Bad American prescription

Review of the Road to Wisdom: On Truth, Science, Faith and Trust by Francis Collins. 288 pages; Little, Brown, and Co. (September 2024).

Francis Collins is one of the most prominent and influential scientists of our time. He has pioneered research in medical genetics and has led both the Human Genome Project and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for 12 years. Collins also played a critical but controversial role in dealing with the Covid pandemic. There, his substantial achievements in promoting a new vaccine have been somewhat shattered by his attempts to distrust critics who suggested that the coronavirus had fled Uhan’s lab.

Still, Collins’ scientific qualifications are perfect. But what distinguishes him from many of his scientific peers is his passionate religious embrace. A dedicated evangelical Christian, Collins embodies the claim that science and religion are perfectly compatible and represent a complementary way of discovering truth about the universe. This is his second book on his subject. The first, God’s Language: The scientist presents evidence of belief, explains how he came to Christianity, and gives him evidence that he has convinced him that his faith is true.

Much of the path to wisdom recreates discussions from previous books, but this new one goes a little further. Collins is deeply concerned that the division of American society highlighted by the last presidential election, the inability to make constructive discussions with his enemy, and the widespread addiction of social media and its “fake news.” And he believes that by embracing the harmony of religion and science, he will bring wisdom that can restore America.

Collins provides four “sources of wisdom” and defines not only “understanding and incorporating moral frameworks,” but also how to identify truths and make good decisions in difficult situations. Each source is part of the book, and they are also formulated as a form of social superglue. “The goal of this book is to move the focus away from bipartisan politics and return it to the most important source of wisdom, science, faith and trust. These soothing words are often meant, but ultimately Collins’s paper becomes a bromide clutter that is devalued by his assertion that “faith” is compatible with both “truth” and “science.” Immering in his Christianity, Collins appears to be unaware of the divisive nature that religion has brought to the world, particularly the fact that religion promotes wisdom, incompletely unable to fully discover the “truth claims are universal and inevitable.”