A poor account of process theology

Perhaps it's a moot point to "diss" a collection of scholarly contributions on process theology and Darwinism, but I really do think that "Back to Darwin: A Richer Account of Evolution" is incredibly boring and of relatively little interest. This despite all the luminaries invited: Lynn Margulis, Dorion Sagan (Carl Sagan's son), Francisco Ayala, Philip Clayton, Howard J. Van Till, John F. Haught and (the main star) David Ray Griffin in his previous "occasion of experience" as a leading process theologian (Dave's having other agendas now).

Perhaps a book like this could open the eyes of some really dyed-in-the-wool materialist fanatics, since none of the "religious" contributors are fundamentalists or even straightforward theistic evolutionists á la Simon Conway Morris.

Personally, my eyes were opened already a few years ago, and I want meatier stuff than the process philosophy of Whitehead, Hartshorne and Griffin. The latter is a good writer, and his more "heterodox" variety of process thought is more interesting than the "objectively immortal" version of the other bores, but when the chips are down, I say Griffin's contributions were pretty bland, too. Dorion Sagan's coming out as a pantheist was interesting, but...well, that's just because he's the son of Carl "Cosmos". And why has Francisco Ayala, who seems to be a Neo-Darwinist, been allowed to dominate this collection? His articles are all over the place!

Funniest item: A.Y. Gunter calls Richard Dawkins an "ultra-Darwinist" (Dawkins bows gracefully) and mentions a molecule known as "buckminsterfullerene". For a moment, I thought Gunter was a new Sokal hoax, but apparently there *is* a molecule named after Buckminster Fuller. (Bizarre detail: I always confuse Fuller with Whittaker Chambers. Don't ask me why!)

I will nevertheless give "Back to Darwin" three stars, since (after all) it could be helpful to somebody out there in the Reductionist-Materialist-Ultradarwinist darkness, but I admit that I'll rather read the books mentioned in the notes, than this poor account of process theology...