The thesis of this book may be summarized in one sentence: the art of living scientifically involves taking theology much more seriously than either practising scientists or religious believers are inclined to do. The “Good News” I bring comes courtesy of Dr Strangelove, who graces the title of the first chapter. Here I present the book's overarching argument: that our continuing faith in science in the face of its actual history is best understood as the secular residue of a religiously inspired belief in Divine Providence. Little surprise, then, that Darwinists have been conspicuously silent about evolutionary accounts of the significance that humans have attached to science, given the increasing level of risk to which science has exposed us as a species. Indeed, I argue in Chapter 6 that the history of atheism, Darwinism's spiritual sidekick, would be the last place to seek a long-standing, consistent faith in science.

But before reaching that point, several chapters are concerned with understanding the nature of the drive to live “scientifically”. The drive's sources are various but ultimately traceable to the Abrahamic religions. In our own times, claims to live scientific lives have been marked by a spirit of dissent from established scientific authorities, which I collectively call “Protscience” (i.e. “Protestant Science”). Just as the original Protestant Reformers were often maliciously portrayed as atheists, purveyors of “alternative” forms of science today are also unjustifiably tarred as “anti-science”.