tempt to lay the scientifie groundwork forrna Grand Unified Theor’ of human Hfe.rnProfessor Wilson’s enthusiasm reealledrnmy own, but it also reminded me that, afterrnone year and a change of majors, I hadrnre-read the sermon. Now, it struck me asrnhubristie. The idea that God could berncontained in a mathematical formula (orrna series of them) seemed a kind of panentheismrnat best; it certainly was, in Christianrnterms, impious. Still, the mohve behindrnit could have been good; on onernlevel, at least, the pastor was trying tornshow that scientific and theological truthrnwere not mutually exclusive. But inrndefining theological truth in scientificrnterms, he had —perhaps unintentionallyrn—bound the greatest mystery up in thernconstraints of man’s fallible reason.rnThis reductionist tendency is thern”modern superstition” that WendellrnBerry argues against in Life Is a Miracle,rntaking E.G. Wilson as his sparring partner.rnThe poet-farmer from Kentucky andrnthe Alabama-born, Harvard-trained sociobiologistrnshare a passion for conservation;rnboth have been awarded higersollrnPrizes (Berry, the T.S. Eliot Award forrnCreative Writing in 1994; Wilson, thernRichard M. Weaver Award for ScholarlyrnLetters in 1989); and Mr. Berr)’ expressesrnadmiration for Professor Wilson’s scientificrnknowledge and his earlier works.rnBut his concern is with Consilience, inrnwhich he believesrnMr. Wilson speaks for a popularrnscienhfic orthodoxy. His bookrnreads as though it was written tornconfirm the popular belief that sciencernis entirely good, that it leadsrnto unlimited progress, and that itrnhas (or will have) all the answers.rnMr. Berry takes his tide from Edgar’srnadmonition to his father, the Earl ofrnGloucester, in King Lear: “Thy life’s arnmiracle. Speak yet again.” Tliis line, Berrvwrites,rn”calls Gloucester back —out ofrnhubris, and the damage and despair thatrninvariablv follow—into the properly subordinatedrnhuman life of grief and joy, wherernchange and redemption arc possible.”rnMr. Berr’ sees as Professor Wilson’srnhubris the belief that “cvcr’ myster’ is arnproblem, and everv problem can bernsolved. A mysterv’ can exist only becausernof human ignorance, and human ignorancernis alwavs remediable. The approc7ornt )f/6,s’C/f’/je:rn(mo)