Science & Religion: An Introduction

by Alister E. McGrath

This text introduces readers to the fascinating interaction of science and religion. It is specifically designed for students on science and religion courses who have little or no prior knowledge in either area.

Genres: Philosophy, Theology, Science, Religion, Nonfiction, Christianity, Academic

264 pages, Paperback

First published December 10, 1998

About the author

Alister Edgar McGrath is a Northern Irish theologian, priest, intellectual historian, scientist, and Christian apologist. He currently holds the Andreas Idreos Professorship in Science and Religion in the Faculty of Theology and Religion at the University of Oxford, and is Professor of Divinity at Gresham College. He was previously Professor of Theology, Ministry, and Education at King's College London and Head of the Centre for Theology, Religion and Culture, Professor of Historical Theology at the University of Oxford, and was principal of Wycliffe Hall, Oxford, until 2005. He is an Anglican priest and is ordained within the Church of England.

Aside from being a faculty member at Oxford, McGrath has also taught at Cambridge University and is a Teaching Fellow at Regent College. McGrath holds three doctorates from the University of Oxford, a DPhil in Molecular Biophysics, a Doctor of Divinity in Theology and a Doctor of Letters in Intellectual History.

McGrath is noted for his work in historical theology, systematic theology, and the relationship between science and religion, as well as his writings on apologetics. He is also known for his opposition to New Atheism and antireligionism and his advocacy of theological critical realism. Among his best-known books are The Twilight of Atheism, The Dawkins Delusion?: Atheist Fundamentalism and the Denial of the Divine, Dawkins' God: Genes, Memes, and the Meaning of Life, and A Scientific Theology. He is also the author of a number of popular textbooks on theology.

Reviews

[J. Wootton · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rather too hasty, in the research as well as the writing. I expect better from scholars of McGrath's caliber.

[Jeffrey Romine · Rating 5 out of 5]

For someone looking for a textbook on the topic, this book presents both the classic (historical) and contemporary dialogue, touching on the main topics normally encountered in this genre. It is written from a theistic evolutionary perspective with little comment on how other positions approach the topics.

[Drew · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good introduction to the subject that is, while sometimes tedious (especially for someone like me with little scientific background), on the whole quite useful. McGrath's textbook is focused on the interaction of Christianity and science - for reasons he explains within - though as a case study much of this would still have value to people of other faiths or no faith. In summation, Science and Religion: An Introduction is well done and highly recommended.

[Rick Sam · Rating 2 out of 5]

Science & Religion is an important topic, that frequently comes in conversation.

Who is the Author?

McGrath is an erudite Scholar, a Chemist, turned into Theologian. He holds Science and Religion Chair at England. I'd leave details for the reader to figure out.

What does McGrath say in this work?

In this work, McGrath doesn't bring anything original in this area. McGrath, rather gives an outline of what has been said.

Anyone who has explored the field, Philosophy of Religion might be aware of this work.

Why care about Philosophy of Religion?

If you care about big questions of life.

These questions shape fundamental value of your being, your life.

Socrates said, "An Unexamined life is not worth living."

What is Philosophy of Religion?

It's an academic field, where leading academics discuss, put forward their best ideas, their best work on Religion.

Recently, there's an explosion in field of Philosophy of Religion. Theists have been contributing massive literature to the field.

With that, comes a challenge from Naturalism, the view that there is only Nature, nothing else. Both have been fruitful, respectful in contributing.

Surprisingly, the conversation in Philosophy of Religion at cutting edge level goes on for years.
Because, big questions of life is difficult, hard, complex.

This is due to the amount of intellectual thought, understanding, challenges on this topic.

What others are saying in Science and Religion?

McGrath in his interviews says, it's helped him to do Science better. He says being part of a religious tradition, helps him to see reality in new ways. Late, Professor John Polkinghorne took similar view.

There's many others who's worked on this area of interest. I can name few, T.F Torrance, Ian Barbour, Arthur Peacocke, famous Computer Scientist, Charles Babbage.

So --How does one view reality?

It's a tough question, and therefore, many researchers, scientists come up with new ways to reach truth. The best ideas stay relevant, others get discarded.

Certainly, a complex question - a physicist, a chemist, a biologist, a mathematician, all would describe reality in unique ways.

Since knowledge became specialized, i.e Natural Philosophy got divided into parts of its own.

I know, many lost the art of bringing them all together.

So How, you may ask, How do you view reality, I'd say, many miss seeing the --Big Picture.

In 17th century, writers from School of Salamanca, a Spanish school saw problem with specialization.

Unfortunately, modern world has lost seeing Big Picture of Knowledge. It became too specialized.

Why is this important?

Historically --For human flourishing, both, Science & Religion, have helped each other.

From Aristotle to Contemporary Scientists, Researchers, Professors.

All have engaged on this topic at some point in their life.

This would be a good gentle introduction work in Science & Religion.

Please Check, Religion and Science, Special Divine Action Project by Oxford University

Please Check, Science Without God?: Rethinking the History of Scientific Naturalism by Peter Harrison (Editor), Jon H Roberts



Deus Vult,
Gottfried

[Lindsey · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was so dry. It was a name- dropping fiasco. While it covered some important topics, it overlooked some pertinent aspects of some of those. It was just so boring. It was pure drudgery to read.

[Canny Tay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just finished reading this book. Dr. Alister McGrath is a prolific author and scholar from England, specializes in Christian history and theology. My impression of this book is that it describes clearly the fundamental questions that create strong tensions between science and religion (a more accurate would be theology rather than religion) in the past and what are we going to do with these two divergent disciplines. As this book states that it is an "Introduction" for this course of study, yet the information within is still deep and sometimes hard to comprehend for an amateur like me. Although the author is leaning more on the sphere of some kind of theistic evolution viewpoint according to Wikipedia (not so obvious in the book), for fresh students, it is a good start. I do not so recommend this book for people to read, but if you want to get some glimpse of this study, you may try it under the guidance of the Holy Spirit 😁.

[Donna Kerfoot · Rating 4 out of 5]

McGrath deals with the topic of science & religion by examining the intertwining topics as they develop throughout history. The book provides the reader with insights into a variety of sciences and philosophical topics then briefly compares them to differing perspectives in Christian theology, oftentimes highlighting the tensions between the two. I found the book interesting and a good resource to use in researching this development of thought on such an important subject.

[Elias Lacerda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Um ótimo panorama dos fundamentos dessa temática, McGrath realmente responde o que propõe. Apesar de ser um livro introdutório não é uma leitura tão básica, com muitos conceitos especificos e um excesso de citações.

[Choxley0 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Comprehensive, interesting

[Paul Decker]

This is an excellent beginning book for those starting out with the subject of science and religion!

[Thomas Cavan Gui · Rating 5 out of 5]

首先，這本書真的非常貼心，如果工具書一般的小冊子，以無比溫和客觀的方式為不同知識背景或興趣點讀者提供了進一步深入研究的書目。
中國教科書上所認為哥白尼的日心說，達爾文的進化論，外加弗洛伊德的精神分析，這幾次科學革命分別吹響了這三個領域（宇宙學、生物學和心理學）科學無神論者的進攻號角。當然，事實證明，宗教並沒有像我們宣傳的那樣在宇宙、自然、人的心靈三個層面一敗塗地。作者作為一個博識的科學家，綜述這幾個領域科學與宗教的關係，總得來說，宇宙學上科學與宗教目前正和平共處；心理學由於自身的問題內部對宗教分歧很大，因而很難對有神論形成像樣的攻擊。最大的威脅來自生物學，生物學界與宗教界均對進化論認識不一，而包括作者在內許多宗教人士都在呼籲進化論並不是什麼洪水猛獸，應該將之接納。
總結本書的幾個觀點：科學與基督教並不衝突（相信只要不是接受60s的蘇聯或雞形國反宗教教育的人都能夠理解這個結論吧）；科學與神學共用許多相同的研究方法；但作者也指出了一個很嚴肅的問題，科學與基督教交流的領域並不涉及基督教甚至有神論的核心議題，所以現代科學甚至自然神學都既不能駁斥也不能佐證基督教。因而牆內常見的用量子物理學支撐唯心主義或者有神論的行銷也多少站不住腳。或許我們應該做的是以基督的眼光去觀看，而不是嘗試著證明什麼。
作者嘗試運用現代科學的一些模式來類比基督教的模式，這個類比過程不是那麼persuasive，作者也指出科學與神學模式的區別在於，科學模式作為工具可以被輕易更新，但聖經中給的模式幾乎是不許撼動的。這個區別耐人尋味。不過作者提到菲利普.克萊頓提出了新的理解框架，這是值得深入研究的。
譯後記還算有點節操，說了再版時把辯駁費爾巴哈和馬克思的內容給刪了。而這些內容初版時得以保留，所以鬼知道這麽些年雞形國的出版自由又多了多少限制。

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is really best seen as a collection of biographical essays on numerous scholars who have written through the years on science and religion. Some of the better instances are his comments on Stephen J. Gould, Alfred North Whitehead (who introduced process theology), Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Charles Coulson (the little-known author who first wrote of the dangers of God of the gaps theology), Ian Barbour and Arthur Peacocke.

One problem: Why did he have to include a biographical essay on himself? This is truly unfortunate.

[Melissa Travis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great introduction to the discipline of science and faith. It reads a bit like a set of pieced-together essays, but they cohere well. I appreciate the photos of important figures included in each chapter. I'll be using this as one of the main texts in the science and faith course I teach at a university. The level is just right for undergraduates, but I'd also recommend it to any adult seeking an intro to the field.

[Leroy Seat · Rating 3 out of 5]

In many ways this book is a good introduction to the study of the relationship of science and religion, but it was less than completely satisfying. It seemed a bit repetitive, sometimes too generalized to be of much help, and sometimes too specialized to be readily understood. While there is much good and helpful material in the book, I cannot conscientiously give it more than three stars.

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

While I disagreed with MOST of the IDEAS found within this book, I loved how it made me think and turn to my scriptures. I should clarify that I don't read any anti-Mormon literature. And I mention scripture because I use my beliefs as the basis for understanding and judging everything I read.

[Elisabeth Sepulveda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Clear and simple introductory guide to discussion/debates in the crossroads between science and religion. I appreciate the ways McGrath frames the issues, providing a heuristic to orient readers as they begin to explore this topic. Connects key ideas with authors and well-organized.

[Maya · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good book if you would like a simple introduction to the subject matter and want everything spelled out for you ;-)

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a helpful introduction to the subject of science and it's relationship to religion (theology). I'm very under-read on the subject and found McGrath's simple language very helpful.

[Tiina Mahlamäki · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kirjoitin ajatuksiani kirjasta blogitekstiksi:
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[Jackson Switzer · Rating 2 out of 5]

If philosophy interests you and you're looking to think deeply about what you read, you will like this book. Otherwise, I expect you'll get caught up in the jargon.

[Amy Layton · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very formal and well-written read of an introduction to an intense subject.