Divined Explanations. The Theological and Philosophical Context for the Development of the Sciences (1600-2000)

Paul Allen, Ph.D. (2001), is Dean, Corpus Christi College, and Professor of Theology at St. Mark's College, Vancouver, Canada. He specializes in science-theology relations, theological anthropology and political theology. His works include: Ernan McMullin and Critical Realism in the Science-Theology Dialogue (2006), Theological Method (2012), and Augustine and Contemporary Social Issues (2023) as well as numerous book chapters and articles. Flavia Marcacci, Ph.D. (2005, 2016), is a Professor of History of Scientific Thought at the Pontifical Lateran University (Vatican State). She has published monographs, edited books and many articles in international journals about the history of science and its interactions with theology. Among her books: Galileo Galilei. Una storia da osservare (2015), Cieli in contraddizione. Giovanni Battista Riccioli e il terzo sistema del mondo (2018).

List of Figures


Notes on Contributors


1 Introduction: How Scientific Theories Emerge in a Matrix of Philosophy and Theology

  Flavia Marcacci and Paul Allen



Part 1

Early Modernity – 19th Century

2 The Paradox of Foundation: Descartes’ Eternal Truths and the Evil Genius

  Simone Guidi



3 Franciscan Syncretistic Theology and Physics: The Science of Fortunato of Brescia (1701–1754)

  Paolo Capitanucci



4 In lumbis Adami et Evae: Questioning the Generation of Humankind in the Early 18th Century

  Luca Tonetti



5 Bolzano on God as the Ground of the Existence of the Actual Infinite

  Fábio Bertato



6 From Thermodynamics to Theology through Philosophy: The Debate on the Second Principle in the Late Nineteenth Century

  Stefano Bordoni



7 Social Darwinism and Race: Christian Thought, Evolution and Historiography

  Paul Allen



Part 2

Twentieth Century

8 Einstein, “Cosmic Religion,” and Theology

  Don Howard



9 The “Primeval Atom Hypothesis”: Where Did It Come From? What Is Its Status?

  Dominique Lambert



10 Max Planck, Causality, and the Necessity of God

  Flavia Marcacci and Gino Tarozzi



11 The Mystery of Cosmos: Negative Issues of Scientific Holism in Quantum Mechanics and Wittgenstein

  Fausto Fraisopi



12 Kurt Gödel and the Logical Existence of God

  Andrea Vestrucci and Christoph Benzmüller



13 John Wheeler, a Seeker in the Atomic Age

  Stefano Furlan and Rocco Gaudenzi



Index