Issues in Science and Religion

by Ian G. Barbour

Harper Torchbooks, 1971, 0061315664, Trade Paperback, Good condition, spine creases, underlining in first couple of chapters, front endpaper and title page removed, all other pages intact, 470 pages.

"This is an astonishingly surefooted book. It explores an area in which traps abound for the half-competent, and books abound which have failed to avoid them; and it not only picks its way triumphantly past practically all of these, but also succeeds in turning a penetrating light on some of the most troublesome as it hurries us by. Designed for use as a course textbook, it is compact and didactic in style rather than popular or polemical, and each chapter ends with a stocktaking summary which is a masterpiece of clarity."—D. M. MACKAY, British Journal for the Philosophy of Science

"To indulge in superlatives is usually unwise, but I am tempted to say that this is by far the most competent book on the subject of science and theology that has appeared in the last twenty-five years. Its arrangement is systematic, the range of reading that it shows is staggering, its style is lucid and interesting, and the judgments that its author expresses are penetrating and balanced. Almost every chapter opens with a statement of its intentions and closes with a summary of its achievements.... Not the least commendable feature of the book consists in Dr. Barbour's scrupulous care, in each department of his theme, to expound with clarity and fairness not only his own views but those of all competent workers in the field. In consequence, the book contains accounts of the various schools in contemporary theology and philosophy of science which are of considerable value in their own right, quite apart from their relevance to the explicit subject of the book.... This is a genuinely synthetic work, of a kind that is all too rare."—E. L. MASCALL, Journal of Theological Studies

HARPER & ROW, PUBLISHERS
Cover Design by Judith Lerner

CONTENTS

Preface
Introduction

PART ONE

RELIGION AND THE HISTORY OF SCIENCE

1. PHYSICS AND METAPHYSICS IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY

I. THE MEDIEVAL WORLD-DRAMA

1. Methods in Science: Explanation by Purposes
2. Nature as a Created Hierarchy
3. Methods in Theology: Reason and Revelation
4. God as Creator and Redeemer
5. Humanity as Center of the Cosmic Drama

II. GALILEO'S 'TWO NEW SCIENCES'

1. Methods in Science: Mathematics and Observation
2. Nature as Particles in Motion
3. Methods in Theology: Scripture. Nature, and the Church
4. God as Author of Nature and Scripture
5. Humanity in the New Cosmology

III. THE NEWTONIAN WORLD-MACHINE

1. Methods in Science: Experiment and Theory
2. Nature as a Law-Abiding Machine
3. Methods in Theology: `Natural Theology'
4. God as Divine Clockmaker
5. Human Nature: Body and Mind

IV. RELIGION AND THE RISE OF SCIENCE: CONFLICT OR HARMONY?

V. SUMMARY

2. NATURE AND GOD IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY

I. THE AGE OF REASON

1. Nature as a Deterministic Mechanism
2. The God of Deism
3. Humanity as Perfectible by Reason

II. THE ROMANTIC REACTION

1. Romanticism in Literature
2. Pietism and Methodism

III. PHILOSOPHICAL RESPONSES

1. Scientific Empiricism and Religious Agnosticism (Hume)
2. Science and Religion as Separate Realms (Kant)

IV SUMMARY

3. BIOLOGY AND THEOLOGY IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY

I. DARWIN AND NATURAL. SELECTION

1. Forerunners of Darwin
2. Darwin's Scientific Kink
3. Alternative Theories of Evolution
4. Nature as Dynamic Process

II. THEOLOGICAL ISSUES IN EVOLUTION

1. Methods in Theology: The Challenge to Scripture
2. God and Nature: The Challenge to Design
3. Human Nature: The Challenge to the Status of Humanity
4. Evolutionary Ethics and Social Darwinism

III. DIVERGING CURRENTS IN THEOLOGY

1. Traditionalist Responses to Evolution
2. The Modernist Movement
3. The Rise of Liberal Theology
4. Naturalistic Philosophies of Evolution

IV. SUMMARY

PART TWO

RELIGION AND THE METHODS OF SCIENCE

4. 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. Presuppositions and Limit Questions
2. Methodological Parallels
3. Nature-centered Spirituality

IV. INTEGRATION

1. Natural Theology
2. Theology of Nature
3. Systematic Synthesis

5. MODELS AND PARADIGMS

1. THE STRUCTURES OE 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

6. SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES

I. HISTORY IN SCIENCE AND RELIGION

1. Historical Explanation
2. Story and I 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 THREE

RELIGION AND THE THEORIES OF SCIENCE

7. PHYSICS AND METAPHYSICS

I. QUANTUM THEORY

1. Complementarity
2. Indeterminacy
3. Parts and Wholes
4. Bell's Theorem

II. RELATIVITY

1. Space. Time, and Matter
2. The Status of Time

III. ORDER AND COMPLEXITY

1. Thermodynamics and Order
2. Chaos Theory and Complexity

IV. METAPHYSICAL IMPLICATIONS

1. The Role of Mind
2. Life, Freedom, and God
3. Physics and Eastern Mysticism
4. Conclusions

8. 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. DESIGN, CHANCE, AND NECESSITY

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

9. 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 HEIRARCHY OF LEVELS

1. Three Forms of Reduction
2. Levels, Emergence, and Wholes
3. Sentience anti Purposiveness

III. THEOLOGICAL IMPLICATIONS

1. Chance and Design
2. Models of Creation
3. Conflict, Independence, and Dialogue
4. The Integration of Creation and Evolution

PART FOUR

PHILOSOPHICAL AND THEOLOGICAL REFLECTIONS

10. 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

11. PROCESS THOUGHT

I. SUMMARY: A MULTILEVELED 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

12. GOD AND NATURE

I. CLASSICAL. THEISM

1. The Monarchical Model
2. Primary and Secondary Causes

II. SOME ALTERNATIVES

1. God as Determiner of Indeterminacies
2. God as Communicator of Information
3. God's Self-Limitation
4. God as Agent
5. The World as God's Body

III. PROCESS THEISM

1. God as Creative Participant
2. Problems in Process Theology

IV. CONCLUSIONS

Notes
Glossary
Index of Names
Index of Selected Topics