Science and Religion: One Planet, Many Possibilities

357 Pages·2014·1.857 MB·English

by  Lucas F. Johnston, Whitney Bauman

Science and Religion
This collection offers new perspectives on the study of science and religion,
bringing together articles that highlight the differences between epistemo-
logical systems and call into question the dominant narrative of modern sci-
ence. The volume provides historical context for the contemporary discourse
around religion and science, detailing the emergence of modern science from
earlier movements related to magic and other esoteric arts, the infl uence of the
Reformation on science, and the dependence of Western science on other
knowledge-practice systems. In addition, contributors examine the impacts
of Western science and colonialism on the ongoing theft of the biological
resources of traditional and indigenous communities in the name of science
and medicine. The volume’s multi-perspectival approach aims to refocus the
terms of the conversation around science and religion, taking into consider-
ation multiple rationalities outside of the dominant discourse.
Lucas F. Johnston is assistant professor of religion and environmental studies
at Wake Forest University, USA. He is the author of R eligion and Sustainabil-
ity: Social Movements and the Politics of the Environment (2012) and editor
of H igher Education for Sustainability: Cases, Challenges and Opportunities
(Routledge 2012).
Whitney A. Bauman is undergraduate director and assistant professor of
religious studies at Florida International University, USA. He is the author
of Theology, Creation, and Environmental Ethics: From Creatio Ex Nihilo
to Terra Nullius (Routledge 2009) and R eligion and Ecology: Developing a
Planetary Ethic (forthcoming Columbia University Press, 2014).
Routledge Studies in Religion
For a full list of titles in this series, please visit www.routledge.com
6 Sufi sm and Deconstruction 13 Material Religion and
A Comparative Study of Derrida Popular Culture
and Ibn ‘Arabi E. Frances King
Ian Almond
14 Adam Smith as Theologian
7 Christianity, Tolerance and Edited by Paul Oslington
Pluralism
A Theological Engagement with 15 The Entangled God
Isaiah Berlin’s Social Theory Divine Relationality and Quantum
Michael Jinkins Physics
Kirk Wegter-McNelly
8 Negative Theology and Modern
16 Aquinas and Radical Orthodoxy
French Philosophy
A Critical Inquiry
Arthur Bradley
Paul J. DeHart
9 Law and Religion
17 Animal Ethics and Theology
Edited by Peter Radan, Denise
The Lens of the Good Samaritan
Meyerson and Rosalind F. Atherton
Daniel K. Miller
10 Religion, Language, and Power 18 The Origin of Heresy
Edited by Nile Green and A History of Discourse in Second
Mary Searle-Chatterjee Temple Judaism and Early
Christianity
11 Shared Idioms, Sacred Symbols, Robert M. Royalty, Jr.
and the Articulation of Identities
in South Asia 19 Buddhism and Violence
Edited by Kelly Pemberton & Militarism and Buddhism in
Michael Nijhawan Modern Asia
Edited by Vladimir Tikhonov and
12 Theology, Creation, and Torkel Brekke
Environmental Ethics
From Creatio Ex Nihilo to Terra 20 Popular Music in Evangelical
Nullius Youth Culture
Whitney Bauman Stella Sai-Chun Lau
21 Theology and the Science of 29 Theology and the Arts
Moral Action Engaging Faith
Virtue Ethics, Exemplarity, and Ruth Illman and W. Alan Smith
Cognitive Neuroscience
Edited by James A. Van Slyke, 30 Religion, Gender, and the Public
Gregory R. Peterson, Kevin S. Sphere
Reimer, Michael L. Spezio and Edited by Niamh Reilly and Stacey
Warren S. Brown Scriver
22 Abrogation in the Qur’an and 31 An Introduction to Jacob
Islamic Law Boehme
Louay Fatoohi Four Centuries of Thought and
Reception
23 A New Science of Religion Edited by Ariel Hessayon and
Edited by Gregory W. Dawes and Sarah Apetrei
James Maclaurin
32 Globalization and Orthodox
Christianity
24 Making Sense of the Secular
T he Transformations of a Religious
Critical Perspectives from Europe
Tradition
to Asia
Victor Roudometof
Edited by Ranjan Ghosh
33 Contemporary Jewish Writing
25 The Rise of Modern Jewish
Austria after Waldheim
Politics
Andrea Reiter
Extraordinary Movement
C.S. Monaco
34 Religious Ethics and Migration
Doing Justice to Undocumented
26 Gender and Power in
Workers
Contemporary Spirituality
Ilsup Ahn
Ethnographic Approaches
Anna Fedele and Kim E. Knibbe 35 A Theology of Community
Organizing
27 Religions in Movement Power to the People
The Local and the Global in Chris Shannahan
Contemporary Faith Traditions
Robert W. Hefner, John 36 God and Natural Order
Hutchinson, Sara Mels and Physics, Philosophy, and Theology
Christiane Timmerman Shaun C. Henson
28 William James’s Hidden 37 Science and Religion
Religious Imagination One Planet, Many Possibilities
A Universe of Relations Edited by Lucas F. Johnston and
Jeremy Carrette Whitney A. Bauman
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Science and Religion
One Planet, Many Possibilities
Edited by Lucas F. Johnston and
Whitney A. Bauman
First published 2014
by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
and by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group,
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© 2014 Taylor & Francis
The right of the editors to be identified as the author of the editorial
material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted
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All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
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registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation
without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Science and religion : one planet, many possibilities / edited by Lucas F.
Johnston and Whitney Bauman.
pages cm — (Routledge studies in religion ; 37)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Religion and science. I. Johnston, Lucas F., editor of compilation.
II. Bauman, Whitney, editor of compilation.
BL241.S3813 2014
201.65—dc23
2013038260
ISBN: 978-0-415-73842-2 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-81736-1 (ebk)
Typeset in Sabon
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
Contents
Introduction: One Planet, Many Possibilities 1
WHITNEY A. BAUMAN
SECTION 1
Science and Religion: Historical Overview and
Varied Influences
Introduction 13
LUCAS F. JOHNSTON
1 The Scientific Search for Sources of Religion 18
JAMES W. HAAG
2 A Brief History of Western Rationality 29
DANIEL R. ALVAREZ
3 The Myth of the Secular and the Shift Toward Secularisms 53
WHITNEY A. BAUMAN
SECTION 2
Cosmology, Creation and Boundary Questions
Introduction 67
LUCAS F. JOHNSTON
4 Contemporary Cosmology 70
RICHARD RANDOLPH
5 From Natural Theology to the New Atheism: Constructing
the Link Between Modern Science and Unbelief 87
BERNARD LIGHTMAN
viii Contents
6 Intelligent Design in Public Schools 98
GLENN BRANCH
7 The Strange Story About Evolution and America 113
CHRIS DORAN
8 Religious Issues, Great Apes and Human Nature 125
NANCY R. HOWELL
SECTION 3
East Meets West: Holism and Health
Introduction 141
LUCAS F. JOHNSTON
9 Asian Systems of Knowledge 144
CHRISTOPHER KEY CHAPPLE
10 Chinese Medicine: Health and Balance for
the Whole Person 159
JUN WANG
11 Ayurveda and Early Indian Medicine 174
JAY KUMAR
SECTION 4
Understanding Relationality
Introduction 189
LUCAS F. JOHNSTON
12 Scientific Explanations for the Emergence
of Love and Altruism 192
JEREMY SHERMAN
13 Relational Health: Animists, Shamans and
the Practice of Well-being 204
GRAHAM HARVEY
14 Religious Power and Knowledge: Questions Raised on
the Presuppositions of “Perspectivism” Among
Indigenous Peoples 216
ROBIN M. WRIGHT
Contents ix
SECTION 5
Ethics and Technology: Thinking Through Their
Applications
Introduction 235
LUCAS F. JOHNSTON
15 Magic, Astrology and Alchemy 238
MICHAEL YORK
16 Ritual and Technology 253
SARAH E. FREDERICKS
17 Ethical Issues at the Beginning and End of Life 265
B. ANDREW LUSTIG
18 Aging Populations and Hazards to Informed Consent 277
CHRISTINE E. GUDORF
Afterword 292
LUCAS F. JOHNSTON
Contributors 299
Bibliography 305
Index 329