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Ursula Goodenough, Religious Naturalist
by
David Glover
Biologist Ursula Goodenough has been contributing to Zygon
since 1993. In her first piece, "Creativity in Science," she
not only highlighted the experiences of creative scientist,
she pointed out some of the communication, comprehension,
and appreciation difficulties inherent with interdisciplinary
endeavors. The specialist can best appreciate the joys and
despairs of a colleague. It is she who comprehends all of
the nuances in the hurdles overcome during the creative process
while the nonspecialist has a much more limited understanding,
and the uniformed passerby can be apathetic, or even extremely
hostile, to the whole thing. Besides implying that more education
can improve the interdisciplinary conversation that we are
undertaking between religion and science, Dr. Goodenough concludes
her first Zygon article by saying that she is one who
is searching "for myths that better resonate with our [contemporary
scientific] understanding of who we are" (1993, 413).
It is with her second article, "What Science Can and Cannot
Offer to a Religious Narrative," that Dr. Goodenough began
to express her vision of religious naturalism in earnest.
After comparing ancestor, sky, and earth cults she determines
that a scientifically informed cult for the present day must
be akin to the earth cults rather than to the traditional
religions. She sees only the possibility of continued impasse
between science and the major religions, with their sky cultic-like
faith in the supernatural. She believes that a new paradigm
must be developed if humanity is to experience the transcendence
of scientifically informed nature. And Dr. Goodenough has
set out to be an evangelist for this effort; to educate, inform,
and be one of those creating a new mythic fabric for placing
humanity within the ecosystem.
Dr. Goodenough shows us some of the patterns found in the
fabric of religious naturalism by finding meaning in the biological
phenomena of continuation. The meaning of life is for life
to continue. It is the intent of every organism to continue
to live in its niche, however big or small that niche may
be. Everything desires to live, and this desire is what gives
meaning to life. She sums this up by saying, "For me, the
existence of all of this meaning and intent, and my ability
to apprehend it, is [emphasis in the original] the
ultimate meaning and the ultimate value. The continuation
of life reaches around, grabs its own tail, and forms a sacred
circle that requires no further justification, no creator,
no superordinate meaning of meaning, no purpose other than
that the continuation continue…" (1994b, 612).
The spiritual aspects of her religious naturalism appeared
in the excerpts from Dr. Goodenough's The Sacred Depths
of Nature that Zygon reprinted (2000d). More recently
she has turned her efforts to exploring what moral/ethical
naturalism entails, working with Paul Woodruff (2001) and
Terrance Deacon (2003) in the process. She has looked at how
the scientific concept of emergence informs our understanding
of how our minds work and the impact of the resulting cognitive
aware on our sense of community and communal ethical behavior.
This has led to her proposing that we are to gather in community
with others who pursue mindful reverence (Goodenough & Woodruff,
2001). For it is by being in these intentional communities
that one can be most humane, courageous, fair, and reverent—to
be the most social with other humans, and other species.
To this chemist and diaconal minister Dr. Goodenough has
much to say that is worthy of deliberation. There is much
to "chew" over, particularly for me, when reflecting on our
mindful (care-ful, intentional) behavior towards others that
is fair, humane, courageous, and reverent.
Dr. Goodenough's devotion to religious naturalism is founded
in her quest for the horizontally transcendent. It is my expectation
that even as she asks to be listened to that she will listen
to those who appreciate vertical transcendence from a variety
of religious perspectives, including scientists who are faithful
Sikhs, Hindus, Jews, Christians, or follow other "transcendent"
traditions. For it is the process of educating, listening
to, and spending time with one another, the scientist and
nonscientist alike—the walking along side one another—that
is Zygon's purview. So whether or not you agree, or
disagree, with Dr. Goodenough I invite you to the conversation.
Her work in Zygon can be found on Blackwell's Synergy
website and encompasses the following articles:
Goodenough, Ursula W. 1993. "Creativity in Science." Zygon:
Journal of Religion and Science 28 (September): 399-414.
----------. 1994a. "What Science Can and Cannot Offer to
a Religious Narrative." Zygon: Journal of Religion and
Science 29 (September): 321-330.
----------. 1994b. "The Religious Dimensions of the Biological
Narrative." Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science
29 (December): 603-618.
Goodenough, Ursula. 1996. "Biology: What One Needs to Know."
Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science 31 (December):
671-680.
----------. 2000a. "Reflections on Science and Technology."
Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science 35 (March):
5-12.
----------. 2000b. "Reflections on Scientific and Religious
Metaphor." Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science
35 (June): 233-240.
----------. 2000c. "Religiopoiesis." Zygon: Journal
of Religion and Science 35 (September): 561-566.
----------. 2000d. "The Sacred Depths of Nature: Excerpts."
Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science 35 (September):
567-586.
----------. 2000e. "Causality and Subjectivity in the Religious
Quest." Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science 35
(December): 725-734.
----------. 2001a. "Vertical and Horizontal Transcendence."
Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science 36 (March):
21-31.
----------. 2001b. "A Setback to the Dialogue: Response
to Huston Smith." Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science
36 (June): 201-206.
----------. 2001c. "Genomes, Gould, and Emergence." Zygon:
Journal of Religion and Science 36 (September): 383-393.
Goodenough, Ursula and Paul Woodruff. 2001. "Mindful Virtue,
Mindful Reverence." Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science
36 (December): 585-595.
Goodenough, Ursula. 2003. "Religious Naturalism and Naturalizing
Morality." Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science
38 (March): 101-109.
Goodenough, Ursula and Terrence W. Deacon. 2003. "From
Biology to Consciousness to Morality." Zygon: Journal
of Religion and Science 38 (December): 801-819.
Goodenough, Ursula. 2005. "Reductionism and Holism, Chance
and Selection, Mechanism and Mind." Zygon: Journal of
Religion and Science 40 (June): 369-380.
Welcome to the dialogue.
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