This book is a very accessible introduction to contemporary discussions on Christian faith and science by an author who has good credentials in theology and in the theology and science dialogue. Hans Schwarz is professor of theology at the University of Regensburg, Germany. For many years, he has also spent time teaching at Lutheran seminaries in the United States. Thus, he has acquired a first hand knowledge of German and American theologians and controversies. He is well versed in systematic theology and the history of theological thought in the nineteenth century. He is also the president of the Karl Heim Gesellschaft, a German society dedicated to the dialogue on the relationships between theology and the natural sciences, and he is the editor of their yearbooks, titled Glaube und Denken.

In the first part of this book (20 pages) he sets the scene by describing the rise of science as accompanied by the rise of a materialist and evolutionary conception of ‘Nature without God’. The second part (64 pages) presents ‘The world in scientific perspective’. He informs the readers of theories regarding the universe, life, and space-time-matter. He thus presents the three main clusters of the scientific understanding of our world at the end of the twentieth century: the extension of ‘natural history’ to include even our universe in relativistic cosmologies, evolutionary views of life and their origins, and the understanding of the fabric of space, time and matter in terms of relativity theory and quantum physics.

The third and final part (156 pages) is titled ‘Regaining a Christian faith in Creation’. In this section, Schwarz first surveys the science-theology interaction from the nineteenth century to the present. One of the original aspects of this book, compared to other modern discussions on religion and science, is the explicit distinction made between ‘the American Way’ and the Continental one. As to the late nineteenth century, the American way is characterized by indifference, whereas in our time the conservative backlash is more prominent. On the Continental, and especially protestant German scene, there has been more of an ‘apologetic’ interest in some thinkers, in contrast to isolation of theology from the dialogue with the sciences defended by others, for example Karl Barth. The start of the contemporary discussion in German protestant circles is marked by the thought of Günter Howe and the meetings in Göttingen in the 1950s, the Forschungsstätte der evangelische Studiengemeinschaft (FEST) in Heidelberg, the writings of A.M. Klaus Müller in dialogue with Wolfhart Pannenberg, and other examples. Schwarz also describes some of the initiatives in the UK, and then surveys briefly the USA, before turning to scientists who have spoken on religious issues, such as C.F. von Weizsäcker, Stephen Hawking, Paul Davies, and Frank Tipler (the only one judged by Schwarz as going too far beyond the limits of science), followed by a section on ‘Theological Positions Today’, where ‘Today’ is specified, between brackets, as: Barth and Torrance, Teilhard and Process Thought, Pannenberg and Moltmann.

A brief excursus on creationism is followed by a chapter titled ‘Developing a Christian Understanding of Creation’. Schwarz surveys Biblical studies on ‘creation’, Hefner’s concept of humans as ‘created co-creators’, and various notions related to providence and preservation, such as the anthropic principle, natural law, and miracles. Each time he refers to major sources from the tradition (i.e., Luther, Augustine, Aquinas) and other historical resources, but not substantially to contemporary analysis, nor does he develop an explicit argument of himself. The book has an Index of names, one of subjects, and one of references to Scripture.

From the survey Schwarz gives (published in 2002), the reader may get the impression that the theology-science dialogue is almost completely a discussion of men who were born before WW II. A.M. Klaus Müller as “a representative of the present generation” (Müller died in 1995). As far as alive, the authors Schwarz refers to in the section on the contemporary dialogue (pp. 114–126) were all born in the 1920s and 1930s (16 authors in total), with the exception of four listed as American, related to the CTNS in Berkeley (Russell, Murphy, and Peters) and Kevin Sharpe. Schwarz himself is from 1939; it seems as if only writings of those who are more senior are available or worth discussing. Schwarz refers briefly, on page 119, to the European Society for the Study of Science And Theology, ESSSAT, and the related biennial conferences held since 1986, but he does so relying on a Who is Who published in 1996. He does not mention the wide variety of further organizational and scholarly developments in Eastern, Central and Western Europe in the last decade. He thereby also passes by more recent work of interest by younger German scholars – whom I would count as ‘the present generation’, their dissertations being defended in the last decade – and the writings of various others in Europe, including some dissertations and some works by scholars who have become academically more established – for example John Brooke at the Andreas Idreos chair in Oxford, Fraser Watts’ dedicated lectureship in Cambridge, Celia Deane Drummond’s personal chair in theology and biology at Exeter College, associated with Liverpool University – as well as the work and contributions of others in Europe, from the Scandinavian countries to Italy. Thus, his ‘continental’ selection is very much focused on German Protestantism, and even in this category it is far from up to date. Similar concerns arise with respect to other details. For instance, the John Templeton Foundation has left its basis in Ipswich many years ago, and Kevin Sharpe quitted as editor of Science and Spirit at least two years before this book was published. The Nobel Conferences are not conferences of Nobel laureates (p. 20).

Hence, some details could have been more accurate and up to date. Completeness is not the intention of the book, but the selection may give a misguided impression as to the current scholarly work on these issues. But the treatment of those discussed is generally fair, if not to say mild. Even creationism meets with pastoral understanding, even though it is rejected by Schwarz on theological and scientific grounds. However, this mildness is also a weakness of the book, as it makes one wonder whether the author in his survey of the field sufficiently faces the real challenges. Furthermore, the author’s own position is mostly left implicit, rather than articulated and defended. As the final part speaks of ‘Regaining’ a Christian understanding of creation, one is left wondering whether this is achieved by changes in the sciences or by a theological revision the author is willing to embark upon.