October 2015
volume 27 (2)

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Articles

Christians in Science: Looking Back – and Forward

MALCOLM JEEVES R.J. (SAM) BERRY
Pages: 125-152

Abstract

Christians in Science had its origins in 1944 in a small gathering of mainly postgraduate students in Cambridge. This group became the nucleus of the Research Scientists’ Christian Fellowship (which changed its name in 1988 to Christians in Science). The RSCF was originally a graduate section of the Inter-Varsity Fellowship (now the Universities and Colleges Christian Fellowship), but is now an independent charity and limited company, albeit still retaining close links with UCCF. We review the seventy year history of CiS and its contributions to the maturing discussions in the faith-science area; we see a positive and developing role for the organisation.

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Georges Lemaître’s 1936 Lecture on Science and Faith

Pablo de Felipe Pierre Bourdon Eduardo Riaza
Pages: 154-179

Abstract

Georges Lemaître, a Mathematical physicist and a Catholic priest, is generally recognised as the key founding father of modern Big Bang cosmology. In recent years, his contribution to our modern scientific cosmological model has been increasingly recognised. However, his contribution to the science and faith field is still not very well known, especially in English. One of the reasons is that his views are dispersed in lectures that for the most part remain in French and have not been reprinted for many years. Here we present, for the first time, as far as we are aware, a full English translation of one of the key texts on science and faith from Lemaître: a 1936 lecture delivered at Malines (Belgium). All the crucial ideas in Lemaître’s view of science and faith relations appear here. These ideas were present in his early work and continued to appear in his lectures throughout the rest of his life. They are expressed in this lecture in some detail and with a strong literary force that gives them, in some cases, the character of aphorisms.

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A Grammar of Descent: John Henry Newman and the Compatibility of Evolution with Christian Doctrine

JONATHAN W. CHAPPELL
Pages: 180-206

Abstract

It is widely assumed that the nineteenth century was an age dominated by unbelief. According to this view, developments in the natural sciences, such as Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution, combined with the rise of historical-critical biblical scholarship, drove many Victorians away from traditional Christian belief towards scepticism. However, while it is certainly true that many nineteenth-century thinkers came to regard orthodox religious belief as incompatible with modern science, the eminent English Roman Catholic theologian John Henry Newman (1801–90) is an outstanding example of a nineteenth-century thinker who believed that there need be no necessary contradiction between the data of Christian revelation and the scientific advances of his day. This paper explores Newman’s ideas concerning evolution, and, by focusing on his engagements with some key Victorian contemporaries, shows that, for Newman, evolutionary theory was compatible with Christian doctrine.

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Correspondence

Disability and the resurrection body

JOHN HASTINGS
Pages: 207-208

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A response to John Hastings

TIMOTHY WALL
Pages: 208-209

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Book reviews

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After the Monkey Trial: Evangelical Scientists and a New Creationism

Christopher M Rios (Keith Fox)
Pages: 210-211


God, Humanity and the Cosmos – Third Edition: A Textbook in Science and Religion

Christopher Southgate (ed.) (Meric Srokosz)
Pages: 211-212


The Unknown God: Responses to the New Atheists

John Hughes (ed.) (James Orr)
Pages: 212-214


The Nature of Creation: Examining the Bible and Science

Mark Harris (Hilary Marlow)
Pages: 214-215


C.S. Lewis vs the New Atheists

Peter S.Williams (Paul Wraight)
Pages: 215-216


God in the Lab: How Science Enhances Faith

Ruth M. Bancewicz (Andrew Bowie)
Pages: 216-218


Faith and Wisdom in Science

Tom McLeish (Tim Middleton)
Pages: 218-219


We Are Our Brains – From the Womb to Alzheimer’s

Dick Swaab Jane Hedley-Prole transl. (Denis Alexander)
Pages: 219-221


The Wisdom of the Liminal: Evolution and Other Animals in Human Becoming

Celia Deane-Drummond (Bethany Sollereder)
Pages: 221-223


God’s Planet

Owen Gingerich (Eric Priest)
Pages: 223-225


Great Astronomers in European History

Paul Marston (Allan Chapman)
Pages: 225-226


The World is Not Six Thousand Years Old – So What?

Antoine Bret (Peter Lynch)
Pages: 226-227


Religion and the Sciences of Origins: Historical and Contemporary Discussions

Kelly James Clark (Stephen Thompson)
Pages: 227-229