Search results for ""Author John F. Haught""

A leading theologian presents a hopeful account of the universe after Einstein, exploring it as a meaningful drama of awakening“This book is a deep and provocative piece of theology that proposes we engage with the universe as a kind of narrative of awakening and unfolding, as well as an important and useful approach for thinking about theology with respect to modern cosmology.”—Matthew Stanley, New York University Before the early twentieth century, scientists and theologians knew almost nothing about time’s enormity and the corresponding immensity of space. But now, after Einstein, cosmology offers theology a whole new way of looking at the ageless questions about matter, time, God, cosmic purpose, and the significance of our lives. The universe need not be thought of as simply an endless reshuffling of lifeless and mindless atoms in a pointless series of moments. Rather, the universe is a temporal drama of awakening whose meaning can be revealed only gradually by looking, in a spirit of anticipation and hope, toward the horizon of the cosmic future. In conversation with Einstein’s ideas and opinions, John F. Haught develops here a new cosmological understanding of the meaning of God, time, eternity, mystery, life, thought, freedom, and faith. In doing so, he offers readers a new way of understanding the relationship of science to theology.

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A foremost thinker on science and religion argues that an adequate understanding of cosmic history requires attention to the emergence of interiority, including religious aspiration Over the past two centuries scientific advances have made it clear that the universe is a story still unfolding. In this thought-provoking book, John F. Haught considers the deeper implications of this discovery. He contends that many others who have written books on life and the universe—including Stephen Hawking, Stephen Jay Gould, and Richard Dawkins—have overlooked a crucial aspect of cosmic history: the drama of life’s awakening to interiority and religious awareness. Science may illuminate the outside story of the universe, but a full telling of the cosmic story cannot ignore the inside development that interiority represents. Haught addresses two primary questions: what does the arrival of religion tell us about the universe, and what does our understanding of the cosmos as an unfinished drama tell us about religion? The history of religion may be ambiguous and sometimes even barbarous, he asserts, but its role in the story of cosmic emergence and awakening must be taken into account.

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Nested Ecology provides a pragmatic and functional approach to realizing a sustainable environmental ethic. Edward T. Wimberley asserts that a practical ecological ethic must focus on human decision making within the context of larger social and environmental systems. Think of a set of mixing bowls, in which smaller bowls sit within larger ones. Wimberley sees the world in much the same way, with personal ecologies embedded in social ecologies that in turn are nested within natural ecologies. Wimberley urges a complete reconceptualization of the human place in the ecological hierarchy. Going beyond the physical realms in which people live and interact, he extends the concept of ecology to spirituality and the "ecology of the unknown." In doing so, Wimberley defines a new environmental philosophy and a new ecological ethic.

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Nested Ecology provides a pragmatic and functional approach to realizing a sustainable environmental ethic. Edward T. Wimberley asserts that a practical ecological ethic must focus on human decision making within the context of larger social and environmental systems. Think of a set of mixing bowls, in which smaller bowls sit within larger ones. Wimberley sees the world in much the same way, with personal ecologies embedded in social ecologies that in turn are nested within natural ecologies. Wimberley urges a complete reconceptualization of the human place in the ecological hierarchy. Going beyond the physical realms in which people live and interact, he extends the concept of ecology to spirituality and the "ecology of the unknown." In doing so, Wimberley defines a new environmental philosophy and a new ecological ethic.

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