When Science Meets Religion - Softcover

Barbour, Ian G.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0281053642 ISBN 13: 9780281053643

Publisher: SPCK Publishing, 2000

Synopsis

Over the centuries, scientists, theologians and the general public share many questions about the implications of scientific discoveries for classical religious ideas. Trained both as a physicist and a theologian, Ian Barbour is qualified to examine the relationship between religion and science. It is the sum of all he has learned and taught in his career. He explores creation and the big bang, quantum physics and ultimate reality, evolution and continuing creation, genetics and human nature, God and nature as well as numerous other topics. The book covers all the elements likely to be included in the syllabus of a university course.

About this title

Review:

We're closing in on the 150th anniversary of Darwin's Origin of Species, but clearly not closing in on any resolution of the debates that the book stirred up between science and religion. In this slim volume, physicist and theologian Ian Barbour summarises his own decades-long learning in these two arenas. Writing with clarity and a scientist's eye for organisation, Barbour here takes on the scientific and theological significance of the big questions: the Big Bang, Quantum Physics, Darwin and Genesis, Human Nature (the question of determinism), and the relationship between a free God and a law-bound universe. In each chapter, Barbour recognises four possible ways of responding to the dilemmas posed by these topics: conflict, represented by Biblical literalists and atheists, both of whom agree that a person cannot believe in both God and evolution; Independence, which asserts that "science and religion are strangers who can coexist as long as they keep a safe distance from each other;" Dialogue, which invites a conversation between the two fields; and finally Integration, which moves beyond Dialogue to explore ways in which the two fields can inform each other. Barbour notes that his own sympathies lie with Dialogue and Integration.

Winner of the 1999 Templeton Prize for his role in advancing the study of science and religion, "no contemporary has made a more original, deep, and lasting contribution toward the needed integration of scientific and religious knowledge and values", John Cobb has written of Barbour. This book is perhaps the best entry point into Barbour's work. --Doug Thorpe

Review:

"Ian Barbour is the "doyen of contemporary writers on science and theology. In this survey of his thinking he writes with his customary well-organized clarity."--John Polkinghorne, author of "Belief in God in an Age of Science"Ian Barbour here distills a lifetime of thinking about how science and religion relate. In spanning the spectrum of the natural and the human sciences, he knows more about this than any other person on Earth, more, I suppose than any other in history. Couple this with his sure-footed capacity for balanced evaluation--a particular focus distinguishing this from his earlier books--and the result is outstanding."--Holmes Rolston, III, author, "Genes, Genesis and God, University Distinguished Professor, Colorado State University"At last we have a volume in religion and science by the pioneer of the field, Ian G. Barbour, which uses Barbour's now classic four-fold typology to address fundamental issues of importance to us all. This book will be an invaluable resource to teachers, scholars, ministers, scientists and everyday inquirers who want to become part of the positive and creative interaction now growing rapidly and internationally between religion and science. Read this book and prepare for a wondrous experience!"--Robert John Russell, Director of The Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences, Berkeley"No surer and fairer guide to the proliferating literature on the relation of science and religion can be found than Ian Barbour. In this volume he has made accessible the fruits of his extensive and scholarly studies to those coming new to the field. They, and also those alreadyinvolved in it, will welcome this elegantly organised and presented work."--ArthurPeacocke, Oxford University, author of "From DNA to Dean: Reflections & Explorations of a Priest-Scientist

About this edition

• Publisher: SPCK Publishing
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0281053642
• ISBN 13: 9780281053643
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 224