A John Haught Reader
Essential Writings on Science and Faith
John F. Haught
A John Haught Reader
Essential Writings on Science and Faith
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Introduction
A John Haught Reader challenges Christian theology to respond forthrightly to the thoughtful concerns of believers, agnostics, and atheists alike about the troubling issues posed by cosmic and biological evolution. The Haught Reader compiles selected chapters from nine published books by theologian John F. Haught plus two of his previously unpublished essays. They total 36 separately numbered readings grouped under six subjects: religion and science (Part I), Darwinian evolution (Part II), revelation (Part III), cosmic purpose (Part IV), suffering and death (Part V), and the New Atheism (Part VI). Although their ordering is not chronological, these readings generally follow the historical arc of Haught’s magisterial contribution to the understanding of religion and its relationship to science. The readings include Haught’s innovative theology of evolution, his critique of religiously-based opposition to evolution, and his rebuttal to atheistic materialism predicated on evolution.
Over the last century, religion has undergone sustained foundational challenges with the growth of secularism and science. Following World War I, scientific developments in astrophysics and evolution captured public attention, philosophy retreated from metaphysics into logical positivism and existentialism, and academics embraced a purely physicalist understanding of the universe. In 1925, philosopher Alfred North Whitehead (1861–1947) labeled this interpretation of nature “scientific materialism,” according to which the universe consists solely of “senseless, valueless, purposeless” matter reconfigured by mindless physical and natural laws without transcendent meaning.1 This materialist worldview destabilized traditional religious verities and engendered an often atheistic interpretation of the universe. By mid-century, the secular intellectual establishment had accepted scientific (or evolutionary) materialism as its reigning metaphysics, and by century-end, the New Atheists were proclaiming materialism a scientific truth and the “God hypothesis” an intellectually indefensible and delusional belief. As the twenty-first century arrived, religion confronted a profound crisis of relevancy. Yet surprisingly, few theologians rose to address this crisis. Among these few theologians, none was more effective than Georgetown Professor John F. Haught.
During his long and distinguished career as a lay Catholic theologian, Dr. Haught has established an international reputation for his scholarship in systematic and evolutionary theology and for his effectiveness in explaining and defending religion. Haught received his Doctorate of Theology Degree from Catholic University of America in 1970. From 1970 to 2005, he served as professor in the Department of Theology at Georgetown University in Washington DC and as Departmental Chair from 1990 to 1995. In 2005, he left classroom teaching to concentrate on writing and lecturing on theology and evolution, becoming a Georgetown Distinguished Research Professor. To date, he is the author of 21 books, 92 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters, 45 encyclopedia and opinion articles, and 4 published lectures. He has also delivered over 300 invited academic lectures and presentations. These writings and lectures reflect Haught’s broad, interdisciplinary interests in physics, cosmology, evolution, and ecology, beyond the purview of most theologians. His recognitions include: the “Owen Garrigan Award in Science and Religion” (2002), the “Sophia Award for Theological Excellence” (2004), the “Friend of Darwin Award”2 from the National Center for Science Education (2008), and Honorary Doctoral degrees from the University of Louvain (2009) and Chestnut Hill College (2016). In fall semester 2008, Haught held the D’Angelo Chair in the Humanities at St. John’s University in New York City.
The best entrée into Haught’s collected readings is his initial essay: “My Life in Science and Theology.” In this essay, Haught identifies the many authors who influenced his thinking, especially the Jesuit paleontologist Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881–1955), the inspiration for his lifelong interest in science and religion. Haught gradually found the medieval theological worldview and prescientific Thomistic philosophy still permeating Catholic theology no longer adequate in the age of modern science, especially after Darwin. Teilhard had convinced Haught that evolutionary science was a gift rather than a danger to Christian theology—a theology needing to refocus on the future of creation as inseparable from the pursuit of personal salvation. Haught grounds his evolutionary theology on this fundamental insight. His theology addresses the purpose and future of the whole universe as a work in progress, emerging continually into fuller being; and he considers that this awakening cosmos requires “the flourishing of a scientifically informed religious faith” to sustain its momentum. Inevitably, Haught confronted the controversy between materialists and creationists, dismissing their misguided debates over cosmic design as blind to the unfolding drama of an awakening universe. The world is not static and complete but evolving and unfinished, Haught observes, and humanity is called to participate constructively in this cosmic adventure. An intimately engaged personal God continuously creates this world by beckoning and not forcing it forward, simultaneously assuring humanity that nothing in this ongoing cosmic story will be lost to eternity.
“Part I: God, Science & Religion” introduces Haught’s foundational writings on religion, which he defines as a conscious and appreciative response to the transcendent mystery of existence. Religion constitutes abiding faith in the trustworthiness of existence and a passionate concern for the “infinite and inexhaustible dimension of depth” beneath the surface of existence. God is this depth dimension—mysterium tremendum et fascinans—the terrifying yet fulfilling ground for humans coping with anxiety over finitude, meaninglessness, and guilt. Haught also describes religion in this setting as a hope and longing for the future; a willing and courageous acceptance of existential anxiety; an aesthetic quest after the transcendental beauty in being, goodness, and reality; and an unflagging desire and quest after metaphysical truth.
Scientific materialists or naturalists challenge such faith as unfounded, demanding scientific proof of God’s existence, as if God were a problem susceptible to scientific solution. As a gracious and self-giving mystery, explains Haught, God inevitably exceeds the horizon of human thought, especially the epistemological bounds of ordinary scientific inquiry. Haught’s full critique of materialism comes later in this volume. But reading 8 explains that religion and science (as distinct from scientific materialism) are not only compatible but also mutually supportive and nourishing. Religion fortifies science’s a priori faith in the inherent rationality of the universe and in the mind’s capacity to comprehend it, while science expands religion’s understanding of creation and thereby “broaden[s] the horizon of religious faith.”
“Part II: God, Evolution & Darwin” opens with Haught’s response to evolutionary materialism and closes with his theology of evolution. Darwin’s revolutionary theory radically altered the medieval and Newtonian view of the universe as fixed and eternal—the metaphysics of being that has influenced religious thought for centuries to the very present. In Darwinian evolution, now recognized to include Mendelian genetics, random genetic