bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
ACCEPTABILITY CRITERIA FOR WORK IN THEOLOGY AND SCIENCE
Authors: Murphy Nancey C.
Published: December 2005

Abstract. The philosophy of science of Imre Lakatos suggests criteria for acceptability of work in the interdisciplinary area of theology and science: proposals must contribute to scientific (or theological) research programs that lead to prediction and discovery of novel facts. Lakatos's methodology also suggests four legitimate types of theology–and–science interaction: (1) heuristic use of theology in science; (2) incorporation of a theological assertion as an auxiliary hypothesis in a scientific research program, or (3) as the central theory of a research program; and (4) hybrid theology–and–science programs with empirical data. Three recent Zygon articles illustrate these four types.
A GENERALIZED CONCEPTION OF TEXT APPLIED TO BOTH SCIENTIFIC AND RELIGIOUS OBJECTS
Authors: Gerhart Mary , Russell Allan Melvin
Published: December 2005

Abstract. The idea of a text is reviewed and reconstructed to facilitate the application of concepts of interpretation to the objects analyzed in the natural sciences, as well as to objects analyzed in religion and literature. Four criteria—‐readability, formality, material transcendence, and retrievability—‐are proposed as the basis for a generalized conception of text. Objects in both religion and science, not previously thought to be texts, are shown to be included in the new definition and therefore to be potential subjects of developing methods of interpretation.
BELIEFS OF A CHRISTIAN MINISTER IN LIGHT OF CONTEMPORARY SCIENCE
Authors: Davis Marjorie Hall
Published: December 2005

Abstract. This paper states the author's understanding of the doctrines of the Christian faith in the light of her scientific background and her interpretation of current evolutionary, neuropsychologi–cal, and other scientific theories. It contains the actual ordination vows and her response to them, based upon an outline of questions suggested by the United Church of Christ.
FREEDOM AND DETERMINISM: A CONTEMPORARY DISCUSSION
Authors: Pojman Louis P.
Published: December 2005

Abstract. The problem of freedom of the will and determinism is one of the most intriguing and difficult in the whole area of philosophy. It constüutes a paradox. If we look at ourselves, at our ability to deliberate and make moral choices, it seems obvious that we are free. On the other hand, if we look at what we believe about causality (i.e., that every event and thing must have a cause), then it appears that we do not have free wills but are determined. Thus we seem to have inconsistent beliefs. In this paper I set forth and analyze the major contemporary arguments for free will and determinism as well as for compatibilism, the position that tries to combine insights from both theories. I end with a brief conclusion regarding my assessment of the status of the arguments.
FUNCTIONALISM, FALLIBILISM, AND ANTI–FOUNDATIONALISM IN WIEMAN'S EMPIRICAL THEISM
Authors: Frankenberry Nancy
Published: December 2005

Abstract. Empirical philosophy of religion is usually appraised in light of its theological uses, rather than in terms of its relation to philosophical forms of empiricism. The present paper examines the empirical theism of Henry Nelson Wieman by relating it to Carl Hempel's critique of functionalism, Karl Popper's use of falsifiability, and the growth of post–empiricist anti–foundationalism in epis–temology. It is concluded that Wieman's argument commits the fallacy of affirming the consequent; that his theistic perspective nevertheless offers an important heuristic device in line with fal–libilism, and that his radical empiricism anticipates recent anti–foundationalist trends.
TOWARD A GENERAL THEORY OF HUMAN CREATIVITY
Authors: Sáip Máiria , Vitáinyi Iváin
Published: December 2005

Abstract. The presence of a basic and general form of creativity in people is investigated through experiments with music. The results indicate that “generative” creativity—‐the ability to spontaneously generate a music by varying a basic set of musical elements—is a basic human endowment, unlike “constructive” creativity—‐the type of creativity exhibited by composers and other artists—‐which is the result of training and the spehal development of faculties. Generative creativity's coming to the fore in contemporary people would contribute to the development of the personality and help bring about more fulfilled, better balanced people and societies.
THE CHALLENGE OF THE FUTURE TO THESCIENCE‐RELIGION DIALOGUE
Authors: Browning Don
Published: December 2005

Abstract. Zygon and the Center for Advanced Study in Religionand Science have exhibited two foci: the theoretical, concernedwith questions of cosmology and human nature, and the practical, concerned with issues of morality and ritual. These foci overlap, but in recent years interest in the practical has increased. This hasimplications for science‐religion dialogue: rather than simply dis‐cussing theoretically points of identity, similarity, and differencebetween science and religion, focus on the practical leads to exa‐mining how each functions in its own way to inform moral life.Increased interest in the practical is commendable, but theoreticalconcerns should not be excluded.
A CHRISTIAN SEMINARY'S SUPPORT FORRELIGION‐SCIENCE DISCUSSION
Authors: Lesher William E.
Published: December 2005

Abstract. A Christian seminary supports the study of religion andscience, in order to relate its faith to people living in scientificallyoriented cultures. It invites the scientific and university com‐munities to join in developing a model for dialogue that may be abasis for more ecumenical efforts at relating religion and science, so as to ease tensions between religious communities. The workpioneered by the Center for Advanced Study in Religion andScience and by Zygon is giving rise to new enterprises, including thecoming establishment of a Center for the Study of Faith andScience at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago.
COMMENTS ON EGER'S “A TALE OF TWO CONTROVERSIES”
Authors: DeNicola Daniel R.
Published: December 2005

Abstract. This commentary on Martin Eger's “A Tale of Two Controversies” focuses on three criticisms: first, the shifting status of the claims of creationism in the article; second, new developments in moral philosophy which run counter to Eger's discussion; and third, the inadequate treatment of pedagogical and curricular principles.
REPLY TO CRITICISMS
Authors: Eger Martin
Published: December 2005

Abstract. Comments on my essay, “A Tale of Two Controversies,” were made by Daniel R. DeNicola, Thomas F. Green, Mary Hesse, Holmes Rolston 111, and Abner Shimony. This reply focuses first on three issues: that very recently moral philosophy has taken a turn toward a more traditional, particularistic approach, which could mitigate the problems I described; second, that because creationism is essentially antiscientific, my more philosophical concerns miss the mark; third, that the relativism of the “new philosophy of science” ought not be uncritically accepted. Finally, I compare Hesse's position with that of Shimony, indicating how the former implies a narrowing of distance between scientific description and moral prescription.
RESPONSE TO WILLIAMS: SELFISHNESS IS NOT ENOUGH
Authors: Ruse Michael
Published: December 2005

Abstract. I agree with George Williams's most significant point: both questions and answers about our moral natures lie in our biological origins. He fails, however, to show that nature is morally evil and that therefore we should vigilantly resist it. The products of evolution are morally neutral, but the human moral sense is arguably a positive good. Morality is functional. It does not require ultimate justification in the sense of correspondence with or attack upon reality “out there.” It is an adaptation “intended” to make us social, and sociality—with its sense of right and wrong—makes us fitter than otherwise
OUR COSMIC HERITAGE
Authors: Chaisson Eric J.
Published: December 2005

Abstract. My conclusions are threefold: The subject of cosmic evolution is my religion. The process of change itself (especially developmental change) is my God. And global ethics and a planetary culture, which cosmic evolution mandates, are the key to the survival of technologically competent life forms, both here on Earth and perhaps elsewhere in the Universe.
PERSONALITY AND EPISTEMOLOGY: COGNITIVE SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY AS A PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE
Authors: Jones James W.
Published: December 2005

Abstract. Implicit in the cognitive social learning model of personality as articulated by Walter Mischel, Albert Bandura, and others, is an epistemology which emphasizes the activity of the mind in the construction of knowledge. Using Mischel's five person variables as an outline, the epistemic implications of this model of personality are developed and then illustrated by application to William James's typology of the religious personality and to the current debate over hermeneutic and empirical approaches to studying human behavior. This approach explicates the connection between personality characteristics and epistemological approaches in terms of cognitive social learning theory.
HEBREW WISDOM AND PSYCHOTHEOLOGICAL DIALOGUE
Authors: Gladson Jerry , Lucas Ron
Published: December 2005

Abstract. When understood as a potential resolution for the epistemological impasse between psychology and religion, Hebrew wisdom presents a model for dialogue. Noting that wisdom exhibits a special interest in human dispositions and behavior, the authors compare Viktor Frankl's logotherapy and Adlerian psychology with Proverbs and uncover a biblical, empirical approach to psychology which indirectly incorporates the religious dimension.
TOWARD A NEW RELATION BETWEEN HUMANITY AND NATURE: RECONSTRUCTING T'IEN‐JEN‐HO‐I
Authors: Liu Shu‐hsien
Published: December 2005

Abstract. The traditional Chinese idea of t'ien‐jen‐ho‐i (Heaven and humanity in union) implies that humanity has to live in harmony with nature. As science and technology progress, however, the idea appears increasingly outmoded, and it becomes fashionable to talk about overcoming nature. Ironically, though, the further science reaches the more clearly are its limitations exposed. The exploitation of nature not only endangers many life forms on earth but threatens the very existence of the human species. I propose that a reconstruction of the traditional Chinese idea of T'ien‐jen‐ho‐i will help us envisage a new and salutary relation between humanity and nature.
SPIRIT, METHOD, AND CONTENT IN SCIENCE AND RELIGION: THE THEOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE OF A GENETICIST
Authors: Eaves Lindon
Published: December 2005

Abstract. There are three ways in which bridges may be built between science and theology: spirituality, methodology, and content. Spirituality is the power which drives each to address reality and the expectations with which each approaches the pursuit of truth. The methodology of science is summarized in terms of three activities: taxonomy; the hypothetico‐deductive cycle; derivative technology. The content of science, especially with respect to the phenomena of givenness, connectedness and openness in the life sciences, is correlated with theological constructs. Attention is drawn to the role of the double helix in biology and a possible parallel is proposed to the function of the icon in religion and theology.
THEOLOGY AS THE QUEEN (BEE) OF THE DISCIPLINES?
Authors: Vaux Kenneth
Published: December 2005

Abstract. Once Queen of the Medieval court of sciences, dethroned theology may be able in our time to play a strategic servant role in rightly humiliating, elevating, and ordering the disciplines, in gadflying like a mutant honeybee, generating surprise and serendipity through the intermediacy of social science, and in offering ethical homing direction to the disciplines in their applied endeavors.
RELIGION AND CULTURAL EVOLUTION
Authors: Massimini Fausto , Fave Antonella Delle
Published: December 2005

Abstract. The end of the twentieth century marks the slow disintegration of both the Marxist and capitalist socioeconomic theories, inasmuch as both have proven inadequate to meet basic issues of human existence. Their inadequacy rests on the tendency to use the criteria of extrinsic rewards, quantification, production, and consumption to evaluate human personhood and human activity. What is needed is a third alternative to these two systems, one that is based on intrinsic rewards and cultivates internal values rather than production, consumption, and quantification. Religious communities have traditionally been such an alternative and seem to represent an ordered nucleus of information that can counter the inadequacies of Marxism and capitalism. To carry out this function, religions must (1) minimize the trivial differences that set belief systems against one another; (2) support bimodal cultural evolution that allows the old and the new to coexist; and (3) discover the unifying factors that cut across human groups.
HOW DID MORALITY EVOLVE?
Authors: Irons William
Published: December 2005

Abstract. This paper presents and criticizes. Alexander's evolutionary theory of morality (1987). Earlier research, on which Alexander's theory is based, is also reviewed. The propensity to create moral systems evolved because it allowed ancestral humans to limit conflict within cooperating groups and thus form larger groups, which were advantageous because of intense between‐group competition. Alexander sees moral codes as contractual, and the primary criticism of his theory is that moral codes are not completely contractual but also coercive. Ways of evaluating Alexander's theory as well as modified versions of it are discussed.
A NATURALISTIC THEORY OF ARCHAIC MORAL ORDERS
Authors: Campbell Donald T.
Published: December 2005

Abstract. Cultural evolution, producing group‐level adaptations, is more problematic than the cultural evolution of individually confirmable skills, but it probably has occurred. The “conformist transmission,” described by Boyd and Richerson (1985), leads local social units to become homogeneous in anadaptive, as well as adaptive, beliefs. The resulting intragroup homogeneity and inter‐group heterogeneity makes possible a cultural selection of adaptive group ideologies.

All archaic urban, division‐of‐labor social organizations had to overcome aspects of human nature produced by biological evolution, due to the predicament of genetic competition among the cooperators. The universal norms found in archaic moral systems are seen as curbs to this human nature, reinforced by beliefs in invisible sanction systems and rewarding and punishing afterlives (as in heaven or reincarnation). Perhaps the ubiquity of lavishly wasteful royal funerals is to be explained as contributing to this function.
MYTH AND MORALITY: THE LOVE COMMAND
Authors: Hefner Philip
Published: December 2005

Abstract. Following in general a history of religions analysis, the paper argues that myth lays a basis for morality in that it sets forth a picture of “how things really are” (the is), to which humans seek to conform their actions (morality, the ought). A parallel argument locates the capacity for morality and values orientation in the process of evolution itself. A hypothesis is formulated concerning the function of myth in the emergence of Homo sapiens, namely, to motivate the action required if creatures so culturally formed as humans were to survive. The Christian love command (understood as altruism) is interpreted as an example of the general hypothesis.
PHILOSOPHICAL AND RELIGIOUS IMPLICATIONS OF COGNITIVE SOCIAL LEARNING THEORIES OF PERSONALITY
Authors: Rottschaefer William A.
Published: December 2005

Abstract.This paper sketches an alternative answer to James Jones's recent attempt to explore the implications of cognitive social learning theories of personality for issues in epistemology, philosophy of science, and religious studies. Since the 1960s, two cognitive revolutions have taken place in scientific psychology: the first made cognition central to theories of perception, memory, problem solving, and so on; the second made cognition central to theories of learning and behavior, among others. Cognitive social learning theories find their place in the latter revolution. Because of an ongoing naturalistic revolution in philosophy, these cognitive revolutions in psychology are having a profound effect on both descriptive and normative issues in epistemology and philosophy of science. From the naturalistic perspective, philosophy cannot adequately pursue its goals without the contributions of the empirical sciences, including psychology. The author concludes that the cognitive revolutions in psychology and the naturalistic revolution in philosophy have similar descriptive and normative import for the study of religion.
THE NATURE OF PHYSICAL REALITY
Authors: Polkinghorne John C.
Published: December 2005

Abstract. This account of the dynamical theory of chaos leads to a metaphysical picture of a world with an open future, in which the laws of physics are emergent‐downward approximations to a more subtle and supple reality and in which there is downward causation through information input as well as upward causation through energy input. Such a metaphysical picture can accommodate both human and divine agency.
CURRENT TRENDS IN THE PHILOSOPHY OF MEDICINE
Authors: Potter Robert Lyman
Published: December 2005

Abstract. The philosophy of medicine, a developing discipline, is defined as critical reflection on the activity of medicine. The clinical encounter is both its central aspect and the focus for philosophical analysis. The most systematic example of this discipline employs a mixture of empiricism and phenomenology. Systems thought presents an organizing schema by which the philosophy of medicine can move toward a more comprehensive and fundamental analysis of its own agenda, which includes four main topics: understanding the patient‐physician interaction, concepts of health and disease, foundations of medical ethics, and the dialogue between medicine and the larger culture.
TIME, THERMODYNAMICS, AND THEOLOGY
Authors: Murphy George L.
Published: December 2005

Keywords: A theological approach to understanding time and change in a modern way must consider the relationships between thermal physics and time as elucidated during the past century and a half. The fact of temporal change, including death and decay, has been a religious problem since antiquity, so that some traditions have simply attempted to transcend the world of change. However, a major current of the Christian tradition has seen change as a fundamental aspect of God's creation, and one with which God becomes identified in the Incarnation. This implies approval of history, as having an ultimate value, rather than transcendence of it.

We examine thermodynamics, and especially its Second Law, in order to understand more precisely the issues of temporal change. The Second Law states a universal tendency toward increasing disorder, and several implications of this law are discussed. Of particular significance, however, is the work of Prigogine and others on nonequilibrium thermodynamics, drawing attention to such phenomena as the enhancement of chemical reaction rates and the formation of “dissipative structures” in nonequilibrium situations. Such possibilities may be of considerable importance for understanding chemical and biological evolution.

These ideas can be included in an evolutionary picture in which, following Teilhard de Chardin, the Body of Christ is seen as the future of evolution‐an “ultimate dissipative structure” in which the world of time and change is united with God. Suffering, death, and decay receive their meaning from the future. Within this framework it is therefore possible to believe that the material world of history may be part of the eschatological future and that science provides hints, though not predictions, of how that may happen.
ADEQUACY OR ORTHODOXY? CHOOSING SIDES AT THE FRONTIER
Authors: Eaves Lindon
Published: December 2005

Abstract. Arthur Peacocke's seminal contribution to the dialogue between science and theology is considered along three dimensions: epistemology, anthropology, and the concept of God. It is suggested that his view of a “hierarchy of disciplines” (1) may not completely characterize the way theology interacts with science, and (2) could limit the creative friction between them. His emphasis on humans as “more than” DNA could result in an anthropology that fails to exploit insights that biology could shed on theological puzzles as the impact of genetics is more widely appreciated. His concept of God may also need to be modified more radically to express our understanding of nature in an age of genetics.
DOES SCIENCE CLARIFY GOD'S RELATION TO THE WORLD?
Authors: Nelson James S.
Published: December 2005

Abstract. Central to the work of Arthur Peacocke on science and religion is the intention to develop a reasonable faith within an intelligible framework of meaning. Showing the inadequacy of reductionism is necessary for this purpose. Knowledge of God is related to what science can tell us about creation. From an evolutionary framework, characterized as a delicate balance that issued in humans, and manifested through contingency and chance, God's actions are expressed as exploring the potentialities of creation. The creation is understood to be in God, but God is more than the world, as in panentheism. God suffers with the creation in love, and the focus of human meaning is expressed in Jesus Christ, the Incarnation, the sacrament of God.
THEOLOGY IN AN EVOLUTIONARY MODE
Authors: Schmitz‐Moormann Karl
Published: December 2005

Abstract. Evolution has become the standard way of understanding the world process. Theology has to express traditional faith in the context of the contemporary world. Since the common world view has profoundly changed, from a static world of being into a dynamic world of becoming, theology needs to change its language and its understanding of the universe as God's creation. This understanding of an evolving world is to be used as a theological source. Such a change of perspective necessitates a fundamental reconstructing of theology; for theology, such reconstructing means a renewed understanding of the Creator and of the Incarnation.
THE EXISTENCE OF GOD AND THE CREATION OF THE UNIVERSE
Authors: Carloye Jack C.
Published: December 2005

Abstract. Kant argues that any argument for a transcendent God presupposes the logically flawed ontological argument. The teleological argument cannot satisfy the demands of reason for a complete explanation of the meaning and purpose of our universe without support from the cosmological argument. I avoid the assumption of a perfect being, and hence the ontological argument, in my version of the cosmological argument. The necessary being can be identified with the creator of the universe by adding analogical mental relations. The creation of the universe is then shown to reflect modern scientific cosmology as well as stories and metaphors in the Eastern and Western religious traditions and to resolve the problem of evil.
NATURE, GOD'S GREAT PROJECT
Authors: Hefner Philip
Published: December 2005

Abstract. Scientific understandings suggest very strongly that humans are related to the rest of nature in ways that are expressed both by metaphors of genetic kinship and by ecological interrelatedness. The image of genetic kinship is the more intense image, and also the most likely to cause discomfort for Western traditions. Both secular critical reason and Western religious traditions favor images that portray the relation of humans to nature in terms of separation, domination, and stewardship. At best they are ambivalent toward portrayals of a more intense relatedness. In order to best serve our self‐understandings, we must recognize (1) our intrinsic kinship with the rest of nature; (2) that our purpose as humans is to serve nature; (3) that we are preparers for nature's future; (4) that our highest calling as humans is to discern the dimensions of ultimacy in nature and to conceptualize them. In this, we follow God's own pattern of investing in nature as the greatest project.
APOLOGIA PRO SCRIPTURA SUA, OR MAYBE WE GOT IT RIGHT AFTER ALL
Authors: D'Aquili Eugene G.
Published: December 2005

Abstract. A summary of the progress of biogenetic structuralism as an approach to the social and behavioral sciences is presented, from the publication of Biogenetic Structuralism in 1974 to the present. The difficulty that many scholars have found integrating neuroan‐thropology and comparative ethology into an understanding of cultural, and particularly of religious, phenomena over the past almost two decades is considered. More specifically, the articles of James Ashbrook and Mary Lynn Dell published in the same June 1993 issue of Zygon as this article are analyzed and responded to. These authors critique Eugene d'Aquili's work of integrating neuropsychology and religious experience primarily by analyzing Brain, Symbol & Experience, which d'Aquili co‐authored with Charles Laughlin, Jr., and John McManus, H. Rodney Holmes's article in the same issue of Zygon analyzes the whole corpus of d'Aquili's religion and science work as it appeared over the years in the pages of Zygon and in other articles and books as well as in Brain, Symbol & Experience. This critique is likewise carefully considered and responded to. Finally a proposed trajectory of d'Aquili's (and Andrew Newberg's) future work in their ongoing project integrating neuropsychology and religious experience is elaborated. This involves, not only expansion of their general theoretical approach, but also empirical testing of hypotheses relating brain function to religious experience using PET scanning and some newer MRI visualization techniques.
COMMENTARY ON THE SCIENCE‐RELIGION CONTROVERSY
Authors: Birtel Frank T.
Published: December 2005

Abstract.The science‐religion exchange in failing to address fundamental issues is popular but ineffective. Reductionism and determinism, teleology, the assumed centrality of ethics in religion and progress must be reexamined to unify the task of science and religion into a common search for meaning in its eschatological dimension
RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES ON THE HOME PLANET
Authors: Rolston Holmes
Published: December 2005

Abstract. Earth is the home planet, right for life. But rights, a notable political category, is, unfortunately, a biologically awkward word. Humans, nonetheless, have rights to a natural environment with integrity. Humans have responsibilities to respect values in fauna and flora. Appropriate survival units include species populations and ecosystems. Increasingly the ultimate survival unit isglobal; and humans have a responsibility to the planet Earth. Human political systems are not well suited to protect life atglobal ranges. National boundaries ignore important ecologicalprocesses; national policies do not favor an equitable distribution of sustainable resources. But there are signs of hope.
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND DE LAS CASAS: A 1492 RESONANCE
Authors: García‐Rivera Alejandro
Published: December 2005

Abstract. A comparison is made between two unlikely debates over intelligence. One debate took place in 1550 at Valladolid, Spain, between Bartolomé de las Casas and Juan Gines de Sepúlveda over the intelligence of the Amerindian. The other debate is contemporary, between John Searle and various representatives of the “strong” artificial intelligence (AI) community over the adequacy of the Turing test for intelligence. Although the contemporary debate has yet to die down, the Valladolid debate has been over for four hundred years. The question asked here is whether the contemporary debate can profit from the previous one. The common bond providing the basis for contrast is the issue of the “other” which is present in both debates. From this contrast, the observation is made that the question of meaning is intimately tied to the question of intelligence.
EVOLUTIONARY THEORY AND CHRISTIAN ETHICS: ARE THEY IN HARMONY?
Authors: Ruse Michael
Published: December 2005

Abstract. Does modern evolutionary theory (specifically Darwinism) pose a problem for the Christian's thinking about morality? It certainly poses threats for those who would argue that certain practices are wrong because they are “unnatural.” Liberal Christians can probably get around these questions. But at a deeper level, despite superficial similarities between its conclusions and the Love Commandment, Darwinism points to an essential relativism about morality, thereby striking at the very core of all Christian thought on moral behavior. Thus, those who are worried about the clash between science and religion have good reasons for their worries.
WHAT DOES EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY TELL US ABOUT PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION?
Authors: Bradie Michael
Published: December 2005

Abstract. Considerations from evolutionary biology lead Michael Ruse, among others, to a naturalistic turn in philosophy. I assess some of the pragmatic and skeptical conclusions concerning ethics, religion, and epistemology that Ruse draws from his evolutionary naturalism. Finally, I argue that there is an essential tension between science and religion which forecloses the possibility of an ultimate reconciliation between the two as they are now understood.
EVOLUTIONARY THEORIES OF MORALITY AND THE MANIPULATIVE USE OF SIGNALS
Authors: Cronk Lee
Published: December 2005

Abstract.Several attempts have recently been made to explain moral systems and moral sentiments in light of evolutionary biological theory. It may be helpful to modify and extend this project with the help of a theory of communication developed by ethologists. The core of this approach is the idea that signals are best seen as attempts to manipulate others rather than as attempts to inform them. This addition helps to clarify some problematic areas in the evolutionary study of morals, and it generates new, testable predictions about moral statements.
DOES NATURE NEED TO BE REDEEMED?
Authors: Rolston Holmes
Published: December 2005

Abstract. In the light of evolutionary biology, the biblical idea that nature fell with the coming of human sin is incredible. Biblical writers, classical theologians, and contemporary biologists are ambivalent about nature, finding in natural history both a remarkable genesis of life and also much travail and suffering. Earth is a land of promise, and there is the conservation, or redemption, of life in the midst of its perpetual perishing. Life is perennially a struggling through to something higher. In that sense even natural history is cruciform, though human sinfulness introduces novel tragedy. Humans now threaten creation; nature is at more peril than ever before.
REDEFINING MYTH AND RELIGION: INTRODUCTION TO A CONVERSATION
Authors: Rue Loyal D.
Published: December 2005

Abstract. Minimally, myth means “story,” and religion means “that which binds” a community into a coherent unity. Myth and religion are closely associated because a shared myth is the most efficient and effective means for achieving social coherence. Ancient myths were initially formulated in terms of the science of their day, Thus, an integration of science, myth, and religion is essential to a healthy culture. As these elements become disintegrated there arises a need to generate new mythic visions. The question of our day is whether science offers resources relevant to the expression of a new myth.
NATURE AS THE IMAGE OF GOD: REFLECTIONS ON THE SIGNS OF THE SACRED
Authors: Gilkey Langdon
Published: December 2005

Abstract. This is a brief survey of aspects of the modern scientific view of nature to see if implied therein are signs or traces of the sacred–as early religious apprehension surely supposed. Nature's power and order are discussed as is the strange dialectic of death and life, evident in modern biology as it also is in all early religion.
COSMOLOGY FROM ALPHA TO OMEGA
Authors: Russell Robert John
Published: December 2005

Abstract. This paper focuses on four passages in the journey of the universe from beginning to end: its origin in the Big Bang, the production of heavy elements in first generation stars, the buzzing symphony of life on earth, and the distant future of the cosmos. As a physicist and a Christian theologian, I will ask how each of these passages casts light on the deepest questions of existence and our relation to God, and in turn how these questions are being explored through ongoing research into the interaction between Christian theology and the natural sciences.
FROM THE SENSES TO SENSE: THE HERMENEUTICS OF LOVE
Authors: Shafer Ingrid H.
Published: December 2005

Abstract. Drawing on philosophy, theology, comparative religion, spirituality, Holocaust studies, physics, biology, psychology, and personal experience, I argue that continued human existence depends on our willingness to reject nihilism–not as an expedient “noble lie” but because faith in a meaningful cosmos and the power of love is at least as validly grounded in human experience as insistence on cosmic indifference and ultimate futility. I maintain that hope will free us to develop nonimperialistic methods of bridging cultural differences by forming a mutually intelligible vocabulary that celebrates diversity, enters the worlds of others in respectful dialogue, and fosters a postmechanistic, organic, ecological, holistic, dynamic, interactive, open‐ended model of reality. I lay the foundation for a “hermeneutics of love” to complement Paul Ricoeur's “hermeneutics of suspicion” and invite speculation on the ways science, technology, and society would be transformed if those “glasses of friendship” were widely applied.
AN EXPLOSION OF DAZZLING FLASHES: TEILHARD'S UNITY OF FAITH AND SCIENCE
Authors: King Thomas M.
Published: December 2005

Abstract. Science and revelation have been presented as two books with the same “author,” their reconciliation being called “concordism.” Teilhard opposed concordism, insisting that supposed “revelations” be treated as scientific hypotheses to be verified or not in experience. Applying his criterion for truth (Does it bring “coherence and fecundity” to the phenomena?) to Christian revelation, he told of finding “an explosion of dazzling flashes.” So Teilhard spoke of the hypothesis as the supreme spiritual act wherein the dust of experience takes on form and is kindled at the fire of knowledge.
TRACING A TRAJECTORY
Authors: Gustafson James M.
Published: December 2005

Abstract. Theology and ethics intersect with sciences at different points depending upon whether the scholars involved are interested in, for example, general epistemological issues or practical moral judgments. The intersection affects theology and ethics in different ways, depending upon various commitments or resistances on the part of theologians. The author surveys his own writings to show how openness to the sciences has had an impact on various phases of his work and what issues remain somewhat unresolved.
RESPONSE TO ROTTSCHAEFER, BECKLEY, AND KONNER
Authors: Gustafson James M.
Published: December 2005

Abstract. All three articles properly locate my work as interactive between the sciences on the one hand and theology and ethics on the other. They disagree on whether tradition, science, or experience “trumps” the others when they conflict; Beckley shows the importance of tradition, which is slighted by the other two. Comments on each article indicate where further discussion is needed and where I have learned from the authors or agree with them.
BREAKING A TABOO: FRANK TIPLER'S THE PHYSICS OF IMMORTALITY
Authors: Pannenberg Wolfhart
Published: December 2005

Abstract. In his book The Physics of Immortality. Frank Tipler has broken a longstanding intellectual taboo by dealing as a physicist with the theological themes of God and immortality, as well by arguing that theology can provide material for concept formation in the field of physics. His work on the anthropic principle convinced Tipler that, since the emergence of intelligent life is of the essence of the universe as a whole, the future of life is of fundamental significance. His Omega Point theory takes theological theories of the future's significance seriously from a scientific point of view. Theories of computers play a central role in Tipler's theory of immortality, and even though many critics have misunderstood his thrust in these theories, they are worthy of further exploration. Perhaps Tipler's most important contribution is his insistence that the world as described by physics is more open to interaction with biblical and theological perspectives than is often believed.
THE DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY AS A MODEL FOR STRUCTURING THE RELATIONS BETWEEN SCIENCE AND THEOLOGY
Authors: Reich K. Helmut
Published: December 2005

Abstract. A strategy for deeding systematically with such complex relationships as those between science and theology is presented after a brief overview of the historical record and illustrated in terms of the concept of divinity. The application of that strategy to the title relationships yields a multilogical/multilevel solution which presents certain analogies to or isomorphisms with the doctrine of the Trinity. These concern mainly the multilogical/multilevel character of both conceptualizations and the relational and contextual reasoning required to conceive them. Furthermore, certain characteristics of the doctrine facilitate the dialogue between theologians and scientists on account of their similarity with such scientific concepts as diversity in unity, multiplicity of relationships, nonseparability, and nonclassical logic.
SOMETHING TO OFFEND EVERYONE: TIPLER'S VISION OF IMMORTALITY
Authors: York Donald G.
Published: December 2005

Abstract. Frank Tipler's The Physics of Immortality provides abundant cause for intellectual offense—including challenges to physics, to theology, and, seemingly, to common sense. Few philosophical conundrums remain unaddressed. Still, the book is stimulating and well presented.
FRANK TIPLER'S PHYSICAL ESCHATOLOGY
Authors: Mutschler Hans‐Dieter
Published: December 2005

Abstract. Frank L. Tipler's book The Physics of Immortality is a striking attempt by a scientist to resolve the conflict between theology and science on the basis of a physicalist position that identifies theology as a branch of physics, and that calculates God “in exactly the same way as physicists calculate the characteristics of electrons.” Tipler's work may be seen as a scientistic myth, and its critique is organized around the three basic characteristics of such myths: (1) it is illogical in that it argues as if physics were in fact metaphysics; (2) it is grim in that its glorification of technology is insensitive to ethical issues; (3) it is meaningless in that its espousal of a strong theory of artificial intelligence empties concrete personal histories by subsuming them under abstractions that distort our understandings both of God and of resurrection.
THE JOHN TEMPLETON FOUNDATION MODEL COURSES IN SCIENCE AND RELIGION
Authors: Wertheim Margaret
Published: December 2005

Abstract. In 1994 the John Templeton Foundation Humility Theology Information Center launched a major initiative, the Science‐Religion Course Program, to encourage the teaching of high‐quality academic courses focusing on the relationship between science and religion. In the first phase of the program, six courses were selected—four from the United States, one from Canada, and one from New Zealand—to serve as models for other academics wishing to initiate their own classes on the science‐religion interface. In particular these six model courses will serve as examples for the second phase of the Templeton Foundation program, which will provide financial support for up to 100 courses at universities, colleges, and seminaries around the world. This paper is a report on the pedagogical strategies and methodologies employed in each of the six selected model courses.
BURHOE AND SHAPLEY: A COMPLEMENTARITY OF SCIENCE AND RELIGION
Authors: Gilbert James
Published: December 2005

Abstract. The development of Ralph Wendell Burhoe's philosophy of religion and science occurred in the shadow of the continuing dialogue about the place of science in American society. Like his friend and mentor, Harvard astronomer Harlow Shapley, Burhoe was distressed and intrigued by the troubled postwar relations between science and religion. Unlike Shapley, however, Burhoe sought to create a new modernism, a blend of religion and science that would allow each to develop and complement the other.
THE THEOLOGICAL ANTHROPOLOGY OF RALPH WENDELL BURHOE
Authors: Haugen Joel E.
Published: December 2005

Abstract. A central aim of Ralph Wendell Burhoe's scientific theology is to define and interpret the meaning of human existence in relation to “ultimate reality.” As such, it can be understood as an exercise in theological anthropology. For Burhoe, this ultimate reality is “nature,” understood as the total reality system which is studied by the sciences and which the sciences are showing to be the sole determiner of the way things are. This article discusses various aspects of Burhoe's theological anthropology, as well as its value and credibility, and raises questions concerning his understanding of the value of the individual and the problems of evil and human sinfulness.
BIRDS, BARBOUR, AND BOATS
Authors: Stivers Robert L.
Published: December 2005

Abstract. Ian Barbour in the second volume of his Gifford Lectures makes a significant contribution to environmental ethics. Worthy of scrutiny are his views on the relation of technology to the environment, on the distinction between nature and culture, on the problem of hierarchical thinking, and on the notion of sustainability. His integrated approach is a model for how we must relate to nature.
A NINETEENTH‐CENTURY IRASian: SARAH ALDEN BRADFORD RIPLEY
Authors: Goodwin Joan W.
Published: December 2005

Abstract. Almost entirely self‐educated, Sarah Alden Bradford Ripley (1793–1867) combined wide‐ranging personal studies with the daily responsibilities of a New England minister's wife, mother, and teacher in her husband's boarding school. As she struggled to reconcile the conventional Unitarian Christian beliefs of her time with her own life experience and with the discoveries of advancing science, her childhood faith gave way to skepticism. Gradually she was able to integrate her understanding of nature, science, philosophy, and religion into a mature faith. She would have welcomed the companionship and support of IRAS if it had existed in her day.
METAPHYSICS AND EPISTEMOLOGY IN STEPHEN HAWKING'S THEORY OF THE CREATION OF THE UNIVERSE
Authors: Życiński Joseph M.
Published: December 2005

Abstract. In 1981 S. W. Hawking and J. Hartle presented a quantum mechanical description of the early stages of possible cosmological evolution. Their proposal was interpreted by many authors as a pattern of cosmic creation from nothing in which no divine Creator is needed. In this approach, physically defined “nothing” was identified both with the empty set of set theory and with metaphysical nothingness. After defining philosophical presuppositions implicitly assumed in Hawking's paper, one discovers that this alleged nothingness has all properties of the philosophically conceived Logos accepted by Hellenic philosophers of the Neoplatonic tradition. Consequently, Hawking's theory of creation remains consistent with Christian theism, and its only theological opponents can be found among defenders of Samuel Clark's God of scientific gaps.
THEOLOGY AND SCIENCE: WHERE ARE WE?
Authors: Peters Ted
Published: December 2005

Abstract. Revolutionary developments in both science and theology are moving the relation between the two far beyond the nineteenth‐century “warfare” model. Both scientists and theologians are engaged in a common search for shared understanding. Eight models of interaction are outlined: scientism, scientific imperialism, ecclesiastical authoritarianism, scientific creationism, the two‐language theory, hypothetical consonance, ethical overlap, and New Age spirituality. Developments in hypothetical consonance are explored in the work of various scholars, including Ian Barbour, Philip Clayton, Paul Davies, Willem Drees, Langdon Gilkey, Philip Hefner, Nancey Murphy, Wolfhart Pannenberg, Arthur Peacocke, John Polkinghorne, Robert John Russell, Thomas Torrence and Wenzel van Huyssteen.
WOMEN: A MORE BALANCED BRAIN?
Authors: MucLeun Paul D.
Published: December 2005

Abstract. On the basis of knowledge prior to 1988, Ashbrook pointed out that whereas most men are primarily dependent on the left cerebral hemisphere (“dominant hemisphere”) for verbally related functions, women show a greater hemispheric balance in this respect. For men, he argues, their possession of a “speaking” and a “non‐speaking hemisphere” results in a positive‐negative, bipolar way of thinking that may be characterized as dualistic and dialectically hierarchical. In contrast, the greater balance of hemispheric function in women appears to promote greater generalization and synthesis in their thinking.

In this article I cite more recent neuroanatomical and brain imaging studies that provide further evidence of disparities in structure and function of the brains of men and women. As background for an attempt to explain these differences, I give a brief review of the triune evolution of the mammalian brain leading up to the human cerebrum. It is of major significance that the female has played a central role in mammalian evolution for more than 180 million years and that the evolutionary transition from reptilian therapsids to mammals is characterized by the develoment of (1) nursing conjoined with maternal care; (2) audiovocal communication or aiding mother‐offspring contact; and (3) play. In human beings, the infant‐carrying hypothesis suggests one means by which, over generations, certain parts of a woman's right hemisphere could undergo functional and eventual anatomical expansion. The mother‐infant communication of basic mammalian sounds with vowel and consonant components suggests a basis for the origination of speech.

Finally, in an expansion of Ashbrook's original thesis, we arrive at the rovocative consideration that, unlike men, with their dialectical reasoning, women, with their more balanced brain, are provided with a trialectial ladder for climbing to achieve knowledge. In terms of quantum mechanics, the particle and wave would correspond to the substance and strength of the sides of the ladder, and the derived psychic information (which is neither matter nor energy) would compare to the rungs in between.
HOMO RELIGIOSUS AND ITS BRAIN: REALITY, IMAGINATION, AND THE FUTURE OF NATURE
Authors: Holmes Rodney
Published: December 2005

Abstract. “Daddy, is God real or is he a part of people's imagination?” The brain constructs reality by bottom‐up, genetically programmed mechanisms. Nature selected the human holistic, symbolically thinking, aesthetic brain using a mechanism of brain‐language coevolution. Our religious nature and moral capabilities are rooted in this brain, and in the real images it constructs.
ASHBROOK AS NEUROTHEOLOGIAN
Authors: Greenfield Larry L.
Published: December 2005

Abstract. James Ashbrook is described as a negotiator in the sense of arbitration and pathbreaking, followed by an account of how he achieved a new way of “making sense” in his neurotheology. Questions are raised about what is distinctly theological about Ashbrook's effort and how the issue of human and divine will is treated. Ashbrook provides inspiration and model for scientifically‐based religious inquiry.
GOD IS GREAT, GOD IS GOOD: JAMES ASHBROOK'S CONTRIBUTION TO NEUROETHICAL THEOLOGY
Authors: Vaux Kenneth
Published: December 2005

Abstract. James Ashbrook's work has not only clarified issues in brain and belief, it has offered intriguing suggestions for ethics. The relevance of neurotheology to ethics is evident if we assume that ethics entails, in part, concerns about character, responsibility, and the art of living.