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George John Romanes, close friend and colleague of Darwin, remains a misunderstood figure in the history of evolutionary science. Although his scientific contributions have been valued, his religious journey has been either neglected or misjudged. Scholars typically only acknowledge some of the work on theism he did at the very end of his life and usually blame his wife for doctoring the record with her pieties. Romanes's extensive poetry writing, much of it religious, has never been explored an...

Many people assume that science `disproves’ the idea of God, and that we no longer need faith in order to understand the world or why we are in it. Roger Trigg examines these assumptions and considers whether recent developments in science may in fact support religious faith. He goes on to consider the increasing scientific evidence for the inherent orderliness and comprehensibility of the universe, which leads him to ask an even more radical question: Might there be aspects of religious bel...

This book reviews the horizons and frontiers of humanism as they interact with the science of life in the universe, now generally known as "astrobiology". As one of the most important conversations of our time, the existence of life itself raises deep questions that are meaningful to both astrobiology and humanism. The text discusses current disagreements in this intercultural dialogue, which are shown to be solely due to the widespread delusion that the horizons and frontiers of science can be...

Neglected Perspectives on Science and Religion explores historical and contemporary relations between science and religion, providing new perspectives on familiar topics such as evolution and the Galileo affair. The book also explores common differences in science and religion with respect to their various treatments of doubt, curiosity, and the methods by which truth claims are assessed. The book includes discussions of religious and scientific treatments of the origins of males and females, ev...

The volume Middle East and North Africa: Climate, Culture and Conflicts focuses on the intricate interrelationships between nature, culture and society in this ecologically, historically and politically fragile region. As such, it debates ideas of eco-theology from Muslim and Jewish perspectives, followed by mythological interpretations and geo-archeological resp. historical analyses of the interrelationships and impacts of climate and other environmental factors on the development of ancient ci...

Reaching back to the origins of antievolutionism in the 1920s, and continuing to the promotion of intelligent design today, Michael Lienesch skillfully analyzes the creationism movement, one of the most formidable political movements of the twentieth century. With fresh insights, Lienesch retells the story of the 1925 Scopes 'monkey"" trial and reinterprets its meaning. In tracking the movement from that time to today, he explores the rise of creation science in the 1960s, the alliance with the...

This collection of essays discusses the human relationship with, and responsibilities toward, the natural environment from the perspective of religions and the social sciences. The chapters examine a variety of conditions that have contributed to the contemporary environmental crisis, including abuse of power, economic greed, industrialization, deforestation, and unplanned waste management. They then discuss concepts from several different religious texts and traditions that promote environmenta...

For millennia plant and animal species have received little sustained attention as subjects of Christian theology and ethics in their own right. Focused on the human dilemma of sin and redemptive grace, theology has considered the doctrine of creation to be mainly an overture to the main drama of human being`s relationship to God. What value does the natural world have within the framework of religious belief? The crisis of biodiversity in our day, when species are going extinct at more than 1,0...

Four scholars engage in respectful dialogue about the relationship between science and religion. Using as their starting point the ongoing discussion regarding evolutionary theory and the biblical accounts of creation, these scholars present an integrated analysis demonstrating the intimate and not antagonistic relationship of their respective disciplines. Readers will encounter an exploration of the history and meaning of the biblical creation accounts, the nature of scientific investigation, t...

Sinceits founding by Jacques Waardenburg in 1971, Religion and Reason has been a leading forum for contributions on theories, theoretical issues and agendas related to the phenomenon and the study of religion. Topics include (among others) category formation, comparison, ethnophilosophy, hermeneutics, methodology, myth, phenomenology, philosophy of science, scientific atheism, structuralism, and theories of religion. From time to time the series publishes volumes that map the state of the art an...