From Publishers Weekly
Ever since the Copernican revolution, the battle lines between science and religion have been drawn. In succeeding generations, science and religion have been depicted as two cultural juggernauts slugging it out to establish their ideas as the dominant worldview. In his new book, Wilber (A Brief History of Everything) contends that attempts to reconcile science (sense) and religion (soul) have failed because scholars have not taken into account the fundamental differences between the two. Science, he argues, is a product of modernity characterized by differentiation?a spiritless materialism. Religion, on the other hand, is a product of a premodern worldview less enamored of a portrait of reality (viewed as so much soulless matter) and characterized by an emphasis on humanity's connection to a spiritual dimension. Using A.O. Lovejoy's idea of the Great Chain of Being, Wilber fashions what he calls "the Great Nest of Being" in which soul, body, matter, mind and spirit intersect and coalesce. Imitating Plato's scheme of realms of truth, knowledge and reality, Wilber divides his Great Nest into four quadrants, each of which has a subjective, objective, intersubjective and interobjective dimension. Wilber contends that this scheme of unity-in-diversity provides the key to integrating science and religion. As ambitious as it is, Wilber's study is filled with simplistic generalizations ("Modern science and premodern religion aggressively inhabit the same globe, each vying, in its own way, for world domination") and mushy quasi-romantic pronouncements ("Art is the Beauty of Spirit/ Art is in the eye of the beholder, in the I of the beholder: Art is the I of the Spirit."). Moreover, in order to marry sense and soul, Wilber does violence to science by representing it in terms of spirit rather than on its own terms. Wilber's attempt to integrate science and religion is far surpassed by physicist Ian Barbour's trenchant Religion and Science. Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
This book is an intriguing attempt at finding common foundations or agreements between scientific and religious world views. Wilber (The Eye of Spirit, LJ 2/15/97) relies heavily on traditional philosophers to support his argument for multiple layers of knowing and the potential of empirical science to accept it. At the same time, he suggests that the religious world needs to be open to new ways of spiritual knowledge and validation. Wilber is writing for a popular audience, and his easy-to-read work will likely be compared to Paul Davies's The Mind of God (S. & S., 1992) and Connie Barlow's Green Space, Green Time (LJ 11/1/97). While he has not given us the ultimate answer to the division between science and religion, his book is worth reading. For large public and academic libraries.?Eric D. Albright, Duke Univ. Medical Ctr. Lib., Durham, N.C.Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From AudioFile
Ken Wilber, a prolific and profound writer whose COLLECTED WORKS was published this fall in book form, suggests a path through which the wisdom of the world's great religious traditions can be integrated with the knowledge of modern science. In this intensely thoughtful, complex, and sometimes labyrinthine work, the author demonstrates a remarkable ability to examine and summarize disparate theories and to arrive at stimulating conclusions. The book is impeccably read by Denis deBoisblanc, and the production quality is of the highest order. Fans of Wilber's works will be pleased with THE MARRIAGE OF SENSE AND SOUL, while listeners new to his works are in for some thoughtful, often challenging, listening. C.S. © AudioFile 2000, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine


From Kirkus Reviews
Yet another unsuccessful attempt to integrate all of science and all of religion in one Grand Unified Theory. Wilber has attempted before to wed the warring camps of science and religion (A Brief History of Everything; not reviewed; Up From Eden: A Transpersonal View of Human Evolution, 1981; etc.). Here he claims that science is one of the ``major differentiations of modernity'' that have shattered a previously unified worldview in which all disciplines worked together in the same search for meaning. Today, he says, truth and meaning are distinct; science can provide the former, but religion is necessary to confer the latter. Wilber writes that we need to ``integrate the Great Chain [of being] with the major differentiations of modernity,'' including science. Fair enough, but he never really explains how this is supposed to occur. Blithely brushing aside centuries-old epistemological dilemmas about how we can know the world, Wilber claims that the empirical methods of science can be applied to mental and spiritual experience. The words experience, knowledge, and empirical seem to be equated in Wilbers loose arguments. As for religion, he considers it in terms of function, devoid of specific contents, such as the belief that the Red Sea parted for the Israelites or in the virgin birth of Jesus. He never truly defines what he means by religion, which he inexplicably, continually refers to as ``premodern.'' So, too, scientists may quibble with Wilber's vague generalizations about ``the scientific method.'' What kind of science? What types of religion? Wilber's lack of specificity makes this book an exercise in theoretical, purely academic navel-gazing. This fusion of science and religion fails to take either discipline seriously as multifaceted, complex sets of meaning. (Author tour) -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

FROM OUR EDITORS

The Barnes & Noble Review
April 1998

Ken Wilber is the author of more than a dozen books and is considered by many to be one of the most important philosophers of our time. In his latest book, The Marriage of Sense and Soul: Integrating Science and Religion, Wilber writes about a critical dilemma of our day — the battle between the warring camps of religion and science. Science has given us methods for discovering truth, while religion remains the single greatest force for generating meaning.

Wilber addresses the ultimate millennial questions: How, in a postmodern era that acknowledges the failure of science to answer questions about the meaning of life, can we reconcile the answers offered by premodern religions that billions of people continue to practice today? Is mutual accord possible between the subjective spiritual world and the objective scientific world? Indeed it is, according to Wilber.

The author traces the development of Western ideology from a time when the spirit and soul were not considered at odds with empirical data. This is generally considered to have changed during the 18th-century Enlightenment, when religious and scientific thought became antagonistic toward each other. Western civilization's development thereafter consisted of a materialistic science, based solely on hard data, which left no room for spirituality.

The Marriage of Sense and Soul explores the schism between science and religion and the impact the rupture will have on the fate of humanity. Wilber reviews failed attempts at integration and suggests a path for the marriageofancient religious wisdom and modern knowledge as it is manifested in science.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

In The Marriage of Sense and Soul, one of today's most important philosophers articulates how we might begin to think about science and religion in ways that allow for their reconciliation and union, on terms that will be acceptable to both camps. Wilber clearly and succinctly explores the schism between science and religion, and the impact of this "philosophical Cold War" on the fate of humanity. He systematically reviews previous attempts at integration, explaining why romantic, idealistic, and postmodern theories failed. And he demonstrates how science is compatible with certain deep features common to all of the world's major religious traditions. In pointing the way to a union between truth and meaning, Ken Wilber has created an elegant and accessible book that is breathtaking in its scope.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

Ever since the Copernican revolution, the battle lines between science and religion have been drawn. In succeeding generations, science and religion have been depicted as two cultural juggernauts slugging it out to establish their ideas as the dominant worldview. In his new book, Wilber (A Brief History of Everything) contends that attempts to reconcile science (sense) and religion (soul) have failed because scholars have not taken into account the fundamental differences between the two. Science, he argues, is a product of modernity characterized by differentiationa spiritless materialism. Religion, on the other hand, is a product of a premodern worldview less enamored of a portrait of reality (viewed as so much soulless matter) and characterized by an emphasis on humanity's connection to a spiritual dimension. Using A.O. Lovejoy's idea of the Great Chain of Being, Wilber fashions what he calls "the Great Nest of Being" in which soul, body, matter, mind and spirit intersect and coalesce. Imitating Plato's scheme of realms of truth, knowledge and reality, Wilber divides his Great Nest into four quadrants, each of which has a subjective, objective, intersubjective and interobjective dimension. Wilber contends that this scheme of unity-in-diversity provides the key to integrating science and religion. As ambitious as it is, Wilber's study is filled with simplistic generalizations ("Modern science and premodern religion aggressively inhabit the same globe, each vying, in its own way, for world domination") and mushy quasi-romantic pronouncements ("Art is the Beauty of Spirit/ Art is in the eye of the beholder, in the I of the beholder: Art is the I of the Spirit."). Moreover, in order to marry sense and soul, Wilber does violence to science by representing it in terms of spirit rather than on its own terms. Wilber's attempt to integrate science and religion is far surpassed by physicist Ian Barbour's trenchant Religion and Science. (Apr.)

Library Journal

This book is an intriguing attempt at finding common foundations or agreements between scientific and religious world views. Wilber (The Eye of Spirit, LJ 2/15/97) relies heavily on traditional philosophers to support his argument for multiple layers of knowing and the potential of empirical science to accept it. At the same time, he suggests that the religious world needs to be open to new ways of spiritual knowledge and validation. Wilber is writing for a popular audience, and his easy-to-read work will likely be compared to Paul Davies's The Mind of God (S. & S., 1992) and Connie Barlow's Green Space, Green Time (LJ 11/1/97). While he has not given us the ultimate answer to the division between science and religion, his book is worth reading. For large public and academic libraries.Eric D. Albright, Duke Univ. Medical Ctr. Lib., Durham, N.C.

Huston Smith

No one has done as much as Ken Wilber to open Western psychology to the insights of the world's wisdom traditions. -- Huston Smith, The New York Times Book Review

Deepak Chopra

"Ken Wilber is one of the most important pioneers in the field of consciousness in this century. I regard him as a mentor. He is a source of inspiration and insight to all of us. Read everything he writes. It will change your life." --Deepak Chopra

Kirkus Reviews

Yet another unsuccessful attempt to integrate all of science and all of religion in one Grand Unified Theory. Wilber has attempted before to wed the warring camps of science and religion (A Brief History of Everything; not reviewed; Up From Eden: A Transpersonal View of Human Evolution, 1981; etc.). Here he claims that science is one of the "major differentiations of modernity" that have shattered a previously unified worldview in which all disciplines worked together in the same search for meaning. Today, he says, truth and meaning are distinct; science can provide the former, but religion is necessary to confer the latter. Wilber writes that we need to "integrate the Great Chain [of being] with the major differentiations of modernity," including science. Fair enough, but he never really explains how this is supposed to occur. Blithely brushing aside centuries-old epistemological dilemmas about how we can know the world, Wilber claims that the empirical methods of science can be applied to mental and spiritual experience. The words þexperience,þ þknowledge,þ and þempiricalþ seem to be equated in Wilberþs loose arguments. As for religion, he considers it in terms of þfunction,þ devoid of specific contents, such as the belief that the Red Sea parted for the Israelites or in the virgin birth of Jesus. He never truly defines what he means by religion, which he inexplicably, continually refers to as "premodern." So, too, scientists may quibble with Wilber's vague generalizations about "the scientific method." What kind of science? What types of religion? Wilber's lack of specificity makes this book an exercise in theoretical, purelyacademic navel-gazing. This fusion of science and religion fails to take either discipline seriously as multifaceted, complex sets of meaning. (Author tour)