Theology Science

Augustine of Hippo has expressed a vision of beauty in nature that could, if better known, encourage traditional Christians and secular ecologists to affirm the ground they have in common. For Augustine the ideal would be to see nature as God sees it, feeling deeply both its beauty and its impermanence, loving nature without clinging to it. With such clear seeing would come love and the motivation for sustained and skillful action. This paper discusses Augustine's paradigm and what blocks us from seeing it, and then frames principles for an authentically Augustinian response.

Accounts of the role of religion in the rise of modern science often focus on the way in which religion provided the intellectual foundations for scientific enquiry, motivated particular individuals, or provided the substantive content of approaches to nature.  These accounts relate to the origins of science and assume that, once established, modern science becomes self-justifying.  However, seventeenth-century criticisms of science— attacks on the Royal Society being one example—suggest that science remained a marginal and precarious activity for some time.  The rise of science to cultural prominence in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries was possible only because science was eventually able to establish itself as religiously useful enterprise.  Religion thus played a key role not only in the origins of modern science, but in providing the ongoing social sanctions that ensured its persistence and rise to prominence.

In the burgeoning literature on dispositions, solubility is a standard example. In this paper we give a rigorous theistic divine action account of the simple mechanism of the dissolving of salt, NaCl, into the ions Na+ and Cl−. We explore this reaction in terms of an alternative view of divine action, Divine Compositionalism, which holds that the functioning of every physical, chemical, and biological mechanism in the universe is a manifesting complex disposition, which is nothing other than ways God acts according to plan.

While the work of Simon Conway Morris has garnered significant attention, very little has been paid to the overlap between his thought and the work of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. Thus, I first detail the development of Conway Morris’s thought and note his “theological turn.” I then compare this with Teilhard’s evolutionary theology, establishing a broad conceptual overlap. Lastly, I demonstrate Conway Morris’s written engagement with and admiration for Teilhard’s work during his theological turn and conclude that Conway Morris’s later works have been impacted by Teilhardian thought. Consequently, this merits Teilhard’s inclusion in contemporary discussions of convergence and teleology.

Recent advances in the evolutionary and cognitive sciences of religion have raised questions about whether the assumptions and findings of these fields as applied to religion conflict with belief in gods. Specifically, three scientific approaches to religion (Neurotheology, Group ...

This paper explores the relationship between Incarnation and extraterrestrial life in view of the question: can extraterrestrials be saved? The Franciscan theology of Bonaventure and Scotus is used to explore “exoChristology” by examining the Incarnation as a theological rather than anthropological event. The primacy of Christ, held by Franciscan theologians, provides an integral relationship between Christ and creation. From this

Abstract Transhumanists have asserted that religious people would both oppose life extension and allowing people with extended lives to die. In this paper, coming from a Roman Catholic perspective, I refute four myths associated with these claims: that the Church materially opposes life extension, that it conceptually opposes the very idea of life extension, that it opposes human genetic manipulation, and that it opposes letting people die in hospitals. I then propose that there are four real tensions that are much more significant: that material immortality is highly improbable, that injustice and inequality are major concerns, that transhuman omnipotence is impossible, and that utopianism is extremely dangerous.

We argue that light, as it is described in physics (quantum mechanics and special relativity), embodies the mystery of perichoresis. This is to propose that physics offers helpful metaphors in grasping perichoresis. Our major theological point is that light expresses the perichoretic union of God and humankind. We acknowledge that perichoresis also entails the interpenetration of Christ's two natures and the mutual indwelling of God, Son, and Holy Spirit, and these are, for us, supporting instances of perichoresis. After elaborating three light-related instances of perichoresis, we liken light's perichoretic nature, particularly as it finds expression in Albert Einstein's postulate of light speed constancy, to God's constant, unwavering love of humankind.

... Graham pages 157-164. ... The French, who possessed a very powerful mathematical school in Paris, divided over the issue. Some of them—for example, Camille Jordan, Gaston Darboux, Charles Hermite and Charles-Emile Picard—were very skeptical of Cantor's approach.14 ...

The cognitive and evolutionary science of religion has found new and interesting ways to describe and interpret religion and religious behaviour. The main working framework of cognitive and evolutionary approaches considers religion only in the perspective of its usefulness for the survival of the individual or group. We named this “the utilitarian framework of religion.” After the introduction into these scientific disciplines, we provided a wider account of religion with the help of saint Thomas Aquinas, that stresses how religion considered as virtue is related not to the sort of behaviour, but to the final end of human life.

Abstract Recent research in cognitive science has shown that humans innately prefer teleological explanations. Children even go so far as to hypothesize the existence of a deity in order to justify teleological explanations. Aristotle also believed in the importance of teleology for human psychology. This paper investigates the convergence of ideas from the cognitive science of teleology with the Aristotelian understanding of teleology visible in the virtues of techne and wisdom. I argue that Aristotelian psychology and ethics is gaining empirical support, and that this could have important implications for science, philosophy, and theology.

Abstract Recent research in cognitive science has shown that humans innately prefer teleological explanations. Children even go so far as to hypothesize the existence of a deity in order to justify teleological explanations. Aristotle also believed in the importance of teleology for human psychology. This paper investigates the convergence of ideas from the cognitive science of teleology with the Aristotelian understanding of teleology visible in the virtues of techne and wisdom. I argue that Aristotelian psychology and ethics is gaining empirical support, and that this could have important implications for science, philosophy, and theology.

... 14746700701622057 Charles M. Vaughan pages 305-322. ... Thomas classifies mathematical intentions with those of logic … their proximate basis is the intellect itself.”9 9 Armand Maurer, “A Neglected Thomistic Text on the Foundation of Mathematics,” in Mediaeval Studies, vol. ...

... Graham pages 157-164. ... The French, who possessed a very powerful mathematical school in Paris, divided over the issue. Some of them—for example, Camille Jordan, Gaston Darboux, Charles Hermite and Charles-Emile Picard—were very skeptical of Cantor's approach.14 ...