Image: Wikimedia Commons |
Francis Sellers Collins is one of the most important figures in biology that many people should recognize. His name should be right up with Albert Einstein, Charles Darwin, and many other scientific figures because of his landmark discoveries on the genes that are often linked to a number of genetic or degenerative diseases.
These discoveries led to one of the largest and most significant projects of human history, the Human Genome Project. This project lasted from October 1990 up to April 2003. Francis Collins helmed the project in 1993 after he succeeded James Watson himself, one of the discoverers of DNA(deoxyribonucleic acid) and its double helix structure.
3 years after the conclusion of the Human Genome Project. Francis Collins, M.D Ph.D. released a 300-page book that deals with one of mankind's greatest questions: Does God exist? The question was answered in different ways or angles in this 3-part, 11 Chapter book. The overarching theme of the book is the emphasis on theistic evolution and BioLogos.
The opening chapters of the book deal with the origins of the universe and the birth or development of science. The opening chapters are crucial for the layman with a basic textbook knowledge on science since the opening chapters deal with deep themes and some fringe theories such as the God of the gaps theory and many others. The opening chapters also deal with issues such as atheism among the scientific community and Marxist countries.
The Language of God also contains some accounts of the author's personal journey in rediscovering his faith. Spirituality is a recurring theme of the book that even start during the introductory chapter up to the conclusion. Dr. Francis Collins occasionally cites verses from the Bible with chapters on spirituality. In the middle of the book, the tried to answer the questions about God's existence by introducing readers to the anthropic principle and presents the ways on how to answer the arguments presented by nonbelievers or atheists.
The book does not only deal with answering questions about the existence of God. The book also deals with the moral dilemmas that are brought by innovations in science. Pressing issues such as cloning, IVF, stems cells, longevity research, and other innovations have its downsides. Dr. Collins gave his insights on these issues that were more relevant today than it was in 2006.
Francis Collins' approach to making this landmark achievement of popular science should be valued for years to come. In several instances, the book might sound preachy about Abrahamic Religions, especially Christianity, but it does not look out of place and straight from a Rick Warren book.
Overall the book is a worthwhile read; it is not a challenging or difficult read for a layman just new in the popular science genre. There is a certain confusion on where to categorize this book since it is also found in Spirituality/Religion sections of bookstores. I will give this book a 10/10 rating.
Copyright of IFY Books
No comments:
Post a Comment