Offering a bold intervention in the ongoing debate about the relationship between 'theology' and 'science', Theology, Science and Life proposes that the strong demarcation between the two spheres is unsustainable; theology occurs within and not outside what we call 'science', and 'science' occurs within and not outside theology. The book applies this in a penetrating way to the most topical, contentious and philosophically charged science of late modernity: biology. Rejecting the easy dualism of expressions such as 'theology and science', 'theology or science', modern biology is examined so as to illuminate the nature of both. In making this argument, the book achieves two further things. It is the first major English-language reception and application of the thought of philosopher Hans Jonas in theology, and it makes a decisive contribution to the unfolding reception of 'Radical Orthodoxy', one of the most influential schools in contemporary Anglophone theology.

Major evangelical author with worldwide reputation as both a biblical scholar and systematic theologian

The book is divided into three parts. Part One provides a thematic analysis and exegetical commentary on all the relevant biblical and cognate literature, including Josephus, Philo and the Mishnah. Part Two investigates the thinking of key Christian theologians on the Holy Spirit, from the Apostolic Fathers to eighteenth century authors such as John Wesley and Jonathan Edwards. Part Three examines more recent writings on the Spirit, from the nineteenth century onwards, including major systematic theologians such as Schleiermacher, Barth and Moltmann, as well as biblical scholars such as James D G Dunn, Gordon Fee and Gerd Theissen. Thiselton concludes the entire study by identifying seven fundamental themes, and calling for greater dialogue between mainstream scholarship and contemporary leaders of the Pentecostal and Renewal movements.