Science and Theology

by Peters, Ted

• ISBN13: 9780813332581
• ISBN10: 0813332583
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1998-04-01
• Publisher: Westview Pr

Summary

How can we think about God's action in a quantum world of indeterminacy? in a world that began with a Big Bang? in a world in which life evolved and is continually evolving? in a world governed by entropy and heading toward its eventual heat death? These are some of the most perplexing questions that have arisen from the rapid scientific and technological advances of the twentieth century. Science and Theology: The New Consonancegrapples with these seeming conundrums by asking both scientists and religious thinkers to reflect upon possible solutions. In this exciting, new edited volume, physicists think about the connection between physics and faith and biologists discuss evolution, ethics, and the future. Complementing these viewpoints, theologians address these same issues from a religious standpoint.Chapter authors include Nobel Prize-winning physicist and inventor of the laser, Charles Townes, along with Pope John Paul II. The resulting interplay between science and theology presses toward consonance, encouraging comparisons, crossovers, and complementarity.

Author Biography

Ted Peters is a professor of systematic theology at Pacific Lutheran Seminary and the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California, and a research scholar at the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	vii
Introduction	1	(10)
1 Science and Theology: Toward Consonance	11	(32)
Ted Peters
PART ONE PHYSICS AND FAITH	43	(78)
2 Logic and Uncertainties in Science and Religion	43	(13)
Charles H. Townes
3 From Physicist to Priest	56	(9)
John Polkinghorne
4 Is the Universe Absurd?	65	(12)
Paul Davies
5 Does the "God Who Acts" Really Act in Nature?	77	(26)
Robert John Russell
6 Theology, Cosmology, and Ethics	103	(18)
Nancey Murphy
PART TWO EVOLUTION, ETHICS, AND ESCHATOLOGY	121	(124)
7 So Human an Animal: Evolution and Ethics	121	(16)
Francisco J. Ayala
8 Human Life: Creation Versus Evolution?	137	(12)
Wolfhart Pannenberg
9 Evolution and the Living God	149	(4)
Pope John Paul II
10 Evolution and the Human Person: The Pope in Dialogue	153	(9)
George V. Coyne, S.J.
11 Biological Evolution and the Human Soul: A Theological Proposal for Generationism	162	(12)
Anne M. Clifford, C.S.J.
12 Biocultural Evolution and the Created Co-Creator	174	(15)
Philip Hefner
13 A Map of Scientific Knowledge: Genetics, Evolution, and Theology	189	(22)
Arthur Peacocke
14 The Greening of Science, Theology, and Ethics	211	(17)
Audrey R. Chapman
15 Evolution, Tragedy, and Hope	228	(17)
John F. Haught
About the Editor and Contributors	245	(2)
Credits	247	(2)
Index	249