Letter to Denis Alexander. (Religion).(Rebuilding the Matrix )

THE LETTER that follows was written to my cousin's husband, Dr Denis Alexander, after I had read his marvellous book, Rebuilding the Matrix.

Denis is a molecular immunologist by occupation and a Christian by faith, and Rebuilding the Matrix is an encompassing and compelling study of the relationship between Science and Faith. When he asked me to contribute some sentences that might be used in marketing the book in Australia, I wrote the following mini-review:

 
   With an intelligence both courageous and fine, and an erudition that is 
   confident across all of Western philosophy, theology and scientific 
   writing, Denis Alexander traces how Science and Religion have been twins in 
   the human mind, close in their origin, closer in their essential interests, 
   having a tension between them which at times has been obstructive, but can 
   also be proper and liberating for both. 
 
      For believer and non-believer, scientist and non-scientist, Rebuilding 
   the Matrix unfolds with splendid clarity the long, intimate and dynamic 
   relationship between Science and Religion. It is a book whose argument has 
   an innate excitement. It enriches our understanding of how humankind has 
   meditated on matters of ultimate concern, and at all points it deals with 
   its subject and its reader with scrupulous justice. 

The book continued to occupy my thoughts, and in the ensuing letter to him, my interest was more to explore my own religious inclinations in the light of what I had read, and to make a case for an active and sympathetic agnosticism. In the hope that my observations may have a more general interest, I offer this personal letter to a wider audience.

The "Stanley" who is mentioned in the "Creation Myths" section was a hospitable and, on occasion in my direction, evangelistic uncle of mine--Denis's father--in-law--and Heather, my kind and equally hospitable aunt, is his widow.

12/12/01

Denis,