The Limitations of
Scientific Truth : Why Science Can’t
Answer Life’s Ultimate Questions, by Nigel Brush. Grand Rapids, MI. : Kregel, Academic &
Professional, 2005. 300pp. $14.99 ISBN 0-8254-2253-1.
First published in The Christian Librarian 51:50-51 no.1 2008.
Nigel Bush is the
assistant professor of geology at Ashland
University in Ohio. He has a Ph.D in anthropology and has
done post-doctoral work in geology. He is a committed Christian and scientist.
He has conducted archaeological, geological, and environmental fieldwork in England, Canada,
and the United States.
Limitations of Scientific Truth is not
an attack on science. It addresses the myth of the infallibility of science.
Dr. Brush addresses “the limitations of the scientific technique as a means for
obtaining absolute truth (7).” He thinks
that “science is a powerful tool for studying God’s creation (7).”
The book is
divided into seven parts. Part 1 addresses the human quest for truth, the
ultimate questions of humanity, and alternative paths to truth: religion,
philosophy and science. Parts 2 through 6 presents evidence from natural
science, social science, and philosophy of science that proves the limitations
of scientific truth. Part seven presents an alternative model of science that
takes seriously the limitations of scientific truth.
Nigel Brush has
effectively argued that science has its limitations and it cannot answer life’s
ultimate questions. He has convincingly demonstrated that science is not the
only path to truth. On the other hand, he has shown that science is an
effective path to knowledge of the universe. This book is highly recommended to
all college students and people of religious faith.
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