EDITORnThomas FlemingnMANAGING EDITORnKatherine DaltonnSENIOR EDITOR, BOOKSnChilton Williamson, ]r.nASSISTANT EDITORnTheodore PappasnART DIRECTORnAnna Mycek-WodeckinGONTRIBUTING EDITORSnJohn W. Aldridge, Harold O.].nBrown, Samuel Francis, GeorgenGarrett, Russell Kirk, E. ChristiannKopff, Clyde WilsonnCORRESPONDING EDITORSnJanet Scott Barlow, Odie Faulk,nJane Greer, John Shelton Reed,nGary VasilashnEDITORIAL SECRETARYnLeann DobbsnEDITORIAL INTERNnChristine HaynesnPUBLISHERnAllan C. CarlsonnASSOCIATE PUBLISHERnMichael WardernPUBLICATION DIRECTORnGuy G. ReffettnCOMPOSITION MANAGERnAnita FedoranCIRCULATION MANAGERnRochelle FranknA publication of The Rockford Institute.nEditorial and Advertising Offices: 934 NorthnMain Street, Rockford, IL 61103.nEditorial Phone: (815) 964-5054.nAdvertising Phone: (815) 964-5811.nSubscription Department: P.O. Box 800, MountnMorris, IL 61054. Call 1-800-435-0715nFor information on advertising in Chronicles,nplease call Cathy Corson at (815) 964-5811.nU.S.A. Newsstand Distribution by EasternnNews Distributors, Inc., 1130 Cleveland Road,nSandusky, OH 44870.nCopyright © 1990 by The Rockford Institute.nAil rights reserved.nChronicles (ISSN 0887-5731) is publishednmonthly for $24 per year by The RockfordnInstitute, 934 North Main Street, Rockford. ILn61103-7061.nSecond-class postage paid at Rockford, IL andnadditional mailing offices.nPOSTMASTER: Send address changes tonChronicles, P.O. Box 800, Mount Morris, ILn61054.nThe views expressed in Chronicles are thenauthors’ alone and do not necessarily reflect thenviews of The Rockford Institute or of itsndirectors. Unsolicited manuscripts cannot benreturned unless accompanied by a self-addressednstamped envelope.nChroniclesnH i G A I I N E OF t M E t l C l C U L T U I En4/CHRONICLESnVol. 14, No. 10 October 1990nPOLEMICS & EXCHANGESnOn ‘Natural Technology’nCongratulations on your unique andninsightful August environment issue.nMy only concern is with the article bynFrederick Turner. I found his “God is anfetus” natural techno-theology every bitnas disturbing as some of your writersnhave found George Gilder’s microchipnmessianism. I was warned by a goodnfriend once that if intellectual conservatismnwere to survive into the nextncentury it would have to cross the linenfrom philosophy into theology. He wasnnot optimistic that it would bear muchnhealthy resemblance to Judeo-Ghristianity.nI fear that Mr. Turner is attemptingnto blaze the treacherous trail.nAs an Eastern Orthodox Christian Incan agree with some of his criticisms ofnthe Western Christian world view. ThenOrthodox are much more pre-modernnin their perceptions. They have notntended to dig as wide a gulf betweennthemselves and God, and betweennthemselves and nature, as has the Westnsince the Scholastic period. They alsonhave not succumbed to the temptationnto scrap the whole Christian world viewnaltogether and attempt to replace it withnan axiomatic neo-pagan alternative.nI allow that Mr. Turner is a muchnmore careful thinker than the crystalncarriers and channelers infesting ournWest Coast. But his views do not soundnany less Utopian. I prefer my theologynbased on revelation and prayer: on anliving God who has made Himselfnknown, rather than on a philosophicallynmalleable concept, regardless of thenconservative, liberal, or environmentalistnviews of those shaping it.n— Stephen T. EarlynBronx, NYnMr. Turner Replies:nThough it may sound odd to say so, Infeel a good deal of sympathy withnStephen Early’s objections. My ownnreligious view inclines toward conservatismnin the ritual, moral teaching, mysti­nnncal meditative techniques, and fundamentalnstorytelling that constitute thencore of a religion. Eastern OrthodoxnChristianity is a glorious example of thencontinued vitality of religious practicenand experience.nHowever, religion can also have annelement of intellectual play, which, likenbold and shocking religious art, is oftennfound when religion is expressed withinnthe context of a high civilization. ConsidernAugustine, Abelard, Luther,nBlake. Paul himself was a theologicalnrevolutionary, as was John the Evangelist,nsynthesizing Greek philosophy withnJudeo-Christian religious experience.nWestern Renaissance Christianity, asnwe see it in Raphael and Milton forninstance, richly combines pagan andnChristian elements in its Christian humanism.nTheology is one of the noblestntheaters of the human imagination, andnthe attempts by church bureaucracies tonassert authority over theological speculationnonly attest to the irrepressibility ofnthis expression of the holy spirit.nUntil the suppression of its intellectualninstitutions by the Turkish Empire,nEastern Christianity rejoiced in a remarkablentradition of philosophicalnspeculation upon the nature of thendivine; one of the hidden losses to thenworld was the failure of Russia to createna great Orthodox university. Perhapsnone day there will be an OrthodoxnAquinas who will synthesize the best ofnthe current intellectual and scientificnlearning, as the Western Thomas did,nwith the religious tradition. We see innsuch writers as Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy,nand Pasternak, and, in Greece, Kazantzakisn(all of whom were quite capable ofnsaying theologically shocking things), anforetaste of such a synthesis.nTheological speculation is indeed nonsubstitute for the personal experience ofnthe divine. But it need not stand in thenway of revelation and prayer either, anynmore than a lively speculative knowledgenof human psychology, evolution,nand neurophysiology need stand in thenway of one’s personal loves, friendships,nand commitments with human beings.n