Religion and the Challenges of Science

Richard Feist is Dean of the Faculty of Philosophy at Saint Paul University, Ottawa, Canada.

Contents: Introduction: rethinking relations between science and religion, William Sweet. Part I History and Contexts in Biology and Evolutionary Theory:'The declaration of students of the natural and physical sciences', revisited: youth, science and religion in mid-Victorian Britain, Hannah Gay; Theological insights from Charles Darwin, Denis O. Lamoureux; A model of interaction between science and theology based on the scientific papers of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Lodovico Galleni and Marie Claire Groessens-van Dyke; Biology and a theology of evolution, Arthur Peacocke. Part II Physics, Philosophy, and Fine Tuning: Creation, metaphysics, and cosmology, Lawrence Dewan; Cosmological theories and the question of the existence of a creator, John L. Bell; Whitehead, God, and relativity, Richard Feist; Design inferences, fine-tuning, and the prior probability of divine intelligent agency: what the fine-tining argument shows, Kenneth Einar Himma. Part III Naturalism and the Non-Natural: On scientific explanations of mystical experience of God, Jerome Gellman; The human genome revolution, society, and religion, Job Kozhamthadam; Partner of the sciences or object of study? Theology and religion in relation to the natural and social sciences, Willem B. Drees; Beyond naturalism: scientific creativity and theological knowledge, Paul Allen. Part IV Conceptual Issues: Can science provide evidence for metaphysics?, Leslie Armour; Science and religious belief: some conceptual issues, William Sweet; Index.