Science Religion And The Human Experience

Description
Are science and religion locked in an inevitable, eternal conflict in which each of us must choose a side? Are they separate spheres, in which the truth claims of one have little bearing on the other? Or are they two distinct yet harmonious paths to the same essential truth? This collection of provocative essays by leading thinkers offers new ways of looking at the complex relationship between science and religion. The authors begin from the premise that both science and religion operate in, yet seek to reach beyond, specific historical, political, ideological, and psychological contexts. How may we understand science and religion as arising from, yet somehow transcending, the human experience? The volume is divided into four sections, each dedicated to examining this question from a different perspective. In the first section, the essays take a fresh look at the relationship between science and religion in broad terms: as spheres of knowledge or belief, realms of experience, and sources of authority. The other three sections take on topics that have been focal points of conflict between science and religion: the nature of the cosmos, the origin of life, and the workings of the mind. Ultimately, the authors argue, by seeing science and religion as irrevocably tied to the human experience we can move beyond simple either/or definitions of reality and arrive at a more rich and complex view of both science and religion. Contributors Pascal Boyer, John Hedley Brooke, Thomas A. Carlson, Anne Harrington, Bruno Latour, Daniel Matt, Ronald Numbers, Harold Oliver, James D. Proctor, Hilary Putnam, Michael Ruse, Jeffrey Burton Russell, Evan Thompson, B. Alan Wallace