The Garden of God: A Theological Cosmology.

Warner, Keith Douglass

THE GARDEN OF GOD: A THEOLOGICAL COSMOLOGY. By Alejandro Garcia-Rivera. Theology and the Sciences. Minneapolis: Fortress, 2009. Pp. xvi + 157. $22.

Garcia-Rivera advances a set of compelling arguments for revisioning theological cosmology in light of recent scientific discoveries and in response to the reality of human alienation from the created world. Its title plays off of Augustine's City of God, for G. presents the image of garden as the proper metaphor for our relationship with the cosmos. G. advances Teilhard de Chardin as a harbinger for such a new cosmology, arguing that his understanding of the role of humans in the cosmos and Christ's significance to the cosmos have become more compelling in light of recent advances in scientific cosmology and evolutionary biology (25).

G. ambitiously formulates his notion of theological cosmology to serve as a synthetic framework for articulating a philosophy of nature, a theological esthetics, a theology of suffering, a renewed theological anthropology, and a cosmic Christology (10). To do so requires revisions to Teilhard's theology: redirecting Teilhard's focus from the future to dwelling now on the land; a fresh perspective on the Holy Spirit to support a cosmic Christology; and a recovery of beauty in religious thought. Adapting Robert Russell's Creative Mutual Interaction as a methodology (55), G.'s theological cosmology stimulates a fresh approach to dialogue between theology and science, overcoming science's tendency toward reductionism, while compelling theology to incorporate scientific discovery. Fostering but sustaining the tension between these approaches, G. argues, is critical to a vigorous theological cosmology. He critiques as deficient any scientific cosmology that is formulated merely in terms of scientific discovery, for theology is necessary to help humans find their place in the cosmos revealed by science.

G.'s argument is an intellectually robust and theologically grounded cosmology, sufficiently supple to accommodate the dynamic implications of scientific discovery, but also able to challenge myopic cosmologies constructed on science alone. G. provides a refreshing integration of diverse scholarly developments of interest to those pursuing questions in environmental theology, Teilhard studies, theological esthetics, and science-religion dialogues. The book is solid theological scholarship, yet it is accessible for advanced undergraduate students.

KEITH DOUGLASS WARNER, O.F.M.

Santa Clara University, Calif.