Articles
Guest Editorial - A Christian Perspective on Human Enhancement
D. GARETH JONES
Pages: 114-116
Victor Stenger’s Scientific Critique of Christian Belief
DAVID J. BARTHOLOMEW
Pages: 117-131
Abstract
In two recent books, Victor Stenger claims to show that, using the scientific method, it is possible to show that the ‘God Hypothesis’ must be rejected. To a large extent his refutation is based on the use of ideas of statistical inference. The purpose of this paper is to show that the scientific method is incapable of achieving the goals set for it by Stenger and that, in particular cases, his use of it is fallacious. We deal first with intercessory prayer experiments and then with his understanding of statistical significance, meta-analysis and scientific sampling. In conclusion it is pointed out that a rigorous use of scientific method must include all the evidence which, in the case of Christianity, involves a serious examination of the evidence relating to the incarnation.
Determinism, Brain Function and Free Will
PETER G. H. CLARKE
Pages: 133-149
Abstract
The philosophical debate about determinism and free will is far from being resolved. Most philosophers (including Christians) are either compatibilists, asserting that determinism is compatible with free will, or libertarians, arguing that free will requires a fundamental indeterminism in nature, and in particular in brain function. Most libertarians invoke Heisenbergian uncertainty as the required indeterminism. The present paper, by a neurobiologist, examines these issues in relationship to biblical teaching on the brain-soul relationship. It distinguishes different levels of determinism, including genetic and environmental determinism, and argues that these are incomplete, whereas the physical (or ‘Laplacian’) determinism of brain function is almost total. In particular, it is argued that the attempt to support the libertarian concept of free will on the foundation of Heisenbergian uncertainty applied to the brain is problematic for both conceptual and quantitative reasons.
Why Christian Theology Should Accept that Miracles Occur
ATLE OTTESEN SØVIK
Pages: 151-165
Abstract
In this article I argue that Christian theology, in order to be sufficiently coherent, should claim that miracles, like those described in the New Testament, do occur. I discuss first an argument by Wolfhart Pannenberg that any theory of God must be based on revelation, and suggest an improvement to Pannenberg’s line of reasoning. Presupposing that Christian theology must hold that God has revealed himself decisively through Christ, I then discuss whether or not Christian theology can reject that miracles happen. Based on arguments from the discussion of Pannenberg, I argue – against scholars like David Griffin and Arthur Peacocke – that Christian theology should accept that miracles occur in order to be sufficiently coherent. The reason for this is that if miracles do not happen it is more coherent to believe that God is not revealed decisively through Christ, than to believe that he is.
OBITUARY: Donald Wiseman [1918-2010]
Denis Alexander
Pages: 166-166
Correspondence
A soul alive in Christ
DAVID BOOTH
Pages: 167-168
A Response to David Booth
JOHN TURL
Pages: 169-171
Dualism that makes contact with science
PETER CLARKE
Pages: 171-172
Scientific explanations of religious experience?
C.J. SCHORAH
Pages: 172-173
A Response to C.J. Schorah
PATRICK RICHMOND
Pages: 174-174
Book reviews
Science and Religion – A Very Short Introduction
Thomas Dixon
(Andrew Halestrap)
Pages: 175-175
The Faith of Scientists in their Own Words
Nancy K. Frankenberry
(Peter Lynch)
Pages: 176-176
Why Evolution is True
Jerry A Coyne
(Ken Mickleson)
Pages: 176-178
Think God, Think Science: Conversations on Life, the Universe and Faith
Michael Pfundner
Ernest Lucas
(Owen Thurtle)
Pages: 178-179
God and Evolution: A Reader
Mary Kathleen Cunningham (ed.)
(James Crocker)
Pages: 179-180
Darwin and Catholicism: the Past and Present Dynamics of a Cultural Encounter
Louis Caruana (ed.)
(Cyprian Love)
Pages: 180-181
A Tangled Web: Medicine and Theology in Dialogue
R. John Elford
D. Gareth Jones (eds.)
(John Bryant)
Pages: 181-183
Entropic Creation: Religious Contexts of Thermodynamics and Cosmology
Helge S. Kragh
(Mark McCartney)
Pages: 184-185
The Creation: An Appeal to Save Life on Earth
Edward O. Wilson
(Jonathan Moo)
Pages: 185-187
When Enough is Enough: A Christian Framework for Environmental Sustainability
R. J. Berry (ed.)
(Hilary Marlow)
Pages: 187-188
Creation’s Diversity: Voices from Theology and Science
Willem B. Drees
Hubert Meisinger
Taede A. Smedes (eds.)
(Cherryl Hunt)
Pages: 188-189
Purpose in the living world? Creation and emergent evolution
Jacob Klapwijk
(Paul Ewart)
Pages: 189-190
The Universe as Communion: Towards a Neo-Patristic Synthesis of Theology and Science
Alexei V. Nesteruk
(Christopher C. Knight)
Pages: 190-191
Divine Grace and Emerging Creation: Wesleyan Forays in Science and Theology of Creation
Thomas Jay Oord
(Philip Luscombe)
Pages: 192-193
The Two Books: Historical Notes on Some Interactions Between Natural Science and Theology
Olaf Pedersen
(Stephen Walley)
Pages: 193-194
Creation and the Conflict over Evolution
Tatha Wiley
(Michael Poole)
Pages: 194-196
Mind, Brain and the Elusive Soul: Human Systems of Cognitive Science and Religion
Mark Graves
(Ross McKenzie)
Pages: 196-197
A Meaningful World: How the Arts and Sciences Reveal the Genius of Nature
Benjamin Wiker
Jonathan Witt
(Paul Wraight)
Pages: 198-199
My Brain Made Me Do It: The Rise of Neuroscience and the Threat to Moral Responsibility
Eliezer Sternberg
(Kile Jones)
Pages: 199-200
Why the Science and Religion Dialogue Matters: Voices from the International Society for Science and Religion
Fraser Watts
Kevin Dutton (eds.)
(Jeremy Law)
Pages: 200-201
Eco-Theology
Celia Deane-Drummond
(Margot Hodson)
Pages: 202-203
God, the big bang and Bunsen-burning issues
Nigel Bovey
(Meric Srokosz)
Pages: 203-203
Back to Darwin: a richer account of evolution
John B. Cobb (ed.)
(Tom Hartman)
Pages: 204-206
Cosmology: From Alpha to Omega
Robert John Russell
(Daniel Saudek)
Pages: 206-207
Should Christians Embrace Evolution? Biblical and scientific responses
Norman C. Nevin (ed.)
(R.J. Berry)
Pages: 207-208