The Bible and Science: Longing for God in a Science-Dominated World (Theology and Life) - Softcover

Smiles, Vincent

9780814655139: The Bible and Science: Longing for God in a Science-Dominated World (Theology and Life)

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0814655130 ISBN 13: 9780814655139

Publisher: Liturgical Press, 2011

Confusing paradox surrounds the Bible.Some look to it as the definition of reality and deny science; others see science alone as the arbiter of truth and deny the Bible. Both extremes are merely symptoms of a still wider debate on the place of ancient spiritual wisdom in a science-dominated world. Following the Reformation and Enlightenment, the Western world gained great power but lost its spiritual bearings. This book draws on numerous sources, ancient and modern, to examine what the missteps were that have brought us to a point of such confusion, and in doing so argues cogently against the modern philosophy of scientific materialism. With the aid of biblical stories and imagery it suggests how we might find our way back to balance, where ancient wisdom and modern science can together shed light on humans and their encompassing reality.Vincent Smiles is professor of theology at Saint John's University, Collegeville, Minnesota.

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About the Author:

Vincent M. Smiles is professor of theology at Saint John’s University, Collegeville, Minnesota. He is the author of The Bible and Science, and First Thessalonians, Philippians, Second Thessalonians, Colossians, Ephesians, from the Collegeville Bible Commentary series, published by Liturgical Press.

Review:

This is a book that will be of help to many contemporary readers. If offers clarity on the issue of how the Christian of today might embrace fully both the insights of contemporary science, including those springing from big bang cosmology and neo-Darwinian biology, and the profound religious insights of biblical faith.Worship

A well-researched and beautifully written book.The Bible Today

When their understanding of God is challenged by new insights, some claim: God is dead! However, when their view of the world is so challenged, they seldom declare: Science is dead. In this very well researched study, Vincent M. Smiles sketches the development in the West of the notions of science and of God, as well as of understanding itself. He shows how science and religion conflicted in the past, and he argues that they need not do so in the present or the future, as well as science is not equated with scientific materialism or religion with fundamentalism. Rather, these two very different ways of understanding can enhance each other.Dianne Bergant, CSA,
Professor of Biblical Studies, Catholic Theological Union

The debate on the relationship between religion and science rages on in America. Unlike many books in the field, Vincent Smiles places science and the Bible on an equal footing, regarding each as a source of knowledge about our world, and about our God. The result is a thoughtful and refreshingly balanced dialogue that will keep the reader thinking long after finishing the last page.Dr. Noreen Herzfeld,
Nicholas and Bernice Reuter Professor of Science and Religion,
St. John's University, Collegeville, MN

Vincent Smiles offers here a significant contribution to the contemporary discussion of science and religion. Combining his expertise in biblical scholarship with a refined theological sensitivity and profound pedagogical concern, he has produced a work that readers at many levels will find very illuminating. Strongly recommended.John F. Haught, PhD
Senior Fellow, Science & Religion
Woodstock Theological Center
Georgetown University, Washington, DC

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