This collection of twenty-one essays explores the creative interaction among the cognitive neurosciences, philosophy, and theology. It is the result of the fourth of five international research conferences co-sponsored by the Vatican Observatory, Rome, and the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences, Berkeley. The overarching goal of these conferences is to support the engagement of constructive theology with the natural sciences and to investigate the philosophical and theological elements in ongoing theoretical research in the natural sciences.This series of conferences builds on the initial Vatican Observatory conference and its resulting publication, Physics, Philosophy, and Theology: A Common Quest for Understanding (1988), and on previous jointly-sponsored conferences and their publications: Quantum Cosmology and the Laws of Nature (1993), Chaos and Complexity (1995); and Molecular and Evolutionary Biology (1998). A future conference will focus on quantum physics and quantum field theory.In Section One, essays on biblical accounts of human nature (Joel B. Green) and on the role of philosophical theories of human nature in recent theology (Fergus Kerr) are paired with "snapshots" of neuroscientific research (Joseph E. LeDoux, Peter Hagoort, Marc Jeannerod, and Leslie A. Brothers) to set the poles between which the volume's dialogue proceeds. In Section Two, essays of two types bridge the fields of cognitive neuroscience and philosophy of mind: the first begin with findings in science that raise philosophical issues (Michael A. Arbib, LeDoux, Jeannerod); the second type address current philosophical accounts of human nature, focusing especially on reductionism (William R. Stoeger, Nancey Murphy, Theo C. Meyering). Essays in Section Three proceed from neuroscientific or philosophical accounts of human nature to theological interpretations: three essays provide comprehensive accounts of human nature consistent with both theology and science (Philip Clayton, Arthur Peacocke, Ian G. Barbour); others relate findings and general trends in neuroscience to phenomenological and Thomistic accounts of human experience (Stephen Happel), to Christian teaching on life after death (Ted Peters), and to religious experience (Fraser Watts, Wesley J. Wildman, and Leslie Brothers). Section Four offers conflicting answers to the question whether or not a theistic account is needed to make sense of the various dimensions of human nature canvassed in this volume.

In this volume first-rate scientists and theologians from both sides of the Atlantic explore the Christian concept of bodily resurrection in light of the views of contemporary science.

Whether it be the Easter resurrection of Jesus or the promised new life of individual believers, the authors argue that resurrection must be conceived as embodied and that our bodies cannot exist apart from their worldly environment. Yet nothing in todays scientific disciplines supports the possibility of either bodily resurrection or the new creation of the universe at large. Cosmology, for example, only forecasts an end to the universe. If persons and the cosmos are to rise up anew in the eschaton, such an event will have to be a willful act of God. Thus, while modern science can offer aid in constructing models for picturing what resurrection of the body could mean, the warrant for this belief must come from distinctly theological resources such as divine revelation. Christian faith ultimately gains its strength not from modern science but from Gods promises.

Bridging such disciplines as physics, biology, neuroscience, philosophy, biblical studies, and theology, "Resurrection" offers fascinating reading to anyone interested in this vital Christian belief or in the intersection of faith and scientific thought.

CONTRIBUTORS: Jan Assmann
Ernst M. Conradie
Frank Crsemann
Brian E. Daley, S.J.
Hans-Joachim Eckstein
Dirk Evers
Noreen Herzfeld
Peter Lampe
Detlef B. Linke
Nancey Murphy
Bernd Oberdorfer
Ted Peters
John Polkinghorne
Robert John Russell
Jeffrey P. Schloss
Andreas Schuele
Gnter Thomas
Michael Welker

This collection of fifteen research papers explores the implications of chaos and complexity in physical, chemical, and biological systems for philosophical and theological issues regarding God's action in the world. It resulted from the second of five international research conferences being co-sponsored by the Vatican Observatory, Rome, and the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences, Berkeley. The overarching goal is to contribute to constructive theology as it engages current research in the natural sciences and to investigate the philosophical and theological elements in ongoing theoretical research in the natural sciences.

The essays in Physics and Cosmology: Scientific Perspectives on the Problem of Natural Evil resulted from the seventh international research conference co-sponsored by the Vatican Observatory Foundation and the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences. It is the first in a new series on the problem of natural evil-on reconciling suffering caused by natural processes with God's goodness. The editors have divided this volume into four sections. The first includes history of the issue and a critical analysis of how the history has often been understood, followed by two chapters that provide typologies: one of types of suffering, the other of the various "shapes" of defenses. The second section comprises chapters that address the problem of suffering head-on, with resources from science, theology, and philosophy. The third section contains essays that address the issue by offering reformulations of typical understandings of the relation between God and the world. Finally, essays in the fourth section claim, in one way or another, that the question of the volume needs to be reframed. Contributors: Niels Christian Hvidt, Terrence W. Tilley, Wesley J. Wildman, Christopher Southgate, Andrew Robinson, William R. Stoeger, S.J., Robert John Russell, Nancey Murphy, Thomas F. Tracy, Philip Clayton, Steven Knapp, Kirk Wegter-McNelly, Denis Edwards, Brad J. Kallenberg, and Don Howard.

This collection of research papers explores the implications of quantum cosmology and the status of the laws of nature for theological and philosophical issues regarding God's action in the world. The main goal is to contribute to constructive theology as it engages current research in the natural sciences, and to investigate the philosophical and theological elements in ongoing theoretical research in the natural sciences.

In ten provocative chapters Russell explores such topics as: The Contingency of Creation and Big Bang Cosmology; Does 'The God Who Acts' Really Act?; New Approaches to Divine Action In Light of Contemporary Science; Entropy and Evil: The Role of Thermodynamics in the Ambiguity of Good and Evil in Nature; The Transfiguration of the Cosmos: A Fresh Exploration of the Symbol of a Cosmic Christ; and more.

According to Robert John Russell, one of the foremost scholars on relating Christian theology and science, the topic of "time and eternity" is central to the relation between God and the world in two ways. First, it involves the notion of the divine eternity as the supratemporal source of creaturely time. Second, it involves the eternity of the eschatological New Creation beginning with the bodily Resurrection of Jesus in relation to creaturely time. The key to Russell's engagement with these issues, and the purpose of this book, is to explore Wolfhart Pannenberg's treatment of time and eternity in relation to mathematics, physics, and cosmology."Time in Eternity" is the first book-length exposition of Russell's unique method for relating Christian theology and the natural sciences, which he calls "creative mutual interaction" (CMI). This method first calls for a reformulation of theology in light of science and then for the delineation of possible topics for research in science drawing on this reformulated theology. Accordingly, Russell first reformulates Pannenberg's discussion of the divine attributes--eternity and omnipresence--in light of the way time and space are treated in mathematics, physics, and cosmology. This leads him to construct a correlation of eternity and omnipresence in light of the spacetime framework of Einstein's special relativity. In the process he proposes a new flowing time interpretation of relativity to counter the usual block universe interpretation supported by most physicists and philosophers of science. Russell also replaces Pannenberg's use of Hegel's concept of infinity in relation to the divine attributes with the concept of infinity drawn from the mathematics of Georg Cantor. Russell then addresses the enormous challenge raised by Big Bang cosmology to Christian eschatology. In response, he draws on Pannenberg's interpretation both of the Resurrection as a proleptic manifestation of the eschatological New Creation within history and the present as the arrival of the future. Russell shows how such a reformulated understanding of theology can shed light on possible directions for fundamental research in physics and cosmology. These lead him to explore preconditions in contemporary physics research for the possibility of duration, copresence, retroactive causality, and prolepsis in nature. ""Time in Eternity" bridges the fields of philosophical theology, systematic theology, and the science-religion debate. It makes a distinctive and original contribution to the field of theology and science, as well as being significant for scholars and students in the other two disciplines. The book not only meets high standards for scholarship in this field; it actually sets new standards for future work." --Philip Clayton, Claremont School of Theology

This collection of twenty-two research papers explores the creative interaction between evolutionary and molecular biology, philosophy, and theology. It is the result of the third of five international research conferences co-sponsored by the Vatican Observatory, Rome and the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences, Berkeley. The over arching goal of these conferences is to support the engagement of constructive theology with the natural sciences and to investigate the philosophical and theological elements in ongoing theoretical research in the natural sciences. Contents: An extensive introduction (Robert John Russell), two recent statements on evolution and Christian faith by Pope John Paul II, and an interpretive essay by the Director of the Observatory, George V. Coyne, S. J., Section One: Scientific Background-evolutionary and molecular biology (Francisco J Ayala and Camilo J. Cela-Conde) and the possibility of the evolution of extraterrestrial life (Julian Chela-Flores); Section Two: Evolution and Divine Action-philosophical analyses of teleology in light of biology from the perspectives of a scientist (Francisco J. Ayala) and a theologian (Wesley J. Wildman), assessments of the evidence for teleology by scientists (Paul Davies and William R. Stroeger, S. J.), and theological arguments on divine action and evolution focusing on special providence (Robert John Russell) and on process theism (Charles Birch); Section Three: Religious Interpretations of Biological Themes-critique of evolution-based arguments for atheism and of science-based religion (George F. R. Ellis), Darwin's relation to natural theology and a feminist perspective on metaphors in evolution (Anne M. Clifford), evolution from a naturalist perspective and the challenge to religion (Willem B. Drees), bicultural evolution and the created co-creator (Philip Hefner), continuity and emergence, propensities, pain, and death in light of evolution, and constructive Christology from and Anglican perspective (Arthur Peacocke), original sin and saving grace in light of evolution from a trinitarian perspective (Denis Edwards), divine kenosis and the power of the future from an evolutionary and process perspective (John F. Haught), and a comparison of models of God in light of evolution (Ian G. Barbour); Section Four: Biology, Ethics, and the Problem of Evil-an evolutionary model of biological and moral altruism (Camilo J. Cela-Conde and Gisele Marty), supervenience as a response to the reduction of Morality to biology (Nancey Murphy), ethical and theological issues raised by gem-line genetic therapy (Ted Peters), and the problems of divine action and theodicy in light of human sinfulness and suffering in nature (Thomas F. Tracy). This series of conferences builds on the initial 1987 Vatican Observatory conference and its resulting publication, Physics, Philosophy and Theology: A Common Quest for Understanding (1988), and on the previous Jointly-sponsored conferences and their publications, Quantum Cosmology and the Laws of Nature (1993) and Chaos and Complexity (1995). Future conferences will focus on scientific topics including the neuroscience's, quantum physics, and quantum field theory.

"Scientific Perspectives on Divine Action: Twenty Years of Challenge and Progress"is a collection of thirteen essays assessing the scholarly contributions to the "Scientific Perspectives on Divine Action" series, which is comprised of five volumes resulting from international research conferences co-sponsored by the Vatican Observatory and the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences between 1991 and 2000. The overarching goal of the series is to advance the engagement of constructive theology with the natural sciences with special attention to the theme of divine action and to investigate the philosophical and theological elements within science.This volume is divided into three sections: In Section One, contributors review the history of the series and the development of new research methodology and discuss philosophical issues raised by the laws of nature and the limits of science; in Section Two, authors provide philosophical analysis of specific issues in the series; and in Section Three, contributors offer theological analyses of specific issues. The five volumes in the series include: "Quantum Cosmology and the Laws of Nature" (vol. 1, 1993); "Chaos and Complexity" (vol. 2, 1995); "Molecular and Evolutionary Biology" (vol. 3, 1998); "Neuroscience and the Person" (vol. 4, 1999); and "Quantum Mechanics "(vol. 5, 2001), and are distributed by University of Notre Dame Press.