Fast paced and accessible, theologian and philosopher of religion Keith Ward discusses scientific ideas in relation to the religious beliefs of various major world religions. Not burdened with footnotes, but with a brief bibliography and index, this would be a great book for group discussion with scientists, theologians and others who are interested. Each of the ten chapters focuses on different range of topics: the beginning of the universe and ultimate explanations; the long-term future and purpose; evolution, creation and cruelty; laws and miracles; the reality of time and human freedom; human nature and the soul; science and religious experience; explanations of religion and morality; arguments for belief in God; materialism, revelation and divine action. Ward accepts contemporary science as the best available information about nature and is upfront about the need for change in religions. However, he holds that in religion there is a stable core, belief in a nonphysical reality of supreme value, that humans can become aware of through prayer and meditation. Religious change is progress; under the positive influence of biblical criticism, a more universal moral sensibility and acceptance of other religions, science and freedom of religion can take place. Religions are imaginative constructions that seek to be about real aspects of existence, and in this they draw upon science, but go beyond it. The book draws upon a rich variety of religious, scientific and literary sources. At places I would have preferred a more structured presentation, but it may be inappropriate to ask for this in such an inviting exploration, which is more like a kaleidoscope – reshuffling elements taken from traditions and from the sciences, seeking to create interesting and beautiful images, for the time being.

Though I appreciate the richness of his account, I also have some questions. With regard to the use of science: Ward often introduces multiple scientific perspectives, but he tends to opt in the end for those scientific ideas that seem to be most congenial and thus avoids confronting the religious core with the more challenging interpretations of science. Another question relates to the religious core: is there in the history of religions really such a universal core beyond all the changes through history? When it comes to science, I don't see a core that is constant over the centuries, especially when the core is thought of in ontological terms (as Ward seems to do with respect to religious belief). By way of example: Einstein's ontology of gravity is fundamentally different from Newton's, even though these theories are continuous at a practical level. Even the distinctive concepts of science and religion may not be applicable when one goes back more than three or four centuries. Third, I wonder whether the treatment is pluralist enough. For instance, Ward draws on Buddhism in a way familiar to the Western reader, but such a sanitised philosophical Buddhism seems far removed from the varied reality, as argued for by Donald S. Lopez Jr. in his Buddhism and Science: A Guide for the Perplexed (University of Chicago Press, 2008). There is also diversity within Christianity. Ward, as an Anglican philosopher, explicitly opposes creationists and millenarianists, but implicitly also Barthians and other Christian thinkers who respond differently to science.

Whatever the discussions that may continue, Ward's Big Questions is a valuable example of modern apologetics for religion among the scientifically minded, and for science among the religiously inclined, and is thus potentially valuable for European and American audiences.