, his approach, the tone and complexity of his argumentation. Unfortunately, the book is stored or packed somewhere, and I am somewhere else, so I can't give any more fine point. I recommend this book to anyone interested in the science vs. religion debate.

[Otto Hahaa]

This is not a bad book, on the contrary it is an excellent book. But I have read his newer books, so it did not seem so fresh to me, and I took it to the second - hand bookstore before finishing it. This is probably a good book start reading his works, though.