Science and Religion in the Imagination of C. S. Lewis : The Quest for the Best Mental Model of the Universe.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

McGrath, Alister E.

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource (298 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Oxford : Oxford University Press, Incorporated, 2026.

Summary:

The first major study of C. S. Lewis's views on the relation of science and religion, providing a rigorous and historically informed analysis of Lewis's perspective on the interplay between them, drawing both on his studies of medieval and Renaissance literature and his literary and philosophical explorations of naturalism and materialism.

Contents:

Cover

Half Title

Title Page

Copyright Page

Acknowledgements

Table of Contents

Introduction

The Development of Lewis's Views

Lewis's Engagement With Science: Medieval, Renaissance, and Modern

The Approach of This Study

1 Lewis On Medieval and Renaissance Science

Aristotelian Natural Philosophy

Precursors of Natural Science in the Middle Ages and Renaissance

Astrology

Magic

Alchemy

2 The Discarded Image

Lewis On Models of the Universe

Understanding and Participating in the Cosmos: The Influence of Owen Barfield

The 'Great Dance': Lewis On Harmony and Motion

The Beauty of Movement

Finding the Centre

Participating, Not Simply Observing

Aslan's Song: Lewis and the 'Music of the Spheres'

Retrieving the Discarded Image?

3 Lewis On Modern Scientific Theory and Practice

H. G. Wells: Science Fiction and New Human Possibilities

Meaningless Metaphysics: The Rise of Logical Positivism at Oxford

The Abolition of Man: Lewis's Critique of Scientism

Lewis's Critique of an Instrumental Scientific Rationality

Lewis's Critique of Modern Scientific Practice

Lewis On Scientific and Religious Language

Lewis On Theory, Myth, and Science

4 Lewis's Critique of Naturalism

Miracles and the Scientific Laws of Nature

Lewis's Critique of Naturalism

Darwinism as Scientific Theory and Worldview

The Context of Lewis's Reflections: Darwinism in the 1920s

Lewis On Darwinism and the 'Great Myth'

Darwinism: Explanation Or Interpretation?

5 Science and Apologetics

Lewis's Emergence as an Apologist

G. K. Chesterton On Christianity as a 'Hypothesis'

Apologetics and Illumination: Lewis's Image of the Sun

Lewis On Christianity as a 'Supposal'

Testing a Supposal: The Human Experience of Longing

Apologetics as a 'Big Picture'.

Theory: Apologetics as a New Way of Seeing Things

Conclusion

Index.

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

0-19-898278-X

0-19-898277-1

9780198982777

OCLC:

1548241613