The Cambridge Companion to SCIENCE AND RELIGION In recent years, the relations between science and religion have been the object of renewed attention. Developments in physics, biology and the neurosciences have reinvigorated discussions about the nature of life and ultimate reality. At the same time, the growth of anti-evolutionary and intelligent design movements has led many to the view that science and religion are necessarily in confl ict. This bookprovides a comprehensive introduction to the relations between science and religion, with contributions from historians, philosophers, scientists and theologians. It explores the impact of religion on the origins and development of science, religious reactions to Darwinism, and the link between science and secularization. It also offers in-depth discussions of contemporary issues, with perspectives from cosmology, evolution- ary biology, psychology and bioethics. The volume is rounded out with philosophical refl ections on the connections betweenatheism and science, the nature of scientifi c and religious knowledge, anddivine action and human freedom. Peter Harrison is Andreas Idreos Professor of Science and Religion at the University of Oxford, and Director of the Ian Ramsey Centre, University of Oxford. He is the author of The Bible, Protestantism and the Rise of Natural Science (Cambridge, 1998), and The Fall of Man and the Foundation of Science (Cambridge, 2007). CAMBRIDGE COMPANIONS TO RELIGION A series of companions to major topics and key fi gures in theology and religious studies. Each volume contains specially commissioned chapters by international scholars which provide an accessible and stimulating introduction to the subject for new readers and non-specialists. Other titles in the series The Cambridge Companion to Christian Doctrine edited by Colin Gunton (1997) isbn 0 521 47118 4 hardback isbn 0 521 47695 x paperback The Cambridge Companion to Biblical Interpretation edited by John Barton (1998) isbn 0 521 48144 9 hardback isbn 0 521 48593 2 paperback The Cambridge Companion to Dietrich Bonhoeffer edited by John de Gruchy (1999) isbn 0 521 58258 x hardback isbn 0 521 58781 6 paperback The Cambridge Companion to Karl Barth edited by John Webster (2000) isbn 0 521 58476 0 hardback isbn 0 521 58560 0 paperback The Cambridge Companion to Christian Ethics edited by Robin Gill (2001) isbn 0 521 77070 x hardback isbn 0 521 77918 9 paperback The Cambridge Companion to Jesus edited by Markus Bockmuehl (2001) isbn 0 521 79261 4 hardback isbn 0 521 79678 4 paperback The Cambridge Companion to Feminist Theology edited by Susan Frank Parsons (2002) isbn 0 521 66327 x hardback isbn 0 521 66380 6 paperback The Cambridge Companion to Martin Luther edited by Donald K. McKim (2003) isbn 0 521 81648 3 hardback isbn 0 521 01673 8 paperback The Cambridge Companion to St Paul edited by James D. G. Dunn (2003) isbn 0 521 78155 8 hardback isbn 0 521 78694 0 paperback The Cambridge Companion to Postmodern Theology edited by Kevin J. Vanhoozer (2003) isbn 0 521 79062 x hardback isbn 0 521 79395 5 paperback The Cambridge Companion to John Calvin edited by Donald K. McKim (2004) isbn 0 521 81647 5 hardback isbn 0 521 01672 x paperback The Cambridge Companion to Hans Urs Von Balthasar edited by Edward T. Oakes , SJ and David Moss (2004) isbn 0 521 81467 7 hardback isbn 0 521 89147 7 paperback Continued at the back of the book The Cambridge Companion to SCIENCE AND RELIGION Edited by Peter Harrison CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo, Delhi, Dubai, Tokyo Cambridge University Press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 8RU, UK Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521712514 © Cambridge University Press 2010 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 2010 Printed in the United Kingdom at the University Press, Cambridge A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication data The Cambridge companion to science and religion / edited by Peter Harrison. p. cm. – (Cambridge companions to religion) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-521-88538-6 – ISBN 978-0-521-71251-4 (pbk.) 1. Religion and science. I. Harrison, Peter, 1955– II. Title. III. Series. bl241.c317 2010 201′.65–dc22 2010016793 ISBN 978-0-521-88538-6 Hardback ISBN 978-0-521-71251-4 Paperback Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate. Contents Notes on contributors page ix Introduction 1 Peter Harrison Part I Historical interactions 19 1 The fate of science in patristic and medieval Christendom 21 David C. Lindberg 2 Religion and the Scientifi c Revolution 39 John Henry 3 Natural theology and the sciences 59 Jonathan R. Topham 4 Religious reactions to Darwin 80 Jon H. Roberts 5 Science and secularization 103 John Hedley Brooke Part II Religion and contemporary science 125 6 Scientifi c creationism and intelligent design 127 Ronald L. Numbers 7 Evolution and the inevitability of intelligent life 148 Simon Conway Morris 8 God, physics and the Big Bang 173 William R. Stoeger, SJ 9 Psychology and theology 190 Fraser Watts 10 Science, bioethics and religion 207 John H. Evans vii viii Contents Part III Philosophical perspectives 227 11 Atheism, naturalism and science: three in one? 229 Michael Ruse 12 Divine action, emergence and scientifi c explanation 244 Nancey Murphy 13 Science, God and cosmic purpose 260 John Haught 14 Ways of relating science and religion 278 Mikael Stenmark A guide to further reading 296 Index 303 Notes on contributors John Hedley Brooke was the inaugural Andreas Idreos Professor of Science and Religion at the University of Oxford, and served in that Chair from 1999 until his retirement in 2006. His several books include Science and Religion: Some Historical Perspectives (1991), Thinking about Matter: Studies in the History of Chemical Philosophy (1995), (with Geoffrey Cantor) Reconstructing Nature: The Engagement of Science and Religion (1998) and Science in Theistic Contexts: Cognitive Dimensions (ed. with Margaret Osler and Jitse van der Meer) (2001). Simon Conway Morris holds an ad hominem Chair in Evolutionary Palaeobiology in Cambridge University, where he is also a Fellow of St John’s College. He was elected to the Royal Society in 1990, and has won various awards. His most recent book is Life’s Solution: Inevitable Humans in a Lonely Universe ( 2003), and he is currently engaged with Darwin’s Compass . He is active in the public understanding of science and the science/religion debates. At home he can usu- ally be found with both hands full: one with a volume of G. K. Chesterton, the other with a glass of wine. John H. Evans is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of California, San Diego. His research focuses on debates in the public sphere – specifi cally on religious involvement in politics, health policy and public bioethics. He is the author of Playing God? Human Genetic Engineering and the Rationalization of Public Bioethical Debate (2002) and Contested Reproduction: Genetic Techno- logies, Religion and Public Debate (2010). Peter Harrison is Andreas Idreos Professor of Science and Religion at the University of Oxford, where he is also Director of the Ian Ramsey Centre and a Fellow of Harris Manchester College. He has published extensively in the area of early modern intellectual history with a focus on the relations among science, religion and philosophy. His books include ‘Religion’ and the Religions in the English Enlightenment (1990), The Bible, Protestantism and the Rise of Natural Science (1998), and The Fall of Man and the Foundations of Science (2007). John Haught is Senior Fellow, Science and Religion, Woodstock Theological Center, Georgetown University. His area of specialization is systematic the- ology, with a particular interest in issues pertaining to science, cosmology, evo- lution, ecology and religion. He is the author of many books on science and religion including God and the New Atheism (2007), Christianity and Science ix x Notes on contributors (2007), Is Nature Enough? (2007), Deeper than Darwin (2004), and God after Darwin (2007) . He has also authored numerous articles and reviews. He lectures internationally on many issues related to science and religion. John Henry is a Reader in the Science Studies Unit of the University of Edinburgh. He has published widely in the history of science from the Middle Ages to the nineteenth century, but has a special interest in the Renaissance and early modern periods. He has recently published (with John M. Forrester) Jean Fernel’s On the Hidden Causes of Things: Forms, Souls, and Occult Diseases in Renaissance Medicine (2005), and the third edition of his Scientifi c Revolution and the Origins of Modern Science has just appeared (2008). David C. Lindberg is Hilldale Professor Emeritus of the History of Science at the University of Wisconsin, past-president of the History of Science Society, and a recipient of its Sarton Medal for lifetime scholarly achievement. He is a Fellow of the Medieval Academy of America and the Académie internationale d’histoire des sciences. He has been a Guggenheim Fellow and a visiting member of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. He has written or edited thirteen books, including The Beginnings of Western Science (1992, 2008), recipient of the 1994 Watson Davis Prize of the History of Science Society and the 1995 John Templeton Foundation Prize for Outstanding Books in Theology and Natural Science.