Evolution and Dogma

This 1896 volume by Reverend J. A. Zahm, a professor of physics at the University of Notre Dame, considers the Catholic theological tradition as it relates to evolution. The author discusses Darwin's theory of evolution in detail, and traces the debate between theologians and scientists back to the early days of evolutionary theory. He compares late nineteenth-century evolutionary theory and the beliefs of the Catholic church, carefully evaluating the arguments and probing errors and misconceptions in theory and terminology. He also attempts to shed light on the little-understood relations between evolutionism and Christianity as a whole, and discusses whether a person of any Christian denomination can be an evolutionist. Zahm's thoughtful work is considered to be one of the most important volumes on evolution ever written by a Catholic.

Science and the Trinity

Most often, the dialogue between religion and science is initiated by the discoveries of modern science —big bang cosmology, evolution, or quantum theory, for example. In this book, scientist-theologian John Polkinghorne changes the discussion. He approaches the dialogue from a little-explored perspective in which theology shapes the argument and sets the agenda of questions to be considered.

The author begins with a review of approaches to science and religion in which the classification focuses on theological content rather than on methodological technique. He then proceeds with chapters discussing the role of Scripture, a theology of nature, the doctrine of God, sacramental theology, and eschatology. 

Throughout, Polkinghorne takes the perspective of Trinitarian thinking while arguing in a style that reflects the influence of his career as a theoretical physicist. In the final chapter, the author defends the appropriateness of addressing issues of science and religion from the specific standpoint of his Christian belief. His book provides an important model for theologians and scientists alike, showing how their two fields can inform one another in significant ways.

Creation and the World of Science

A. R. Peacocke's Creation and the World of Science, an expanded version of his 1978 Bampton Lectures, was widely recognized as a key work on the relation of the sciences to religion, in general, and Christian theology in particular. It has long been seen as a formative contribution to the wide-ranging investigations which now, internationally, constitute this intensely active field. This new reprinting contains the original and influential text and also contains a new supplement containing key references to the literature of recent years as well as indicating the author's current position on central themes. It constitutes an essential reference and starting point for the contemporary discussion of key issues in the dialogue between the sciences and theology.

Physics, Philosophy, and Theology

The contents of Physics, Philosophy, and Theology are wide-ranging but unified. The first part treats historical and contemporary relations in science and religion, biblical theology on creation, Newton’s thought and the roots of modern atheism, the search for a natural theology, and the possible ways in which science and theology confront one another. In the second section the ways of knowing peculiar to the various disciplines and the implications for philosophical realism are investigated. In the last section a very creative and imaginative approach is taken to some of the most prominent areas of contemporary physics and cosmology in exploring whether they are open to revealing to us something of the reality of God and the relationshiop of God to the Universe and to us as we search for meaning within that Universe.

Contributors include: John Paul II, Ian Barbour, Michael Buckley, S.J., W. Norris Clarke, S.J., Richard Clifford, S.J., Michael Heller, Ernan McMullin, Olaf Pedersen, Mary Hesse, Nicholas Lash, Janet Martin Soskice, C.J. Isham, John Leslie, Sallie McFague, Ted Peters, John Polkinghorne, Robert John Russell, William Stoeger, S.J., and Frank Tipler.

One World. The Interaction of Science and Theology

Both science and religion explore aspects of reality, providing "a basis for their mutual interaction as they present their different perspectives onto the one world of existent reality," John Polkinghorne argues. In One World he develops his thesis through an examination of the nature of science, the nature of the physical world, the character of theology, and the modes of thought in science and theology. He identifies "points of interaction" and points of potential conflict between science and religion. Along the way, he discusses creation, determinism, prayer, miracles, and future life, and he explains his rejection of scientific reductionism and his defense of natural theology.

The Faith of a Physicist

"It has become fashionable to write books with titles such as Religion in an Age of Science (Barbour), Theology for a Scientific Age (Peacocke), or Theology in the Age of Scientific Reasoning (Murphy). They signify the recognition that the interaction between science and religious reflection is not limited to those topics (such as cosmic history) concerning which the two disciplines offer complementary insights. It involves also an engagement with habits of thought which are natural in a culture greatly influenced by the success of science. To take this stance is not to submit to slavery to the spirit of the age, but simply to acknowledge that we view things from where we stand, with all the opportunities and limitations inherent in that particular perspective. . . . My concern is to explore to what extent we can use the search for motivated understanding, so congenial to the scientific mind, as a route to being able to make the substance of Christian orthodoxy our own. Of course, there are some revisions called for in the process, but I do not find that a trinitarian and incarnational theology needs to be abandoned in favour of a toned-down theology of a Cosmic Mind and an inspired teacher, alleged to be more accessible to the modern mind. A scientist expects a fundamental theory to be tough, surprising and exciting. 

"Throughout, my aim will be to seek an understanding based on a careful assessment of phenomena as the guide to reality. Just as I cannot regard science as merely an instrumentally successful manner of speaking which serves to get things done, so I cannot regard theology as merely concerned with a collection of stories which motivate an attitude to life. It must have its anchorage in the way things actually are, and the way they happen. . . . A bottom-up thinker is bound to ask, What makes you think this story is a verisimilitudinous account of Reality? The anchorage of Christianity in history is to be welcomed, despite its hazards. For me, the Bible is neither an inerrant account of propositional truth nor a compendium of timeless symbols, but a historically conditioned account of certain significant encounters and experiences. Read in that way, I believe it can provide the basis for a Christian belief with is certainly revised in the light of our twentieth-century insights but which is recognizably contained within an envelope of understanding in continuity with the developing doctrine of the Church throughout the centuries." - from the introduction

Science and Theology: Ruminations on the Cosmos

Science and Theology: Ruminations on the Cosmos presents the keynote addresses of a unique meeting organized by the Vatican Observatory, which aimed to facilitate dialogue between science and religion among established philosophers, theologians, and scientists that would also be relevant in the work and lives of young scholars. The speakers include young scientists, alumni of Vatican Observatory Schools presenting research, and renowned international scholars offering insights into pertinent topics, including William Carroll on creation in Aquinas and Big Bang cosmology, Owen Gingerich on intelligent design, Ernan McMullin on the anthropic principle, and Lynn Rothschild on astrobiology. This well-balanced collection integrates new factual scientific research into religious and philosophical discussion.

The Interplay of Science and Theology

Why is our world comprehensible? This question seems so trivial that few people have dared to ask it. In this book we explore the deep roots of the mystery of rationality. The inquiry into the rationality of the world began over two-and-a-half-thousand years ago, when a few courageous people tried to understand the world with the help of reason alone, rejecting the comforting fabric of myth and legend.

After many philosophical and theological adventures the Greek concept of rationality laid the foundations of a revolutionary way of thinking: the scientific method, which transformed the world.

But looking at the newest fruits of the world's rationality - relativity theory, quantum mechanics, the unification of physics, quantum gravity - the question arises: what are the limits of the scientific method? The principal tenet of rationality is that you should never stop asking questions until everything has been answered ...

Michael Heller, George V. Coyne

John Wyatt

John Wyatt is Emeritus Professor of Neonatal Paediatrics at University College London, UK. He has practised as an academic neonatologist for more than 25 years and has led a multidisciplinary research team investigating the mechanisms and prevention of brain damage at the beginning of life. He has a long-standing interest in the ethical, philosophical and theological issues raised by advances in medical technology and is actively involved in research and teaching in these areas. His book Matters of Life and Death is published by InterVarsity Press.