Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Cosmology and Biological Evolution PDF Download

Author: Hilary D. Regan
Publisher: ATF Press
ISBN: 9780958639996
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 234

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Book Description
This collection of essays exmaines cosmology, biology and evolutionary theory.

Author: Eric J. Chaisson
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674009878
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 288

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Book Description
Chaisson addresses some of the most basic issues we can contemplate: the origin of matter and the origin of life, and the ways matter, life, and radiation interact and change with time. He designs for us an expansive yet intricate model depicting the origin and evolution of all material structures.

Author: Robert Brennan
Publisher: James Clarke & Company
ISBN: 0227905326
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 302

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Book Description
The question of divine agency in the world remains one important unresolved underlying obstacle in the dialogue between theology and science. Modern notions of divine agency are shown to have developed out of the interaction of three factors in early modernity. Two are well known: late medieval perfect-being theology and the early modern application of the notion of the two books of God's revelation to the understanding of the natural order. It is argued the third is the early modern appropriation of theAugustinian doctrine of inspiration. This assumes the soul's existence and a particular description of divine agency in humans, which became more generally applied to divine agency in nature. Whereas Newton explicitly draws the parallel between divine agency in humans and that in nature, Darwin rejects its supposed perfection and Huxley raises serious questions regarding the traditional understanding of the soul. This book offers an alternative incarnational description of divine agency, freeing consideration of divine agency from being dependent on resolving the complex issues of perfect-being theology and the existence of the soul. In conversation with Barth's pneumatology, this proposal is shown to remain theologically coherent and plausible while resolving or avoiding a range of known difficulties in the science-theology dialogue.

Author: Robert C. Bishop
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
ISBN: 0830891641
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 690

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Book Description
From five authors with over two decades of experience teaching origins together in the classroom, this is the first textbook to offer a full-fledged discussion of the scientific narrative of origins from the Big Bang through humankind, from biblical and theological perspectives. This work gives the reader a detailed picture of mainstream scientific theories of origins along with how they fit into the story of God's creative and redemptive action.

Author: Nick Hawkes
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 163087535X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 174

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Book Description
"Nick Hawkes has written a book on science and Christian faith that is attractive, intelligent, and accessible to general readers. It shows clearly that Christian faith and science are not opposed to each other but in need of each other. This book will be of great interest not only to committed Christians seeking to see how their biblical faith relates to contemporary science, but also to all those searching for an authentic Christian spirituality for the twenty-first century." -Denis Edwards Flinders University "Nick Hawkes looks at arguments for and against the existence for God and comes to the conclusion that faith can no more dispense with science than science can dispense with God. Both complete one another. He knows the terrain well and is able to explain complex ideas in ordinary language. Dr. Hawkes concludes by saying that Christian theology, rather than undermining science, actually provides science with a solid ground of meaning on which to stand." -Mark Worthing Tabor College, Adelaide. "This book should have a prominent position on the shelves of pastors, church leaders, teachers, and anyone who is interested in proclaiming Christianity in our secular society. Dr. Hawkes uses modern science to put forward a reasoned defense of orthodox Christianity." -Ken Smith The University of Queensland

Author: Terry Kelly
Publisher: ATF Press
ISBN: 1922582387
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 166

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Book Description
This book is divided into two parts. The first part deals with the current understanding of evolution. The second part brings together the scientific picture with various responses to the 'God question'. Science is a powerful discourse; it has unravelled for us the workings of nature, and technology has enabled us to apply the findings in many ways to further knowledge, to perform complex tasks, to further communication, and to make life easier and more exciting. But there are boundaries and limits to science. First, the final models of how nature is working are never the final word: they are always awaiting 'falsification', never blessed with certain 'verification'. Second, the deeper one goes towards hoped-for truth, the more one is confronted with counter-intuitive models such as quantum theory, 'spooky-action' at a distance, the dark energy of the vacuum, the Big Bang etc. Third, science cannot advance beyond the questions accessible by scientific experiment: questions about purpose and God, right and wrong, good and evil, are not accessible to science. Scientific conclusions, however, can then be subjected to reasonable analysis, philosophical reflection, aided perhaps by religious beliefs. Today a dilemma is often offered for consideration: 'either evolution by natural selection, or God and purpose.' Is this delemma a false one? Can purposeful creation and natural selection both be true? Such are the features of evolution, one can argue strongly the case for a purpose. One can at least say belief in God sits well with evolutionary theory. To come to this conclusion we need to extend and improve our image of the God of Abraham, Moses and Jesus. God is intelligent, subtle, powerful- respectful of the freedom with which the divine will has endowed creation itself and homosapiens.

Author: Christine Ledger
Publisher: ATF Press
ISBN: 9781920691028
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 268

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Book Description
Creation and Complexity are two themes that draw the sciences and theology together. The remarkable advances of science in the modern period have opened up new knowledge and revealed ever deepening layers of complexity in the world from the cosmic macro level to the micro world of quantum. There seems no end to the rich tapestry of the cosmic order and process. A science of complexity has been spawned. The discoveries of the sciences have been matched in the twentieth century by a renewal in the doctrine of creation. Behind this lies a renaissance in trinitarian thinking which offers fresh insight into the dynamic of God in creation - past, present and future. The complexity of the triune God in creation find echoes in the rich complexity of the world uncovered by the contemporary sciences. This book explores the nature of complexity in God's creation.

Author: Zainal Abidin Bagir
Publisher: ATF Press
ISBN: 9781920691349
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 250

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Book Description
This book addresses selected issues in the emerging field of science and religion, and at the same time acknowledges the situation of Indonesia (or, more generally, a "Third World" country) as the locus for this discussion. The book is concerned with how various world religions, in particular Islam and Christianity respond to shared challenges posed by science, as new theories in cosmology, physics, and the life sciences have brought challenges to many traditional religious ideas. There are also more generally epistemological challenges that reflect the recent success of natural science as a mode of inquiry. These are felt as problems in both the Western and non-Western worlds, but with an important difference. While the Western world is considered the "legitimate owner" of modern science, some in the Muslim world, and the Third World more generally, see modern science as a cultural alien imposed on them, due to its initial introduction in the colonial period.

Author: Carolyn M. King
Publisher: ATF Press
ISBN: 9780958639989
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 250

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Book Description
In 1990 the Worldwatch Institute in Washington estimated that humankind had forty years to make the transition to an environmentally stable society. If we have not succeeded by then, it concluded, environmental deterioration and economic decline are likley to be feeding on each other, pulling us into a downward spiral of social disintegration. Worldwatch is no millenarian cult, but a sober and careful organisation whose annual summaries of world affairs have become the planet's unofficial environmental health reports. Its pronouncements are cautiously worded, influential and worth attnedning to, even if the timing is hard to predict. This book uses the issues raised in these reports to look at biology, the envrinomental crisis and theological response to it all by developing a new theology of creation. Based on her scientific background in the bilogical sciences, King brings together biology and theology. It covers sciecne, religion and environment, human nature and develops a theology of creation. The author teaches at the University of Waikato in New Zealand.

Author: Mark L. Y. Chan
Publisher: ATF Press
ISBN: 9781920691011
Category : Genetic engineeing
Languages : en
Pages : 244

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Book Description
The twenty-first century has been dubbed the Biotech Century. The explosive increase in our knowledge of the human genome continues to fuel speculations on the possibilities of human genetic modifications. This has been greeted with either enthusiasm or anxiety, for alongside the many euphoric pronouncements about potential benefits are serious questions about the impact of biotechnology and the prospect of manipulating molecular information. What impact will breakthroughs in genetic science will have on our understanding of the human person and the shape of human society? Is the significance of the human person reducible to his or her genetic make-up? What part do our genes play in determining human behaviour, and how would this affect our understanding of human freedom? Drawing on an international panel of writers representing different disciplinary perspectives and a number of Christian traditions, this book seeks to assess the impact of recent developments in genetic science on the Christian understanding of the human person. The essays in this volume address these concerns.