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The Edge of Reason? Science and Religion in Modern Society

edited by Alex Bentley

Should scientists challenge religious beliefs in modern society? This book gives voice to those scientist and theologians whose experience holds direct relevance in the confrontational science and religion debate.

  • Imprint: Continuum
  • Pub. date: 22 Nov 2008
  • ISBN: 9781847062185
256 Pages, paperback World rights
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Description

Should scientists challenge religious beliefs? Is religion inevitable in human society? Is religion harmful to society? Can science itself inspire spiritual wonder? Confrontation between science and religion has defined much public debate about religion in recent years, most lately in bestsellers portraying a clash between scientists and religious believers, such as Richard Dawkins’ The God Delusion and Sam Harris’s The End of Faith or Letter to a Christian Nation. But what does this ‘us versus them’ divide mean for society? This collection of essays gives voice to social scientists, natural scientists and theologians whose experience holds direct relevance on these major issues, and clarifies the position of science in the modern debate.
 
Includes contributions by Mary Midgley (University of Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK), Denis Alexander (Cambridge University, UK), Richard Roberts (Lancaster University, UK), Bob Layton (Durham University, UK), Simon Coleman (Sussex University, UK), Michael Shermer (Executive Director of the Sceptics Society and monthly columnist for Scientific American), Lewis Wolpert (University College London, UK), Andrew Newberg (University of Pennsylvania), Timothy Taylor (University of Bradford, UK), Steven Mithen (University of Reading, UK), David Sloan Wilson (Binghamton University), Herbert Maschner (Idaho State University), Ian Reader (University of Manchester, UK), Hiroko Kawanami (Lancaster University, UK), Andrian Kreye (Süddeutsche Zeitung), John Hedley Brooke (Oxford University, UK), Gordy Slack (Author of The Battle Over The Meaning Of Everything), Seth Shostak (Seti Institute), William Calvin (University Of Washington), and David Wilkinson (Durham University, UK).

Table of Contents

 

Forward: Mary Midgley

Introduction Alex Bentley, Durham University

 

Should scientists challenge religious beliefs in modern society?

1 Science and religion: negotiating the 21st century rapids.  Denis Alexander, Cambridge University

2 Why new atheist definitions of religion fail. Mark Hulsether, University of Tennessee

3 Aboriginal versus Western creationism. Bob Layton, Durham University

4 Science versus anthropology, not religion.  Simon Coleman, Sussex University

5 Atheism and liberty. Michael Shermer, Sceptics Society & Scientific American

 

Is religion inevitable? Prehistory and evolution

6 The evolution of warfare. Herbert Maschner and Katherine Reedy-Maschner, Idaho State University

7  Why we are good: Mirror neurons and the roots of empathy. Gordy Slack, US Author

8  The evolution of religion. Lewis Wolpert, University College London

9  Is religion inevitable? An archaeologist’s view from the past. Steven Mithen, University of Reading

10 Artificials, or why Darwin was wrong about humans. Timothy Taylor, University of Bradford

 

Is religion harmful? From brains to societies

11 Brain science and belief. Andrew Newberg, University of Pennsylvania

12 Why Richard Dawkins is wrong about religion. David Sloan Wilson, Binghamton University

13  Public terror vs. public good: Views from Japan and England. Ian Reader, University of Manchester

14  Buddhism: A better balance in the East? Hiroko Kawanami, Lancaster University

 

Can science itself inspire spiritual wonder? Broader views

15  Can scientific discovery be a spiritual experience? John Hedley Brooke, Oxford University

16  Heavens above! Old notions never die, they just incorporate.  William Calvin, University of Washington

17  Other intelligences. Seth Shostak, SETI Institute Senior Astronomer

18  Natural theology in contemporary cosmology. David Wilkinson, Durham University

Epilogue: Science and Religion, not Science or Religion. Michael J. O’Brien, University of Missouri

 

Author(s)

Alex Bentley,

Alex Bentley is Reader in the Department of Anthropology at Durham University, UK.

Reviews

"Systems of logic and belief never split into neat oppositions between science and religion, but are mediated by cultural, philosophical, and contextual forces that shape these systems – all of them - as reasonable and natural.  It is the making and mobilisation of the givens of human knowledge, rather than its perfection to grasp a preordained cosmology, that must be understood if we are to break free of the impasse that has come to prevail between Creationists and Evolutionists, as revealed in this fascinating dialogue between leading anthropologists, archaeologists, philosophers, theologians, biologists and physicists.  Inter-disciplinarity at its best!"
Professor Ash Amin, Director of the Institute of Advanced Study, Durham University, UK

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"It will challenge not only ideological atheists but also religious theists ... the contributors have minimized jargon and each essay has been written with the interested layperson in mind." - Reform

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"A bundle of interesting insights by scholars who contribute not only academic but personal experience to the discussion." - ESSAT-News (European Society for the Study of Science and Theology)

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"A stimulating series of brief forays into the science-theology-atheism border lands which will send the reader off to follow up leads here and there. Highlights are the discussions of evolution in terms that go beyond the individual gene or creature (and the observation that these inter preta tions were frowned upon by Thatcherites), and of the part played by “mirror neurons” in the fledgling evolution ary history of selfhood." - Church Times 

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