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Science and Religion Previously Published Records of Building Bridges Seminars Science and Religion Previously Published Records of Building Bridges Seminars The Road Ahead: A Christian-Muslim Dialogue, Michael Ipgrave, Editor (London: Church House, 2002) Scriptures in Dialogue: Christians and Muslims Studying the Bible and the Qur’a¯n Together, Michael Ipgrave, Editor (London: Church House, 2004) Bearing the Word: Prophecy in Biblical and Qur’a¯nic Perspective, Michael Ipgrave, Editor (London: Church House, 2005) Building a Better Bridge: Muslims, Christians, and the Common Good, Michael Ipgrave, Editor (Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2008) Justice and Rights: Christian and Muslim Perspectives, Michael Ipgrave, Editor (Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2009) Humanity: Texts and Contexts: Christian and Muslim Perspectives, Michael Ipgrave and David Marshall, Editors (Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2011) Communicating the Word: Revelation, Translation, and Interpretation in Christianity and Islam, David Marshall, Editor (Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2011) For further information about the Building Bridges seminar, please visit http://berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/resources/networks/building_bridges. Science and Religion CHRISTIAN AND MUSLIM PERSPECTIVES A record of the eighth Building Bridges seminar convened by the Archbishop of Canterbury Bahc¸es¸ehir University, Istanbul, June 16–18, 2009 DAVID MARSHALL, Editor GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY PRESS Washington, DC ᭧ 2012 Georgetown University Press. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Unless otherwise noted, biblical texts are from New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Building Bridges Seminar (8th : 2009 : Bahc¸esehir University) Science and religion : Christian and Muslim perspectives : a record of the eighth Building Bridges Seminar convened by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Bahc¸esehir University, Istanbul, 16–18 June 2009 / edited by David Marshall. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-58901-914-0 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Religion and science—Congresses. 2. Christianity—Doctrines—Congresses. 3. Islam—Doctrines—Congresses. 4. Bible—Criticism, interpretation, etc.—Congresses. 5. Koran—Criticism, interpretation, etc.—Congresses. 6. Christianity and other religions—Islam—Congresses. 7. Islam—Relations—Christianity—Congresses. I. Marshall, David, Rev. II. Title. BL240.3.B85 2009 262.2Ј7—dc23 2011041625 ⅜ϱ This book is printed on acid-free paper meeting the requirements of the American National Standard for Permanence in Paper for Printed Library Materials. 1918171615141312 98765432 First printing Printed in the United States of America Contents Participants vii Introduction xi David Marshall Building Bridges in Istanbul 1 Rowan Williams Part I: Surveys Science and the Christian Tradition: A Brief Overview 7 John Hedley Brooke Science and Religion in the History of Islam 22 Ahmad Dallal Science and Religious Belief in the Modern World: Challenges and Opportunities 35 Denis Alexander Part II: Texts and Commentaries Biblical Texts 49 Commentary 53 Ellen F. Davis What Is Creation? Subtle Insights from Genesis 1 Concerning the Order of the World 59 Michael Welker Qur’a¯nic Texts 66 Commentary 69 Mustansir Mir v vi contents Classical Christian Texts 74 Commentary: Science and Religion in the Classical Christian Tradition 81 Emmanuel Clapsis Classical Islamic Texts 89 Commentary: The Importance of al-Ghaza¯lı¯ and Ibn Rushd in the History of Islamic Discourse on Religion and Science 102 Osman Bakar Charles Darwin 111 Introduction to Darwin and the Selected Texts 120 John Hedley Brooke Early Arabic Views of Darwin 128 Marwa Elshakry Modern Islamic Texts 134 Introduction to Qut.b and al-Sha‘ra¯wı¯ 143 Sherine Hamdy Pope John Paul II 152 Commentary 167 Celia Deane-Drummond Afterword 173 Rowan Williams Index 179 Participants Alparslan Ac¸ikgenc¸ Professor of Philosophy, Fatih University, Istanbul Denis Alexander Director, Faraday Institute for Science and Religion, St. Edmund’s College, Cambridge, UK Osman Bakar Professor of Islamic Thought and Civilization, International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilization (ISTAC), Kuala Lumpur Nahide Bozkurt Professor of Theology, Ankara University John Hedley Brooke Emeritus Professor of Science and Religion, University of Oxford, UK Emmanuel Clapsis Archbishop Iakovos Professor of Systematic Theology, Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology, Brookline, Massachusetts Vincent Cornell Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Arabic and Islamic Studies, Department of Middle East and South Asian Studies, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia Ahmad Dallal Provost and Professor of History, American University of Beirut Ellen F. Davis Amos Ragan Kearns Distinguished Professor of Bible and Practical Theology, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina vii viii participants Celia Deane-Drummond Professor in Theology and the Biosciences, and Director of the Centre for Religion and the Biosciences, University of Chester, UK John J. DeGioia President, Georgetown University, Washington, DC Marwa Elshakry Associate Professor of History of Science, Columbia University, New York Sherine Hamdy Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island Dzˇevad Hodzˇic´ Professor of Ethics, Faculty of Islamic Studies, Sarajevo Josiah Idowu-Fearon Bishop of Kaduna, Nigeria Ibrahim Kalin Director, Seta Foundation for Political, Economic, and Social Research, Ankara Bekir Karliga Professor of Islamic Philosophy, Bahc¸es¸ehir University, Istanbul Felix Ko¨rner Director of the Institute for the Study of Religions and Cultures, Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome Jane Dammen McAuliffe President, Bryn Mawr College, Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania Mustansir Mir Professor of Islamic Studies, Youngstown State University, Youngstown, Ohio participants ix Ebrahim Moosa Associate Professor of Islamic Studies, Department of Religion, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina Michael Nazir-Ali Bishop of Rochester, Church of England Ng Kam Weng Research Director, Kairos Research Centre, Kuala Lumpur Mehmet Pac¸aci Professor, Ankara University Christoph Schwo¨bel Professor of Systematic Theology, University of Tu¨bingen, Germany Recep S¸entu¨ rk Professor of Sociology, Fatih University, Istanbul Michael Welker Professor of Systematic Theology, University of Heidelberg, Germany Rowan Williams Archbishop of Canterbury, Church of England This page intentionally left blank Introduction DAVID MARSHALL This volume is a record of the eighth Building Bridges seminar, on the theme ‘‘Science and Religion: Christian and Muslim Perspectives,’’ convened by the Archbishop of Canterbury and held from June 16 to 18, 2009, at Bahc¸es¸ehir University, Istanbul. The seminar, following an established Build- ing Bridges pattern, consisted of a day of public lectures followed by two days of private sessions attended just by seminar participants, a group of Muslim and Christian scholars from several different nations. The opening address given on the first day by Archbishop Rowan Williams is included in this volume as ‘‘Building Bridges in Istanbul.’’ After some remarks on the Building Bridges dialogue process, he briefly introduces the seminar’s theme, insisting that the histories of both Christianity and Islam show that it is ‘‘a complete falsehood to suggest that there is an intrinsic hostil- ity between the scientific worldview and religious faith.’’ The public lectures that then followed offered wide-ranging accounts of broad themes in the interface between science and religion, past and present; edited versions of some of these lectures are included in part I (‘‘Surveys’’). In his essay ‘‘Science and the Christian Tradition: A Brief Overview,’’ John Hedley Brooke notes that for historians of science ‘‘there is a wonderful richness and diversity in the relations between different sciences and differ- ent religious traditions. There is no such thing as the relationship between science and religion and there has certainly been no such thing as the rela- tionship between science and Christianity. It has been constructed and recon- structed in many different ways within different Christian traditions and in many different social and political contexts.’’ Brooke demonstrates this rich- ness and diversity in a survey stretching from the church fathers to the modern era. xi xii introduction In his essay ‘‘Science and Religion in the History of Islam’’ Ahmad Dallal makes the similar point that the work of Muslim scientists in the classical period was ‘‘a complex phenomenon that does not lend itself to single track and static explanations.’’ He demonstrates how the need to determine the qibla or direction for prayer raised acute questions about the relationship between mathematical knowledge and religious authority. ‘‘The significance of the qibla debate is that precise epistemological discussions filtered down to the most sensitive matter of prayer, raising in no uncertain terms the question of intellectual authority within Islam’s most sacred space.’’ Dallal goes on to con- sider the work of three significant Muslim thinkers working in the interface
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