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Author: J. L. Schellenberg
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108899633
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 103
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Book Description
This Element traces the effects of science's rise on the cultural status of monotheism. Starting in the past, it shows how monotheism contributed to science's rise, and how, returning the favour, science provided aid and support, until fairly recently, for the continuing success of monotheism in the west. Turning to the present, the Element explores reasons for supposing that explanatorily, and even on an existential level, science is taking over monotheism's traditional roles in western culture. These reasons are found to be less powerful than is commonly supposed, though the existential challenge can be made effective when framed in an unusual and indirect manner. Finally, the Element considers how the relationship between science's high standing and the status of monotheism might appear in the future. Could something like monotheism rise again, and might science help it do so? The Element concludes that an affirmative answer is possible.
Author: J. L. Schellenberg
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108899633
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 103
Get Book Here
Book Description
This Element traces the effects of science's rise on the cultural status of monotheism. Starting in the past, it shows how monotheism contributed to science's rise, and how, returning the favour, science provided aid and support, until fairly recently, for the continuing success of monotheism in the west. Turning to the present, the Element explores reasons for supposing that explanatorily, and even on an existential level, science is taking over monotheism's traditional roles in western culture. These reasons are found to be less powerful than is commonly supposed, though the existential challenge can be made effective when framed in an unusual and indirect manner. Finally, the Element considers how the relationship between science's high standing and the status of monotheism might appear in the future. Could something like monotheism rise again, and might science help it do so? The Element concludes that an affirmative answer is possible.
Author: Mark Worthing
Publisher: Acorn Press
ISBN: 9780647533499
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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Book Description
In Unlikely Allies: Monotheism and the Rise of Science, author Mark Worthing embarks on an intriguing exploration of the historical relationship between religious traditions and the development of the natural sciences. Worthing challenges the commonly held belief that religion, particularly monotheistic religion, is inherently antagonistic towards science. Instead, he argues that monotheism has played a crucial and unique role in fostering the conditions necessary for the emergence and growth of modern science. Worthing's position centres on the idea that monotheism, more broadly than any specific religious tradition, provided a fertile ground for scientific inquiry. He identifies several key features of monotheism that contributed to this environment. Firstly, the belief in a single, rational, and orderly God who created the universe in a rational and orderly way laid the groundwork for the assumption that the natural world is comprehensible and governed by consistent laws. This belief encouraged early scientists to seek out and understand these laws, confident that the universe's creator had imbued it with structure and predictability. Moreover, monotheism's emphasis on the importance of studying and understanding God's creation fostered a spirit of inquiry and exploration. Religious scholars and clerics, motivated by their faith, often engaged in scientific pursuits as a way to glorify God by uncovering the intricacies of his creation. This theological framework provided both the motivation and the justification for scientific endeavours, bridging the gap between faith and reason. Worthing also highlights the historical role of Christianity in particular, noting its significant contributions to the rise of science. While not solely responsible for the development of scientific thought, Christianity played a pivotal role in preserving and transmitting knowledge through monastic communities and early universities. These institutions became centres of learning where religious and scientific studies coexisted and complemented each other. The book provides numerous historical examples to support Worthing's thesis, demonstrating that many prominent early scientists were devout Christians whose faith inspired and guided their scientific work. Figures such as Isaac Newton and Galileo Galilei are cited not only for their scientific achievements but also for their deep religious convictions, which influenced their approach to understanding the natural world. In conclusion, Unlikely Allies presents a compelling case for reevaluating the perceived conflict between monotheism and science. Worthing's thorough investigation reveals that, contrary to popular perception, monotheism and the natural sciences have been unlikely allies for over two millennia. By highlighting the historical and philosophical connections between religious belief and scientific inquiry, Worthing invites readers to appreciate the nuanced and mutually enriching relationship that has historically existed between faith and reason. This book is a valuable contribution to the ongoing dialogue about the compatibility of religion and science, offering a nuanced perspective that challenges simplistic and adversarial narratives.
Author: Rodney Stark
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691119503
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 504
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Book Description
Rodney Stark's provocative new book argues that, whether we like it or not, people acting for the glory of God have formed our modern culture. Continuing his project of identifying the widespread consequences of monotheism, Stark shows that the Christian conception of God resulted--almost inevitably and for the same reasons--in the Protestant Reformation, the rise of modern science, the European witch-hunts, and the Western abolition of slavery. In the process, he explains why Christian and Islamic images of God yielded such different cultural results, leading Christians but not Muslims to foster science, burn "witches," and denounce slavery. With his usual clarity and skepticism toward the received wisdom, Stark finds the origins of these disparate phenomena within monotheistic religious organizations. Endemic in such organizations are pressures to maintain religious intensity, which lead to intense conflicts and schisms that have far-reaching social results. Along the way, Stark debunks many commonly accepted ideas. He interprets the sixteenth-century flowering of science not as a sudden revolution that burst religious barriers, but as the normal, gradual, and direct outgrowth of medieval theology. He also shows that the very ideas about God that sustained the rise of science led also to intense witch-hunting by otherwise clear-headed Europeans, including some celebrated scientists. This conception of God likewise yielded the Christian denunciation of slavery as an abomination--and some of the fiercest witch-hunters were devoted participants in successful abolitionist movements on both sides of the Atlantic. For the Glory of God is an engrossing narrative that accounts for the very different histories of the Christian and Muslim worlds. It fundamentally changes our understanding of religion's role in history and the forces behind much of what we point to as secular progress.
Author: Michael Peterson
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107031486
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 285
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Book Description
A comprehensive and accessible survey of the major issues at the biology-religion interface.
Author: Rodney Stark
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 1400866804
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 501
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Book Description
Rodney Stark's provocative new book argues that, whether we like it or not, people acting for the glory of God have formed our modern culture. Continuing his project of identifying the widespread consequences of monotheism, Stark shows that the Christian conception of God resulted--almost inevitably and for the same reasons--in the Protestant Reformation, the rise of modern science, the European witch-hunts, and the Western abolition of slavery. In the process, he explains why Christian and Islamic images of God yielded such different cultural results, leading Christians but not Muslims to foster science, burn "witches," and denounce slavery. With his usual clarity and skepticism toward the received wisdom, Stark finds the origins of these disparate phenomena within monotheistic religious organizations. Endemic in such organizations are pressures to maintain religious intensity, which lead to intense conflicts and schisms that have far-reaching social results. Along the way, Stark debunks many commonly accepted ideas. He interprets the sixteenth-century flowering of science not as a sudden revolution that burst religious barriers, but as the normal, gradual, and direct outgrowth of medieval theology. He also shows that the very ideas about God that sustained the rise of science led also to intense witch-hunting by otherwise clear-headed Europeans, including some celebrated scientists. This conception of God likewise yielded the Christian denunciation of slavery as an abomination--and some of the fiercest witch-hunters were devoted participants in successful abolitionist movements on both sides of the Atlantic. For the Glory of God is an engrossing narrative that accounts for the very different histories of the Christian and Muslim worlds. It fundamentally changes our understanding of religion's role in history and the forces behind much of what we point to as secular progress.
Author: Rodney Stark
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 9780691115009
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 338
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Book Description
Western history would be unrecognizable had it not been for people who believed in One True God. There would have been wars, but no religious wars. There would have been moral codes, but no Commandments. Had the Jews been polytheists, they would today be only another barely remembered people, less important, but just as extinct as the Babylonians. Had Christians presented Jesus to the Greco-Roman world as ''another'' God, their faith would long since have gone the way of Mithraism. And surely Islam would never have made it out of the desert had Muhammad not removed Allah from the context of Arab paganism and proclaimed him as the only God. The three great monotheisms changed everything. With his customary clarity and vigor, Rodney Stark explains how and why monotheism has such immense power both to unite and to divide. Why and how did Jews, Christians, and Muslims missionize, and when and why did their efforts falter? Why did both Christianity and Islam suddenly become less tolerant of Jews late in the eleventh century, prompting outbursts of mass murder? Why were the Jewish massacres by Christians concentrated in the cities along the Rhine River, and why did the pogroms by Muslims take place mainly in Granada? How could the Jews persist so long as a minority faith, able to withstand intense pressures to convert? Why did they sometimes assimilate? In the final chapter, Stark also examines the American experience to show that it is possible for committed monotheists to sustain norms of civility toward one another. A sweeping social history of religion, One True God shows how the great monotheisms shaped the past and created the modern world.
Author: Olimpia Nera
Publisher: iUniverse
ISBN: 0595284493
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 210
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Book Description
"One day the Torah / Bible / Koran might be unified by science and all fields of science unified by the "new" found God of all human kind." Such ideas are part of our "obsolete future". Could it be that we experience our own future in the present? The duality of our human nature will dictate the type of future we will experience. Our mind and body are connected by our soul but only the mind can "feed" the body or the soul. Science will discover many biblical truths as scientific facts and that will lead to change the biblical fiction to plausible reality. The idea of immortality and resurrection will be proven as fact. Only then humanity will have the choice to follow the "obsolete future" or finally accept the everlasting truth.
Author: Peter Harrison
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 0521875595
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 34
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Book Description
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Author: Jan Assmann
Publisher: Stanford University Press
ISBN: 080477286X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 203
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Book Description
Nothing has so radically transformed the world as the distinction between true and false religion. In this nuanced consideration of his own controversial Moses the Egyptian, renowned Egyptologist Jan Assmann answers his critics, extending and building upon ideas from his previous book. Maintaining that it was indeed the Moses of the Hebrew Bible who introduced the true-false distinction in a permanent and revolutionary form, Assmann reiterates that the price of this monotheistic revolution has been the exclusion, as paganism and heresy, of everything deemed incompatible with the truth it proclaims. This exclusion has exploded time and again into violence and persecution, with no end in sight. Here, for the first time, Assmann traces the repeated attempts that have been made to do away with this distinction since the early modern period. He explores at length the notions of primary versus secondary religions, of "counter-religions," and of book religions versus cultic religions. He also deals with the entry of ethics into religion's very core. Informed by the debate his own work has generated, he presents a compelling lesson in the fluidity of cultural identity and beliefs.
Author: Jan Assmann
Publisher: Univ of Wisconsin Press
ISBN: 0299225534
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 210
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Book Description
For thousands of years, our world has been shaped by biblical monotheism. But its hallmark—a distinction between one true God and many false gods—was once a new and radical idea. Of God and Gods explores the revolutionary newness of biblical theology against a background of the polytheism that was once so commonplace. Jan Assmann, one of the most distinguished scholars of ancient Egypt working today, traces the concept of a true religion back to its earliest beginnings in Egypt and describes how this new idea took shape in the context of the older polytheistic world that it rejected. He offers readers a deepened understanding of Egyptian polytheism and elaborates on his concept of the “Mosaic distinction,” which conceives an exclusive and emphatic Truth that sets religion apart from beliefs shunned as superstition, paganism, or heresy. Without a theory of polytheism, Assmann contends, any adequate understanding of monotheism is impossible. Best Books for General Audiences, selected by the American Association of School Librarians, and Best Books for Special Interests, selected by the Public Library Association
