Big Questions in Science and Religion, The
Details and Description
Description
"Ward, an Oxford theologian specializing in the history and philosophy of religion, presents an impressively insightful and well-balanced survey of major questions for science-and-religion dialogue." -- Publisher’s Weekly, starred review
Can religious beliefs survive in the scientific age? Are they resoundingly outdated? Or, is there something in them of great importance, even if the way they are expressed will have to change given new scientific context? These questions are among those at the core of the science-religion dialogue.
In The Big Questions in Science and Religion, Keith Ward, an Anglican priest who was once an atheist, offers compelling insights into the often contentious relationship between diverse religious views and new scientific knowledge. He identifies ten basic questions about the nature of the universe and human life. Among these are:
- Does the universe have a goal or purpose?
- Do the laws of nature exclude miracles?
- Can science provide a wholly naturalistic explanation for moral and religious beliefs?
- Has science made belief in God obsolete? Are there any good science-based arguments for God?
With his expertise in the study of world religions, Ward considers concepts from Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Islam, Hinduism, Judaism, and Christianity, while featuring the speculations of cosmologists, physicians, mathematicians, and philosophers. In addition, Ward examines the implications of ancient laws and modern theories and evaluates the role of religious experience as evidence of a nonphysical reality.
Writing with enthusiasm, passion, and clarity, Keith Ward conveys the depth, difficulty, intellectual excitement, and importance of the greatest intellectual and existential questions of the modern scientific age.
Table of Contents
Introduction / 3
1. How Did the Universe Begin? (Is There an Ultimate Explanation for the Universe?) / 7
2. How Will the Universe End? (Does the Universe Have a Goal or Purpose?) / 34
3. Is Evolution Compatible with Creation? (How Can the “Cruelty and Waste” of Evolution Be Reconciled with Creation by a Good God?) / 59
4. Do the Laws of Nature Exclude Miracles? (Are the Laws of Nature Absolute?) / 83
5. What Is the Nature of Space and Time? (In What Sense Can Temporal Actions Be Free?) / 107
6. Is It Still Possible to Speak of the Soul? (Does Science Allow the Possibility of Life after Death?) / 134
7. Is Science the Only Sure Path to Truth? (Can Religious Experience Count as Evidence?) / 162
8. Can Science Provide a Wholly Naturalistic Explanation for Moral and Religious Beliefs? (How Does Morality Relate to Religion?) / 191
9. Has Science Made Belief in God Obsolete? (Are There Any Good Science-based Arguments for God?) / 216
10. Does Science Allow for Revelation and Divine Action? (Does Quantum Physics Put Materialism in Question?) / 244
References / 272
Index / 277
Endorsements and Reviews
Reviews
The Journal of SJT—Vol. 64, No. 4
Fast paced and accessible, theologian and philosopher of religion Keith Ward discusses scientific ideas in relation to the religious beliefs of various major world religions. Not burdened with footnotes, but with a brief bibliography and index, this would be a great book for group discussion with scientists, theologians and others who are interested.
The Chrustian Century—Online Review
Of the many excellent overviews of current issues in the interaction of science and religion, this one is readable and balanced, a good start for a broad audience. A theologian conversant with scientific issues, Ward covers ten questions, from the big bang to revelation and divine action.
Scientific and Medical Network Review--Winter 2010
The book systematically addresses ten principle questions in science and religion, discussing not only Christian perspectives but also those from other religions. Themes include the beginning and end of the universe, evolution and creation, miracles and the laws of nature, space and time, self and soul, epistemology, origins of morality and the question of whether science allows for revelation and divine action. Written with his customary clarity, scholarship and verve, Keith explores the multiple aspects involved in each of these important topics … Readers wishing to keep up with developments in the science and religion field will want to read this brilliant book.
Theological Book Review—Vol. 22, No.2
The text is written at a serious level of thinking and it invites the reader to do the same. One does not get the sense that the book is either a polemic or a defense; rather it is an engagement that illuminates and informs.—Ed Parker, University of New Castle (Australia)
Journey Online
Keith Ward has sought to make this book accessible to those who are not professionals in either fields of research. While I found I was stretched to appreciate some of the subtleties of the arguments presented, I don’t think that the author could have made the content simpler without being simplistic or superficial. I also found that it a book that didn’t need to read from cover to cover. Each chapter was reasonably self-contained, so I was able to pursue the issues according to my interest and allow myself space to reflect upon each question before tackling another.
I think that this book will be appreciated by those with some knowledge of theology and scientific thought and who are serious about tackling important issues that face our world. Most readers will find themselves having to reflect deeply on some cherished ideas and prejudices, but will be enriched if they are willing to persevere. I think that it is a book I will return to regularly. —Reviewed by Rev. Bruce Johnson, Broadwater Road Uniting Church
Journey Online
In short, although challenging in places, this is an engaging, insightful and readable book which provides an excellent introduction to some deep and important questions. —Peter Harrison, Professor of Science and Religion at Oxford
Reviews in Science and Religion —University of Exeter
The book's importance lies not so much in its content, which is reliable and fascinating; nor in its rhetorical style, which is scholarly and yet accessible; but rather in its relation to the entire range of works in science and religion. . . . Given what is sets out to do, Ward's The Big Questions in Science and Religion is a gem of a book. When measured against the wider field of science-religion writing, its virtues make the book stand out from the crowd as a model of multidisciplinary work. We would all do well to go forth and do likewise, in regard to serious depth and breadth of expertise, sophistication in handling conceptual contact between science and religion, and seriousness of purpose in engaging the world religions with philosophical sophistication and theological subtlety. —Wesley J. Wildman
ESSSAT-News—Vol. 19, No. 4
The book is very readable, offers an excellent introduction to our field, and constitutes a good attempt to put some order or organization into the many issues at stake. The work is useful and can be recommended as a broad introduction, very needed for those like me teaching sub-discipline, and desperately looking for synthetic works for the students. —Lluis Oviedo
Bill's Faith Matters Weblog (billtammeus.typepad.com)
If you are seeking end-the-arguments, definitive answers to these and similar questions, you may be disappointed. But, if you want an open discussion that is mindful of the ambiguities, Ward provides that.
The Door—July/August 2008, No. 194
It is refresing in this context to read Keith Ward’s The Big Questions in Science and Religion—a book that offers a considered and constructive view of contemporary science-religion relations. As the title suggests, this books is organized around ten ’big questions’, and it unflinchingly tackles such topics as whether the universe has a purpose, whether the messiness of natural selection is consistent with the goodness of God, whether free choice is possible in a world governed by scientific laws, and whether science leaves room for the human soul.
His writing is characterized by theological sensitivity combined with philosophical competence and clarity.
In short, although challenging in places, this is an engaging, insightful and readable book which provides an excellent introduction to some deep and important questions. —Peter Harrison, Andreas Idreos Professor of Science and Religion University of Oxford
Christian Century
Science matters. It matters to people in our local assebilies, to people in hospitals and businesses, to students and faculty in schools and colleges; science is important. Yet religious faith has long been central to humans as well, giving meaning to billions of people. No matter how far back we go in history or how far we look around the globe, there is no known culture without a religious element. Can these two central institutions get along? Is there something at stake for faith itself in the conversation and conflict between scientific and religious ways of thinking?
Keith Ward brings a deep knowledge of world religions this readable discussion of key issues in the dialogue between science and faith—something lacking in may other works on religion and science. As the Regius Professor of Divinity at the University of Oxford, he engaged with Oxford scientists, especially Peter Atkins and Richard Dawkins, who tout atheism in the name of science. Ward put the counterarguments he developed during those debates into a book form, writing several works for broad intellectual redership, including God, Chance and Necessity (1996).
Ward’s learned overview is a valuable new contribution to a helpful dialogue between theology and science—a good antidote to the acrimonious debate between people of faith who are wary of science and people who oppose faith in the name of science.
Church Times
[A] well-grounded discussion of important scientific, philosophical, and theological inter-relationships, which demands, deserves, and repays serious study, and challenges many popular preconceptions. It would be helpful, though, for readers to have some background knowledge of the field.
The rewards are great, despite the intellectual effort required to follow some of the arguments. The big questions of the time cover such great topics as the beginning and end of the universe, evolution, miracles, the nature of time and space, the soul, scientific explanations of religion, and divine action.
There is a refreshing open-mindedness about Ward's approach to them. This is in sharp contrast to that of some of his Oxford colleagues, who recently appear to have been more interested in scoring debating points than in the patient exploration of what religious statements actually mean, and of how they can help to interpret different realms of experience.
To those familiar with other, more conventional books on science and religion, some of the most interesting and unusual features of his general argument are likely to be the insights drawn from different religions. Buddhism, for instance, makes no claims about God, but entails a profound exploration of human spiritual experience, and is thus a good antidote to the excessively rationalist approach to religion which is all too prevalent in Western culture.
By drawing on a variety of faiths, Ward also makes it clear that this awareness of a spiritual dimension to life is not an oddity, but a universal phenomenon that all religions, and the vast majority of the world's inhabitants, have in common.
Ward has provided many valuable starting-points for further exploration. —The Rt Revd Lord Habgood, former Archbishop of York.
Times Higher Education
Anyone curious about the interrelationship between science and religion would be well advised to put this book at the top of their reading list. Keith Ward has succeeded where many others have not in producing a first-rate text that gets to the heart of many of the questions troubling the dialogue between science and religion. Moreover, his exposition of the scientific concepts achieves a rare clarity combined with depth.
Ward writes with fluency and rigour. His attention to the classics helps to position his arguments within a tradition of thought that will appeal particularly to those in the humanities. His representation of scientific research is well informed, the fruit of years of conversations with experts and background research across a broad range of sciences. Ward's own biography comes to the surface in this book in a striking way, as he is prepared to consider sceptical views from both religious and scientific viewpoints. Any hint of naive presuppositions in those views, from either faith in religious belief or science, comes to the surface.
This book will be an excellent resource for those who are searching for answers to difficult questions that surface in the debate. It should, for example, be required reading alongside any course that advocates the views of Richard Dawkins, although Ward's discussion ranges far wider than discussion of Dawkins's own inappropriate treatment of religious and philosophical issues. Concerns such as belief in miracles are treated with great alacrity, probing behind even Hume's sceptical answer to reveal Hume's own naive understanding of science and religious belief. —Celia Deane-Drummond, director of the Centre for Religion and the Biosciences, University of Chester
Theological Book Review—Vol. 21, No. 2
Keith Ward is proving an admirable exponent of incisive thinking in the interlocking realms of science and religion
We are well served by Keith Ward since he writes clearly and succinctly on what are intensely challenging topics. . . . This is an exceedingly well-informed book, and each topic provides a mine of carefully analysed information. . . . This should be compulsory reading for theologians who wish to be better informed on these exceedingly important, and difficult, issues.
Science and Christian Belief
This is an excellent book and, in view of current attacks on the reasonableness of religious belief, a timely one.
Enighten Next
[A] rich and comprehensive exploration.
[I]t would be hard to find a more expert guide to the questions than this erudite Oxford theologian.
Journal of Theological Studies
A new book by Keith Ward is a welcome addition to any theological library.
Exploring Our Matrix Blog—Dr. James F. McGrath
Ward’s book has been an enjoyable read, offering a fascinating exploration of what are indeed some of the biggest questions related to the interface between science and religion. Even those well-read in this field are likely to find it useful, while those new to these topics will hopefully get a sense of just how wide and deep these waters are, and how many aspects of the natural sciences, the history of religions, theology and philosophy intersect at key points, and how often a thorough investigation of the best and most insightful contributions to human knowledge over the past few millennia still leave many fundamental questions unresolved. I recommend Ward’s book, not because it answers the “big questions” but because it helps us to understand what the big questions are, how to answer them to the best of our ability, and how to live with the fact that many of them we may never be able to decisively and finally answer. —James F. McGrath, associate professor of religion at Butler University, Indianapolis, Indiana.
The Church of England Newspaper
Although Ward has produced apologetic works in the past, this new book is not meant to be one of them. Written in response to an invitation from the Templeton Foundation, Ward sees it as a textbook, outlining the views of science and the world's religions on a range of vital topics. "Textbook" however may not be the right term if it leads potential readers to expect a dry volume to be consulted rather than enjoyed. It is in fact a lively and accessible summary of issues many people, especially many young students, are talking about.
For a complete copy of this article, visit http://www.templetonpress.org/documents/COE_Article_June20.pdf
Publishers Weekly (starred review)
Ward, an Oxford theologian specializing in the history and philosophy of religion, presents an impressively insightful and well-balanced survey of major questions for science-and-religion dialogue. Ward takes on a wide a range of topics, reasoning that if God is "the ultimate cause of absolutely everything—we might think that the existence of God must make some difference to how things are." The beginning and end of the universe, the origins and nature of consciousness, and human religious experience all become contact points for discussion between scientific and religious perspectives. Writing as a scholar of world religions, Ward discusses multiple traditions in a level of depth and detail that exceeds the normal standards of the science and religion literature. Atheist and agnostic perspectives also receive a fair hearing, recognized as parties to the conversation rather than merely as rhetorical foils. Throughout, Ward shows a keen ability to recognize variations and distinctions within traditions, while still drawing helpful generalizations such as his conclusion that "to believe in God is primarily to believe in the objectivity of value and purpose."
Translations
Asian-English
French
Romanian