An Introduction to Christian Philosophical Theology: Faith Seeking Understanding

Zondervan Academic
ISBN: 9780310104087 (paperback)
Pages: 208
Price: $23

Summary:
Philosophical or analytic theology seeks to employ philosophical tools while studying topics in Christian theology and examining the logical consistency or intelligibility of some of the key doctrines of the Christian faith. In this accessible primer, An Introduction to Christian Philosophical Theology, authors Stephen T. Davis and Eric T. Yang first explain the scope, relevance, and value of philosophical theology and then applies its conceptual tools to examine each of the core Christian doctrines:

Revelation and Scripture
The Trinity
The Incarnation
Redemption and the atonement,
Resurrection and life after death

The final chapter briefly addresses some additional theological issues including petitionary prayer, eschatology, and original sin.

Designed for beginning students and non-specialists this guide provides the ideal entry point for not only understanding what philosophical theology is but also for how it can provide valuable insights for how we think about the core doctrines of the Christian faith.

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The Bible & Ancient Science: Principles of Interpretation

McGahan Publishing House
ISBN: 9781951252052 (hardcover)
Pages: 218
Price: $16

Summary:
Theologian and scientist Denis O. Lamoureux suggests that a common assumption of biblical interpretation fuels this struggle. Many Christians think Scripture is supposed to align with science in some sort of way. This idea is known as “scientific concordism” (or simply “concordism”). But Lamoureux demonstrates that the Bible has an ancient science. During the inspiration of Scripture, the Holy Spirit came down to the level of the biblical writers and allowed them to use the science-of-the-day as a vessel for delivering life-changing, inerrant spiritual truths. Dr. Lamoureux explains how moving beyond concordism leads to a peaceful and God-honoring relationship between modern science and our Christian faith.

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Theology and Science: From Genesis to Astrobiology

World Scientific
ISBN: 9789813235038 (hardcover)
Pages: 440
Price: $148

Summary:
The age-old debate between science and faith invites more players to the fore in this book. Proponents of the origin of life as a natural process and natural selection as a mechanism of evolution come face to face with advocates for the intervention of a creator, while other scholars believe that the gulf between science and religion should be bridged. At turns disconcerting, revelatory, and profound, readers are invited to leave their preconceived notions at the door and join these writers in this curious journey of discovery.

Table of Contents:
Preface by Joseph Seckbach
Prologue on Why by Richard Gordon
Part I Astrotheology
Chapter 1: Astrobiology as Contemporary Theology by Dawn Skjei Cooley
Chapter 2: Astrobiology and Astrotheology in Creative Mutual Interaction by Ted Peters
Part II Approach of Jewish Studies
Chapter 3: Science and Medicine in Talmudic Literature: Ancient Jewish Knowledge Compared to Modern Understanding by Mordechai Halperin
Chapter 4: The Science of One Life at a Time by Robert Pollack
Chapter 5: Science and Exegesis: A Case Study of Genesis 1 by Robert B. Sheldon
Part III Theology Critics
Chapter 6: On Language and Nationhood: Lessons from the Tower of Babel by Abraham Berkowitz
Chapter 7: Cosmic Conspiracy Theories: How Theologies Evade Science by Taner Edis
Chapter 8: Free Will: Science Reveals the Seat of Our Power to Choose by Gerald L. Schroeder
Chapter 9: Science versus Religion: The Fallacious Conflict by Frithjof A. S. Sterrenburg
Chapter 10: Scientific Thinking versus Religious Thinking from a Viewpoint of a Secular Science Educator by Shlomo Vinner
Part IV Interaction: Science — Theology
Chapter 11: Rabbi Kook’s Teachings on the Theory of Evolution: The Human Ethics by Dov Berger
Chapter 12: The Delusion of Unethical Science Popularization: Astrobiology in an Ethical Dialogue of Faith and Reason by Julian Chela-Flores
Chapter 13: From Matter to Emergence: Scientific and Theological Views on the Nature of Life by George V. Coyne
Chapter 14: Confluence of Biblical Truth and Scientific Facts Must Emerge for Wise Stewardship of God’s Creation by Robert Y. George
Chapter 15: Wonder and the Necessary Alliances of Science and Religion by Scott F. Gilbert
Chapter 16: Center to Circumference and Back: Theology and Science in Rabbi M. M. Schneerson by Meir Klein
Chapter 17: Big Bang Cosmology and Christian Theology by Joshua M. Moritz
Chapter 18: “Man-as-an-Animal Needs Religious Faith”: Rabbi Soloveitchik on Evolution and Divine Image in The Emergence of Ethical Man by Rachel S. A. Pear
Chapter 19: The Trouble with Thomists by Michael J. Behe
Epilogue on Why by Richard Gordon

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Creationism USA : Bridging the Impasse on Teaching Evolution

Oxford University Press
ISBN: 9780197516607 (hardcover)
Pages: 232
Price: $32

Summary:
Who are America’s creationists? What do they want? Do they truly believe Jesus rode around on dinosaurs, as sometimes depicted? Creationism USA reveals how common misconceptions about creationism have led Americans into a century of unnecessary culture-war histrionics about evolution education and creationism. Adam Laats argues that Americans do not have deep, fundamental disagreements about evolution – not about the actual science behind it and not in ways that truly matter to public policy. Laats asserts that Americans do, however, have significant disagreements about creationism. By describing the history of creationism and its many variations, Laats demonstrates that the real conflict about evolution is not between creationists and evolution. The true landscape of American creationism is far more complicated than headlines suggest.

Creationism USA digs beyond those headlines to prove two fundamental facts about American creationism. First, almost all Americans can be classified as creationists of one type or another. Second, nearly all Americans (including self-identified creationists) want their children to learn mainstream evolutionary science. Taken together, these truths about American creationism point to a large and productive middle ground, a widely shared public vision of the proper relationship between schools, science, and religion. Creationism USA both explains the current state of America’s battles over creationism and offers a nuanced yet straight-forward prescription to solve them.

Table of Contents:
Introduction: We Don’t Disagree about Evolution
Chapter 1: After their Kinds
Chapter 2: The Evolution of Radical Creationism
Chapter 3: Evolution and All That
Chapter 4: What Not to Know and How Not to Know It
Chapter 5: Ignorance and Evolution
Chapter 6: I Saw the Light
Chapter 7: Evolution USA
Conclusion: Trust Falls

Lengthy description by the author.

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Science and the Doctrine of Creation edited by Geoffrey H. Fulkerson and Joel Thomas Chopp

IVP Academic
ISBN: 978083085280- (hardcover)
Pages: 275
Price: $28

Summary:
Can Christians take seriously the claims of modern science without compromising their theological integrity? Can theology contribute to our understanding of the natural world without reducing the doctrine of creation to a few flashpoint issues? While there is no shortage of works that treat the intersection between science and religion, little attention has been paid to the theological reception of developments of modern science. Yet a deeper look at the history of Christian thought offers a wealth of insight from theological giants for navigating this complex terrain.

Science and the Doctrine of Creation examines how influential modern theologians—from the turn of the nineteenth century through the present—have engaged the scientific developments of their times in light of the doctrine of creation. In each chapter a leading Christian thinker introduces readers to the unique contributions of a key theologian in responding to the assumptions, claims, and methods of science. Chapters include:

Edited by Geoffrey Fulkerson and Joel Chopp of the Carl F. H. Henry Center for Theological Understanding, this book grows out of the Henry Center’s Creation Project, which promotes biblically faithful and scientifically engaged dialogue around the doctrine of creation. From Warfield’s critical appraisal of Darwinian evolution to Pannenberg’s pneumatological reflections on field theory, these studies explore how Christians can think more carefully about the issues at stake using the theological resources of their traditions.

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The Return of the God Hypothesis by Stephen C. Meyers

HarperOne
ISBN: 9780062071507 (hardcover)
Pages: 560
Price: $30

Summary:
n 2004, Stephen C. Meyer, one of the preeminent scientists studying the origins of life, ignited a firestorm of media and scientific controversy when a biology journal at the Smithsonian Institution published his peer-reviewed article advancing the theory of Intelligent Design. Then, in his two bestselling books, Signature in the Cell and Darwin’s Doubt, he helped unravel a mystery that Charles Darwin did not address: how did life begin? and offered further scientific proof to bolster his arguments on the history of life and our origins, concluding that life was designed.

In those previous books, Meyer purposely refrained from attempting to answer questions about “who” might have designed life. Now, in The Return of the God Hypothesis, he brings his ideas full circle, providing a reasoned and evidence-based answer to the ultimate mystery of the universe, drawn from recent scientific discoveries in physics, cosmology, and biology.

Meyer uses three scientific points to refute popular arguments put forward by the “New Atheists” against the existence of God:

In analyzing the evidence from these three fields, Meyer reveals how the data support not just the existence of an intelligent designer of some kind—but the existence of a theistic creator.

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American Creationism, Creation Science, and Intelligent Design in the Evangelical Market

Palgrave Macmillan
ISBN: 9783030454340 (hardcover)
Pages: 288
Price: $99
Series: Christianities in the Trans-Atlantic World

Summary:
Explores the cultural history of anti-evolution efforts in the United States from 1960 to the present.

Disputes assumptions that evangelical movements against evolution are homogeneous.

Argues that the social function of American creationism is key to understanding the competing strategies of creation-science organisations.

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Creating the Creation Museum / Kathleen C. Oberlin.

Publication date: December 2020

NYU Press
ISBN: 9781479805709 (paperback)
ISBN: 9781479881642 (hardcover)
Pages: 288
Price: $89 (hardbound), $30 (paperback)

Summary:
Investigates how the Christian fundamentalist movement brings Creationism into the mainstream through a Kentucky museum.

In Creating the Creation Museum, Kathleen C. Oberlin shows us how the largest Creationist organization, Answers in Genesis (AiG), built a museum—which has had over three million visitors—to make its movement mainstream. She takes us behind the scenes, vividly bringing the museum to life by detailing its infamous exhibits on human fossils, dinosaur remains, and more.

Drawing on over three years of research at the Creation Museum, where she was granted rare access to AiG’s leadership, Oberlin examines how the museum convincingly reframes scientific facts, such as modeling itself on traditional natural history museums. Through a unique historical dataset of over 1,000 internal documents from creationist organizations and an analysis of media coverage, Creating the Creation Museum shows how the museum works as a site of social movement activity and a place to contest the secular mainstream. Oberlin ultimately argues that the Creation Museum has real-world consequences in today’s polarized era.

The post Creating the Creation Museum: How Fundamentalist Beliefs Come to Life appeared first on Creation and Science Chronicle.

Storytelling the Bible at the Creation Museum, Ark Encounter, and Museum of the Bible

T&T Clark
ISBN-10: 0567687139
ISBN-13: 9780567687135
Pages: 224
Price: $115

Summary:
Paul Thomas chronicles a multi-level reception study of the Bible at both the Creation Museum and the Ark Encounter in Kentucky, USA. Thomas explores the commercial presentation of biblical narratives and the reception of those narratives by the patrons of each attraction, focusing upon three topics; what do young Creationists believe, how they interpret their beliefs from the Bible, and what is the user experience at the museums?

The volume begins by explaining how Answers in Genesis (AiG) use Bible passages to support young-Earth creationist arguments, allowing for the chance to consider the Bible via physical means. Thomas then examines how the Creation Museum and the Ark Encounter visitors receive the Bible (as presented by AiG) and how this presentation informs visitors’ understanding of the text, exploring concepts such as the most prominent displays of the two attractions, the larger context of museums and theme parks and the case studies of the Methuselah display and The Noah Interview. Thomas concludes with the summary of the user experience generated by the attractions, analyzing the degree to which patrons accept, negotiate, or resist the interpretation of the Bible offered by AiG.

Table of Contents:
Chapter 1: Reception Studies: The Initiation
Chapter 2: Hamming it up with Answers in Genesis
Chapter 3: Moon Pools and Poop Chutes
Chapter 4; Biblical Hiraeth and Stories of Home
Chapter 5: Dragons, Dinos, and Tech
Chapter 6: Something Terrible is Coming
Chapter 7: Noah Stops a Knife Fight
Chapter 8: The Fake Ark Delugion
Chapter 9: Adam is Too Sexy!
Chapter 10: “Expecting Some Flatbread Sandwiches
Chapter 11: Playing it Safe at the Museum of the Bible
Chapter 12: Strangers in Their Own Land
Bibliography

Religious studies professor conducts research on physical representations of the Bible

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Yale University Press
ISBN-10: 0300216173
ISBN-13: 978-0300216172
Pages: 312
Price: $30

Summary:
A captivating historical survey of the key debates, questions, and controversies at the intersection of science and religion.

Throughout history, scientific discovery has clashed with religious dogma, creating conflict, controversy, and sometimes violent dispute. In this enlightening and accessible volume, distinguished historian and Pulitzer Prize–winning author Edward Larson and Michael Ruse, philosopher of science and Gifford Lecturer, offer their distinctive viewpoints on the sometimes contentious relationship between science and religion. The authors explore how scientists, philosophers, and theologians through time and today approach vitally important topics, including cosmology, geology, evolution, genetics, neurobiology, gender, and the environment. Broaching their subjects from both historical and philosophical perspectives, Larson and Ruse avoid rancor and polemic as they address many of the core issues currently under debate by the adherents of science and the advocates of faith, shedding light on the richly diverse field of ideas at the crossroads where science meets spiritual belief.

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