Why the Science and Religion Dialogue Matters: Voices from the International Society for Science and Religion: Voices from the International Society of Science and Religion

by Fraser Watts (Editor), Kevin Dutton (Editor)

Each world faith tradition has its own distinctive relationship with science, and the science-religion dialogue benefits from a greater awareness of what this relationship is. In this book, members of the International Society for Science and Religion (ISSR) offer international and multi-faith perspectives on how new discoveries in science are met with insights regarding spiritual realities.The essays reflect the conviction that "religion and science each proceed best when they're pursued in dialogue with each other, and also that our fragmented and divided world would benefit more from a stronger dialogue between science and religion."In Part One, George F. R. Ellis, John C. Polkinghorne, and Holmes Rolston III, each a Templeton Prize winner, discuss their views on why the science and religion dialogue matters. They are joined in Part Two by distinguished theologians Fraser Watts and Philip Clayton, who place the dialogue in an international context; John Polkinghorne's inaugural address to the ISSR in 2002 is also included. In Part Three, five members of the ISSR look at the distinctive relationships of their faiths to science: Carl Feit on Judaism Munawar Anees on Islam B.V. Subbarayappa on Hinduism Trinh Xuan Thuan on Buddhism Heup Young Kim on Asian ChristianityGeorge Ellis, the recently elected second president of ISSR, summarizes the contributions of his colleagues. Ronald Cole-Turner then concludes the book with a discussion of the future of the science and religion dialogue.

Genres: Science

167 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2006

Reviews

[Jeffrey Romine · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are interesting chapters discussing the relationship of science and various religions, as well a the general topics one expects to see regarding faith and science. The perspective is theistic evolution.

[Miguel Panão · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent and broad book on the urgency and challenge of putting science and religion in dialogue. It gives a new perspective on the views of several religious traditions and demonstrates how unsound is the conflict position relatively to the interaction between science and religion. The chapters are clearly based on presentations made at workshops, therefore, sometimes one feels that there is more that what is written. This can be actually a good motivation to continue reading about this prominent topic.