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The Language of God is an excellent resource for someone like my friend, who finds religious faith attractive but is concerned that it may not be intellectually defensible. Collins' writing displays the meticulous patience with which a scientist examines evidence, and is persuasive without being belligerent or defensive. For someone seeking reassurance that religion has not been disproved by science, this book will be welcome.
Collins' work will be equally valuable for serious Christians who want to delve deeper into either the science or the epistemology of the creation–intelligent design-evolution debates. On the science front, The Language of God offers clear explanations of contemporary biology suffused with Collins' sense of wonder at the beauty and elegance of what science has discovered. In discussing atheism, Young Earth creationism, and intelligent design, Collins critiques these positions from both a scientific and theological perspective. Christians may find his discussion of the shortcomings of intelligent design particularly valuable. He also offers a solid, although elementary, discussion of how Christians who consider Scripture to be authoritative can combine the findings of biology and the scriptural account of creation into a single coherent understanding of our physical universe. As Collins explains, theistic evolution is "the dominant position of serious biologists who are also serious believers," but few non-scientists know about it. If The Language of God makes this position more widely known, that alone will be a worthwhile accomplishment.
The primary shortcoming of The Language of God is that it is less theologically sophisticated than one might hope. Consequently, it offers a somewhat simplistic picture of how science and theology are "complementary." Collins' strategy is to begin with the evidence provided by science and human experience, and show that religious belief is reasonable in the light of this evidence. This approach is important for readers who trust science and are unsure whether to trust other forms of evidence. Yet certain Christian theological issues related to evolution are most effectively addressed when both biology and theology are considered, and here the limitations of either Collins' approach, or his theological sophistication, appear most clearly.
Most important, in arguing for theistic evolution, Collins must explain how evolution, which biologists understand to be driven by probabilistic events, is compatible with the Christian understanding of God's sovereignty. (This problem is not unique to evolution: quantum mechanics, which appears to govern all physical processes, including the biochemical reactions that are thought to drive evolution, is fundamentally probabilistic as well.) Collins takes the classical position that as God the Father is outside space and time, events which appear random and unpredictable to humans can actually be foreknown and specified by the Father. Although it is certainly possible that the Creator controls the creation in this fashion, it is not the only way to understand the sovereignty of God in the presence of chance.
Scientist-theologians such as John Polkinghorne, for example, have explained the role of chance in quantum mechanics and evolution as giving freedom to the Creation. Such freedom can be understood as a loving gift, made possible by the Creator's voluntary self-limitation, in a manner analogous to the kenosis of the eternal Son in the Incarnation. The parallels between such an understanding of chance in the natural world and the Incarnation provide a more uniquely Christian as well as—to this scientist at least— more fruitful understanding of the Creation. The critical role played by chance in the natural world is not just a colossal misunderstanding due to our finite human perspective, but actually a sign of the Father's love for the Creation!
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