Once one gets beyond reductionism, it leads to a radically new scientific worldview, which changes our place in the universe as human beings. We are not meaningless chunks of particles spinning around in space. We are organisms with meaning in our lives, and the way the biosphere will evolve is ceaselessly creative. The way the economy evolves is ceaselessly creative in ways that cannot be predicted ahead of time. That's why five-year plans don't work. The same thing for human culture.
I'm saying God is the sacredness of nature. And you can go a step beyond that. You can say that God is nature. That's the God of Spinoza. That's the God that Einstein believed in. But their view of the universe was deterministic. The new view is that evolution of the universe is partially lawless and ceaselessly creative. We are the children of that creativity.
Quotes from here (God Enough by Steve Paulson).
Interesting Article - both in that you have a recognized secular humanist scientist who admits science doesn't explain everything (and results in meaninglessness according to the current scientific reductionism model) and that he then goes on to try to attribute creativity, consciousness, etc. to the universe.
Let me state that while it excites me to see a secular humanist scientist open up and admit much of we find in this article, at first read it appears this new scientific worldview is nothing more than a combination of scientism and current philosophy (existential/post-modern).
Trust me, this is not only a fascinating read, but one worth everyone's attention, for as Stuart Kaufman has admitted, the current hope in scientific reductionism does not provide satisfaction and leads to the nihilism associated with naturalism taken to it's ultimate end. The only "natural" solution is to affirm "agency" and if one cannot credit God with that, then one is left to generate some other origin and place responsible for it, and what better place for unbelievers to try to posit it than in nature, and what better time than when philosophers are suggesting that humans give meaning to the universe. This is not just emergence in the sense Kaufman speaks of it but emergence of secular science and philosophy. All this to say that it will behoove Christians on all levels to familiarize themselves with this article, for if my guess is right, we'll see much more of this in the future, the only question depends on how long it gets tied up in the humanist ranks first and then how many different forms (and what predominant form) it takes when it becomes a major worldview, which I believe will be the case.
While there is SO MUCH to discuss and point out in this article, from Kaufman's poor exegesis of Scripture, to the inconsistencies in his statements, to the baseless assumptions/assertions he makes, etc.; I simply post this much this evening with the intention of providing a more detailed response in the near future. Read up, for this will not be the last time you see this, I guarantee it. (In the mean time, take a look in the coming days at the stir I'm sure this will cause in the atheist/humanist camps, especially since Kaufman outright states he thinks Dawkins is wrong, but makes specific mention to differences with the new atheism!
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