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103Something new under the Sun: forty years of philosophy of religion, with a special look at process philosophy (review)International Journal for Philosophy of Religion 68 (1-3): 139-152. 2010.Looking back over the last 40 years of work in the philosophy of religion provides a fascinating vantage point from which to assess the state of the discipline today. I describe central features of American philosophy of religion in 1970 and reconstruct the last 40 years as a progression through four main stages. This analysis offers an overarching framework from which to examine the major contributions and debates of process philosophy of religion during the same period. The major thinkers, top…Read more
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The One in the Many: A Contemporary Reconstruction of the God-World RelationshipInternational Journal for Philosophy of Religion 59 (1): 69-71. 2001.
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55Mediating Between Physicalism and Dualism: "Broad Naturalism" and the Study of ConsciousnessIn Melville Y. Stewart (ed.), Science and Religion in Dialogue, Wiley-blackwell. pp. 999--1010. 2010.This chapter contains sections titled: * 1 The Birth of Strict Naturalism and Its Theory of Knowledge * 2 Six Challenges to Strict Naturalism * 3 Constructive Formulations of Broad Naturalism * 4 The Epistemic Presumption in Favor of Broad Naturalism * 5 Final Questions * 6 Conclusion: Grounds for Optimism and Pessimism * Notes
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180Emergence, Supervenience, and Personal KnowledgeTradition and Discovery 29 (3): 8-19. 2002.Michael Polanyi was perhaps the most important emergence theorist of the middle of the 20th century. As the key link between the British Emergentists of the 1920s and the explosion of emergence theory in the 1990s, he played a crucial role in resisting reductionist interpretations of science and keeping the concept of emergence alive. Polanyi’s position on emergence is described and its major strengths and weaknesses are analyzed. Using Polanyi as the foundation, the article surveys the major co…Read more
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7Religion and Science: The BasicsRoutledge. 2011.Religion and science are arguably the two most powerful social forces in the world today. But where religion and science were once held to be compatible, most people now perceive them to be in conflict. This unique book provides the best available introduction to the burning debates in this controversial field. Examining the defining questions and controversies, renowned expert Philip Clayton presents the arguments from both sides, asking readers to decide for themselves where they stand: scienc…Read more
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50Muslim Perspectives on Stem Cell Research and CloningZygon 43 (4): 783-795. 2008.Abstract.In Islam, the acquisition of knowledge is a form of worship. But human achievement must be exercised in conformity with God's will. Warnings against feelings of superiority often are coupled with the command to remain within the confines of God's laws and limits. Because of the fear of arrogance and disregard of the balance created by God, any new knowledge or discovery must be applied with careful consideration to maintaining balance in the creation. Knowledge must be applied to ascert…Read more
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161Neuroscience, the person, and God: An emergentist accountIn Zygon, Notre Dame: University Notre Dame Press. pp. 613-652. 1999.
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57Schellenberg's Newman Lecture on Contemporary Philosophy of Religion: Responses and ReplyToronto Journal of Theology 26 (1): 2010. 2010.
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4IntroductionIn The Oxford Handbook of Religion and Science, Oxford University Press. 2006.Any discussion of the possibility of ‘science and religion’ as a distinct field of study represented a clear step forward from the dominant prejudice of an earlier age. By contrast, it seems hard to deny that a new area of study has emerged, one devoted to the study of the complex and multifaceted relationships between science and religion. The text in this book testifies to the existence of a distinct field of inquiry. One can hope that carefully studying how differently the various religions c…Read more
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10The Re-Emergence of Emergence: The Emergentist Hypothes (edited book)Oxford University Press UK. 2006.Much of the modern period was dominated by a `reductionist' theory of science. On this view, to explain any event in the world is to reduce it down to fundamental particles, laws, and forces. In recent years reductionism has been dramatically challenged by a radically new paradigm called `emergence'. According to this new theory, natural history reveals the continuous emergence of novel phenomena: new structures and new organisms with new causal powers. Consciousness is yet one more emergent lev…Read more
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34Explanation from physics to the philosophy of religionInternational Journal for Philosophy of Religion 26 (2). 1989.
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47Shaping the Field of Theology and Science: A Critique of Nancey MurphyZygon 34 (4): 609-618. 1999.Nancey Murphy is a key second‐generation figure in the field of religion and science. Through a variety of responsibilities, some of which are reviewed here, she has worked as a discipline builder over the last fifteen years. After trying to convey the general spirit of Murphy's work, the author focuses on five areas where readers might resist her conclusions, including her “postmodern” theory of scientific (and religious) knowledge and truth, her treatment of theology and science as “separate b…Read more
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24Belief and the Logic of Religious CommitmentIn G. Bruntrup & R. K. Tacelli (eds.), The Rationality of Theism, Kluwer Academic Publishers. pp. 61--83. 1999.
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54On the Value of the Panentheistic Analogy: A Response to Willem DreesZygon 35 (3): 699-704. 2000.The author expresses appreciation to Professor Drees for his careful and mostly accurate reading of God and Contemporary Science. The exchange provides the opportunity to step back from the specifics of the debate and clarify what it is that gives rise to the increasing talk of panentheism within religion‐science discussions today. What is the central challenge that the natural sciences raise for theistic belief? How far does panentheism go toward answering this challenge, and what work still ne…Read more
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14Metaphysik und Gottesgedanke (review)Review of Metaphysics 43 (1): 179-181. 1989."The connection between being and time makes possible a closer link between philosophical reflection and the biblical experience of reality" : with these words Pannenberg summarizes the thesis of his recent Metaphysics and the Concept of God. Pannenberg's long-term project has been to overcome the ghettoization of theology and to demonstrate "the convergence of philosophy and religion." Here he engages in a sustained conversation with the metaphysical tradition as the dialogic partner most suite…Read more
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90Oxford Handbook of Religion and Science (edited book)Oxford University Press. 2006.In addition to treatments of questions of methodology and implications for life and practice, the Handbook includes sections devoted to the major scientific ...
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46Freedom, Consciousness, and Science: An Emergentist Response to the ChallengeIn Melville Y. Stewart (ed.), Science and Religion in Dialogue, Wiley-blackwell. pp. 985--998. 2010.This chapter contains sections titled: * A Neuroscientific Theory of Cognition: The Global Workspace Model * The Burden of Proof and the Loss of Innocence * The Harshest Attack on Freedom and Consciousness: Daniel Dennett * A More Radical Entailment? * Consciousness as an Emergent Property * Conclusion * Notes
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41Disciplining relativism and truthZygon 24 (3): 315-334. 1989.. Imre Lakatos's philosophy of science can provide helpful leads for theological methodology, but only when mediated by the disciplines that lie between the natural sciences and theology. The questions of relativism and truth are used as indices for comparing disciplines, and Lakatos's theory of natural science is taken as the starting point. Major modifications of Lakatos's work are demanded as one moves from the natural sciences, through economics, the interpretive social sciences, literary th…Read more
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8Reclaiming Liberal Faith: Toward a Renewed Theology of IntegrationAmerican Journal of Theology and Philosophy 30 (1). 2009.
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10Panentheism Across the World's Traditions (edited book)Oxford University Press USA. 2014.Not to be confused with pantheism-the ancient Greek notion that God is everywhere, an animistic force in rocks and trees-the concept of panentheism suggests that God is both in the world, immanent, and also beyond the confines of mere matter, transcendent.One of the fundamental premises of this groundbreaking collection of essays is that panentheism, despite being unlabeled until the nineteenth century, is not merely a modern Western invention. The contributors examine a number of the world's es…Read more
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13Neuroscience, the Person, and God: An Emergentist AccountZygon 35 (3): 613-652. 2000.Strong forms of dualism and eliminative materialism block any significant dialogue between the neurosciences and theology. The present article thus challenges the Sufficiency Thesis, according to which neuroscientific explanations will finally be sufficient to fully explain human behavior. It then explores the various ways in which neuroscientific results and theological interpretations contribute to an overall theory of the person. Supervenience theories, which hold that mental events are depen…Read more
Claremont, California, United States of America
Areas of Interest
Philosophy of Religion |
General Philosophy of Science |