Title: God in cosmic history : where science & history meet religion /
Authors: Peters, Ted, 1941-
Year: 2017
Subjects: Civilization, Ancient; Religion History; Transcendence (Philosophy) History.; Cosmogony.; Civilization, Ancient.; Cosmogony; Religion; Transcendence (Philosophy)
Abstract: Perhaps inadvertently, historians have often eliminated the religious chapters--those episodes in history during which human insights into transcendence and divinity have shaped human consciousness--from our planet's story. This book tells the story of cosmic history as big historians tell it, beginning with the big bang, and explores the question of God hidden beneath this story. The book pauses on the Axial Age of human history: a moment during the first millennium BCE in which questions of transcendence first simultaneously arose in distinct locations around the world. By exploring this threshold in cosmic history, the author demonstrates the way the arrival of the God question marked a radical new human consciousness, one that ultimately laid the groundwork for the modern age.--
Contents: Part 1. Cosmic history and the origin of all things -- 1. Why is history getting bigger? -- 2. Big Bang cosmology -- 3. Sun, Earth, and Moon -- 4. The evolution of living creatures -- 5. Our pre-human and human ancestors -- 6. Religious symbols and spiritual sensibilities -- 7. Mythical stories of origin -- 8. The origin story in Genesis 1:1-2:4a -- 9. The origin story in Genesis 2:4b-3:24 -- 10. Critical thinking about cosmic history -- 11. Fine tuning, the anthropic principle, and the multiverse -- Part 2. The axial question of God and the future of life on Earth -- 12. War -- 13. The axial breakthrough in China: Daoism and Confucianism -- 14. The axial breakthrough in India: Hinduism and Buddhism -- 15. The axial breakthrough in Greece: philosophy -- 16. The axial breakthrough in Israel: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam -- 17. Models of God -- 18. Science and scientism in Europe and China -- 19. The evolution controversy -- 20. Do we share our galaxy with extraterrestrial neighbors? -- 21. Toward a just, sustainable, participatory, and planetary society.