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Contents
Acknowledgements
Preface
PART ONE
RELIGION AND THE METHODS OF SCIENCE
1 WAYS OF RELATING SCIENCE AND RELIGION
I. CONFLICT
1. Scientific Materialism
2. Biblical Literalism
II. INDEPENDENCE
1. Contrasting Methods
2. Differing Languages
III. DIALOGUE
1. Boundary Questions
2. Methodological Parallels
IV. INTEGRATION
1. Natural Theology
2. Theology of Nature
3. Systematic Synthesis
2 MODELS AND PARADIGMS
I. THE STRUCTURES OF SCIENCE AND RELIGION
1. Theory and Data in Science
2. Belief and Experience in Religion
3. Story and Ritual in Christianity
II. THE ROLE OF MODELS
1. Models in Science
2. Models in Religion
3. Personal and Impersonal Models
4. Christian Models
III. THE ROLE OF PARADIGMS
1. Paradigms in Science
2. Paradigms in Religion
3. Paradigms in Christianity
IV. TENTATIVENESS AND COMMITMENT
1. Tradition and Criticism
2. Central and Peripheral Beliefs
3. Revelation, Faith, and Reason
3 SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES
I. HISTORY IN SCIENCE AND RELIGION
1. Historical Explanation
2. Story and History in Christianity
II. OBJECTIVITY AND RELATIVISM
1. The Social Construction of Science
2. Third World Critiques
3. Feminist Critiques
III. RELIGIOUS PLURALISM
1. The Interpretation of Religious Experience
2. Between Absolutism and Relativism
3. Conclusions
PART TWO
RELIGION AND THE THEORIES OF SCIENCE
4 PHYSICS AND METAPHYSICS
I. QUANTUM THEORY
1. Complementarity
2. Indeterminacy
3. Parts and Wholes
4. Bell’s Theorem
II. RELATIVITY AND THERMODYNAMICS
1. Space, Time, and Matter
2. The Status of Time
3. Order and Disorder
III. METAPHYSICAL IMPLICATIONS
1. The Role of Mind
2. Life, Freedom, and God
3. Physics and Eastern Mysticism
4. Conclusions
5 ASTRONOMY AND CREATION
I. THE BIG BANG
1. Theories in Astrophysics
2. Theological Responses
II. CREATION IN JUDAISM AND CHRISTIANITY
1. Historical Ideas of Creation
2. The Interpretation of Genesis Today
III. THE NEW COSMOLOGY
1. Design: The Anthropic Principle
2. Chance: Many-Worlds Theories
3. Necessity: A Theory of Everything
IV. THEOLOGICAL IMPLICATIONS
1. Intelligibility and Contingency
2. Ex Nihilo and Continuing Creation
3. The Significance of Humanity
4. Eschatology and the Future
6 EVOLUTION AND CONTINUING CREATION
I. EVOLUTIONARY THEORY
1. The Modern Synthesis
2. Current Debates
3. DNA and the Origin of Life
4. DNA, Information, and Systems Theory
II. A HIERARCHY OF LEVELS
1. Three Forms of Reduction
2. Levels, Emergence, and Wholes
3. Sentience and Purposiveness
III. THEOLOGICAL IMPLICATIONS
1. Chance and Design
2. Models of Creation
3. Creation and Evolution: Three Views
4. The Integration of Creation and Evolution
PART THREE
PHILOSOPHICAL AND THEOLOGICAL REFLECTIONS
7 HUMAN NATURE
I. BIOLOGY AND HUMAN NATURE
1. Human Origins
2. Sociobiology and Cultural Evolution
3. The Status of Mind
II. RELIGION AND HUMAN NATURE
1. The Evolution of Religion
2. The Biblical View of Human Nature
3. The Role of Christ
III. THE HUMAN FUTURE
1. Science and the Human Future
2. Theology and the Human Future
8 PROCESS THOUGHT
I. SUMMARY: A MULTI-LEVELED COSMOS
1. Medieval and Newtonian Views
2. The New View of Nature
II. PROCESS PHILOSOPHY
1. An Ecological Metaphysics
2. Diverse Levels of Experience
3. Science and Metaphysics
III. PROCESS THEOLOGY
1. The Role of God
2. God’s Action in the World
3. Christian Process Theology
4. The Problem of Evil and Suffering
9 GOD AND NATURE
I. CLASSICAL THEISM
1. The Monarchical Model
2. Primary and Secondary Causes
II. SOME ALTERNATIVES
1. God’s Self-Limitation
2. Existentialism
3. God as Agent
4. The World as God’s Body
III. PROCESS THEISM
1. God as Creative Participant
2. Problems in Process Theology
IV. CONCLUSIONS
Notes
Index of Names
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