Theology and Science

For many years I have been leading Theology and Science seminars for Adult Education programs in Unitarian-Universalist churches. Bringing together some of the leading thinkers in cognitive science, physics, evolution, we address the impact of modern science on theological ideas. The basic premise is that everyone has a theological stance (Christian, Buddhist, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, agnostic, atheist, humanist, etc.) and that this internal stance has often not evolved much since childhood, yet has a significant impact on our decision making. The goal is to get our theological thinking consistent with the latest advances in science (not all people are up to doing this).

1999 SeminarBarlow, Connie (Editor). Evolution Extended: Biological Debates on the Meaning of Life. MIT Press, 1995. More information at Amazon or FatBrain.

"Creation Science" is a hot issue again. Actually, it has been since the time of Francis Bacon. It was heavily debated even before Darwin published his classic text. Chapter 10 of Barlow's book has everyone from the Pope to Stephan Jay Gould weighing in on the issue. It will form the basis of a two evening series in winter/spring 2000 at the Winchester Unitarian Society.

1998 SeminarWilson, Edward O. Consilience : The Unity of Knowledge. Random House, 1998.

• "In his best-selling book, "Consilience" (Knopf, 1998), the Harvard biologist Dr. Edward O. Wilson tries to revive the Enlightenment dream of a unified system of knowledge that would embrace not only the sciences but also morality and ethics, removing them from the uncertainties of religion. Here the effort is not to make science spiritual but to make religion scientific." Johnson, George. Science and religion: Bridging the great divide. New York Times, 5 July, 1998.

• Supplemental reading:

• Holland, John H. Emergence : From Chaos to Order. Helix Books, 1998.

• Wilson's Consilience rests on the argument that the "mind is the brain at work," that what we perceive as consciousness is an emergent property of physical firing of neurons. Holland's book has a chapter on Neural Nets that is more satisfying than Wilson's chapter on Mind. It lays out some of the computer models that Wilson only alludes to.

• A couple of years ago, we invited cognitive scientists to a seminar which reviewed the thinking of leading neurosurgeons and cognitive science. While the working hypothesis in cognitive science is definitely that "the mind is the brain at work," all presence confessed that they personally agreed with some of the great neurosurgeons of this century - there seems to be more to it that we do not understand.

1997 SeminarCapra, Fritjof. The Web of Life : A New Understanding of Living Systems.  Anchor Books, 1997.
 
 

• The Principles and Purposes of the Unitarian Universalist Association - Principle 7 covers the Web of Life
• Laws of Robotics - Robot theology is basic to their functioning.

1996 SeminarDennett, Daniel. Darwin's Dangerous Idea: Evolution and the Meanings of Life. Touchstone Books (reprint edition), 1996.

Other books of interest:
 

Tipler, Frank. The Physics of Immortality : Modern Cosmology, God and the Resurrection of the Dead. Anchor Publication, 1995.

• "This marshalling of scientific data in the name of religion reached strange new heights four years ago with a popular book called "The Physics of Immortality," in which the cosmologist Frank J. Tipler, drew on quantum physics, computer science, sociobiology, and game theory to try to prove mathematically the existence of an eternal afterlife. The entertaining result made both scientists and theologians cringe." Johnson, George. Science and Religion Cross Their Line in the Sand. New York Times, 12 July, 1998.

Gribbin, John. Schrodinger's Kittens and the Search for Reality : Solving the Quantum Mysteries. Little Brown & Co, 1996.

Kauffman, Stuart. At Home in the Universe : The Search for Laws of Self-Organization and Complexity. Oxford Univ Press, 1996.

Ferguson, Kitty. The Fire in the Equations : Science, Religion, and the Search for God. Wm B Eerdmans Pub Co, 1997.