Envisioning nature, science, and religion / edited by James D. Proctor.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Proctor, James D., 1957-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Philosophy of nature--Congresses.

Philosophy of nature.

Religion and science--Congresses.

Religion and science.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (380 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

West Conshohocken, Pa. : Templeton Press, c2009.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Contemporary scholarship has given rise to several different modes of understanding biophysical and human nature, each of which is entangled with related notions of science and religion. Envisioning Nature, Science, and Religion represents the culmination of three years of collaboration by an international group of fourteen natural scientists, social scientists, humanists, and theologians. The result is an intellectually stimulating volume that explores how the ideas of nature pertain to science and religion. Editor James D. Proctor has gathered sixteen in-depth essays, each of which examines and compares different aspects of five central metaphors or "visions" of biophysical and human nature. These visions are evolutionary nature, emergent nature, malleable nature, nature as sacred, and nature as culture. The book's diverse contributors offer a wide variety of unique perspectives on these five visions, spanning the intellectual spectrum and proposing important and often startling implications for religion and science alike. Throughout the essays, the authors do a great deal of cross-referencing and engaging each other's ideas, creating a cohesive dialogue on the visions of nature. Envisioning Nature, Science, and Religion offers a blend of scholarly rigor and readable prose that will be appreciated by anyone engaged in the fields of religion, philosophy, and the natural sciences.

Contents:

Cover

Half Title Page

Title Page

Copyright

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction: Visions of Nature, Science, and Religion

1. The Nature of Visions of Nature: Packages to Be Unpacked

2. Visions of Nature through Mathematical Lenses

3. Between Apes and Angels: At the Borders of Human Nature

4. Locating New Visions

5. Enduring Metaphysical Impatience?

6. God from Nature: Evolution or Emergence?

7. Who Needs Emergence?

8. Creativity through Emergence: A Vision of Nature and God

9. Rereading a Landscape of Atonement on an Aegean Island

10. The Vision of Malleable Nature: A Complex Conversation

11. Visions of a Source of Wonder

12. Nature as Culture: The Example of Animal Behavior and Human Morality

13. Environment after Nature: Time for a New Vision

14. Should the Word Nature Be Eliminated?

Afterword: Visualizing Visions and Visioners

Contributors

Index.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9786613264992

9781283264990

1283264994

9781599473635

1599473631

OCLC:

762177412