Larry L. Rasmussen, Reinhold Niebuhr Emeritus Professor of Social Ethics, Union Theological Seminary, considered "A Scientific Theology: Volume 1, Nature" to be “immensely learned and instructive.” After giving a brief summary of the volume's themes and contents he concludes that McGrath is "in full command of the English and German language sources within what he calls 'the western intellectual community.'" However, Rasmussen finds “unsettling” McGrath's failure to move outside that community to engage with recent Christian sources – feminist and Two-Thirds World in particular – which in recent decades have challenged both McGrath's streams of theology, and the epistemologies and philosophy of science. Thus, although McGrath sees his project as “a public theology,” Rasmussen considers that this “does not mean engagement with voices that dissent from his canon.” He concludes: “Given the ferment in both theology and science...this is an unfortunate omission in an otherwise learned undertaking.”