Description
Book SynopsisTrade Review"
Science and Religion: A New Introduction is now into its third edition and is an excellent introduction to the whole field of science and religion." -
Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith, Volume 73, Number 1, March 2021
Table of ContentsPreface to the Third Edition ix
1 Science and Religion: Exploring a Relationship 1
Why Study Science and Religion? 2
The Chessboard: The Diversity of Science and Religion 5
Ian Barbour’s Four Models of the Relation of Science and Religion 7
Conflict 8
Independence 9
Dialogue 10
Integration 11
Four Ways of Imagining the Relation of Science and Religion 13
Science and Religion Offer Distinct Perspectives on Reality 13
Science and Religion Engage Distinct Levels of Reality 14
Science and Religion Offer Distinct Maps of Reality 15
The Two Books: Two Complementary Approaches to Reality 15
2 Getting Started: Some Historical Landmarks 19
Why Study History? 20
Inventing the ‘Warfare’ of Science and Religion 21
The ‘Essentialist Fallacy’ about Science and Religion 24
Dispelling Myths about Science and Religion 25
The Importance of Biblical Interpretation 28
The Emergence of the Medieval Synthesis 29
Copernicus, Galileo, and the Solar System 31
Newton, the Mechanical Universe, and Deism 38
Darwin and the Biological Origins of Humanity 43
The ‘Big Bang’: New Insights into the Origins of the Universe 50
3 Religion and the Philosophy of Science 57
Fact and Fiction: Realism and Instrumentalism 58
Realism 59
Idealism 61
Instrumentalism 62
Theology and Debates about Realism 64
Explanation, Ontology, and Epistemology: Research Methods and the Investigation of Reality 65
A Case Study in Explanation: Nancey Murphy on ‘Non‐Reductive Physicalism’ 68
What Does it Mean to Explain Something? 70
Ontic and Epistemic Approaches to Explanation 71
Religion and Explanation 73
Philip Clayton on Explanation in Religion 75
How Do We Decide What is the Best Explanation? 76
‘Logic of Discovery’ and ‘Logic of Justification’ 77
Inference to the Best Explanation 79
A Case Study: Darwin and Natural Selection 81
Theory Choice and Religion 82
Verification: Logical Positivism 84
Falsification: Karl Popper 86
Theory Change in Science: Thomas S. Kuhn 89
4 Science and the Philosophy of Religion 95
Science, Religion, and Proofs for God’s Existence 96
Traditional Philosophical Arguments for the Existence of God 98
Thomas Aquinas’s Five Ways 99
The Kalam Argument 102
A Case Study: William Paley’s Biological Argument from Design 103
The Ambiguity of ‘Proof ’: Justification in Science and Theology 108
God’s Action in the World 111
Deism: God Acts Through the Laws of Nature 112
Thomism: God Acts Through Secondary Causes 114
Process Theology: God Acts Through Persuasion 116
Quantum Theory: God Acts Through Indeterminacy 118
Miracles and the Laws of Nature 120
David Hume’s Critique of Miracles 121
Keith Ward on Miracles 123
Wolfhart Pannenberg on Miracles 124
Natural Atheology? Evolutionary Debunking Arguments against God 125
Natural Theology: Is God the ‘Best Explanation’ of our Universe? 128
A Metaquestion: Creation and the Uniformity of Nature 133
5 Models and Analogies in Science and Religion 143
The Use of Models in the Natural Sciences 145
The Kinetic Model of Gases 148
Complementarity: Light as Wave and Particle 151
Analogical Reasoning: Galileo and the Mountains of the Moon 153
Using Scientific Models Critically: Darwin’s Principle of Natural Selection 155
The Use of Models and Metaphors in Christian Theology 158
Thomas Aquinas on the Analogia Entis (‘Analogy of Being’) 159
Ian T. Ramsey on the Model of the Divine Economy 160
Arthur Peacocke on the Theological Application of Models and Analogies 162
Sallie McFague on Metaphors in Theology 163
Using Religious Models Critically: Creation 164
Using Religious Models Critically: Theories of the Atonement 167
Models and Mystery: The Limits of Representation of Reality 169
Ian Barbour on Models in Science and Religion 173
6 Science and Religion: Some Major Contemporary Debates 179
Moral Philosophy: Can the Natural Sciences establish Moral Values? 179
Evolution and Ethics: The Debate about Darwinism and Morality 180
Neuroscience and Ethics: Sam Harris on the Moral Landscape 182
Philosophy of Science: Is Reality Limited to What the Sciences Can Disclose? 185
Philosophy of Religion: Theodicy in a Darwinian World 189
Theology: Transhumanism, the ‘Image of God’, and Human Identity 192
Mathematics: Science and the Language of God 196
Physics: Does the ‘Anthropic Principle’ have Religious Significance? 199
Evolutionary Biology: Can we speak of ‘Design’ in Nature? 203
The Psychology of Religion: What is Religion All About? 207
The Cognitive Science of Religion: Is Religion ‘Natural’? 213
Conclusion 218
Sources of Citations 225
Index 245
