Christian Perspectives on Science and Technology ISCAST
The ISCAST journal, Christian Perspectives on Science and Technology (CPOSAT), was relaunched in 2022. ISSN 2653-648X (online) and ISSN 2653-7656 (print). Editors: Doru Costache and Mark Worthing
Website: https://journal.iscast.org/
ISCAST website: https://iscast.org/
Indexed with the National Library of Australia, CrossRef, and ATLA
Full 2022 edition free for download
https://journal.iscast.org/full-issue/christian-perspectives-on-science-and-technology-volume-1-2022
Capitalising on the previous years of publication (online since 2006; its rich archive is available on the ISCAST website), the journal enters a new stage of life with its relaunch as a world-standard academic resource.
The ISCAST journal is unique in the Australian landscape and one of the very few journals globally that discusses the nexus of science, technology, faith, ethics, and spirituality. In doing so, it advances ISCAST’s mission of promoting a climate of mutual understanding and constructive exchange between science and technology practitioners, and people of faith.
The target readership includes academics interested in science and faith, as well as educators, church leaders, and postgraduate and graduate students.
The relaunched journal is an online, open-access resource, inviting original contributions from national and international scholars. It publishes book reviews and double-blind peer reviewed articles. The accepted articles and book reviews are published as they become available. At the closing of each annual edition, the published materials are collected in one document, also made available via the journal’s website.
We especially invite proposals for articles in science/technology that have theological/ethical/spiritual implications, and articles in theology/ethics/ spirituality that engage scientific/technological topics. Original studies of the history of science and faith are equally welcome.
While the authors retain the copyright for their respective works, the materials published in CPOSAT may be freely disseminated, with due acknowledgment of their authorship and original publication.
Information for authors
https://journal.iscast.org/submit-an-article https://journal.iscast.org/submit-a-book-review
Website: https://journal.iscast.org/
ISCAST website: https://iscast.org/
Indexed with the National Library of Australia, CrossRef, and ATLA
Full 2022 edition free for download
https://journal.iscast.org/full-issue/christian-perspectives-on-science-and-technology-volume-1-2022
Capitalising on the previous years of publication (online since 2006; its rich archive is available on the ISCAST website), the journal enters a new stage of life with its relaunch as a world-standard academic resource.
The ISCAST journal is unique in the Australian landscape and one of the very few journals globally that discusses the nexus of science, technology, faith, ethics, and spirituality. In doing so, it advances ISCAST’s mission of promoting a climate of mutual understanding and constructive exchange between science and technology practitioners, and people of faith.
The target readership includes academics interested in science and faith, as well as educators, church leaders, and postgraduate and graduate students.
The relaunched journal is an online, open-access resource, inviting original contributions from national and international scholars. It publishes book reviews and double-blind peer reviewed articles. The accepted articles and book reviews are published as they become available. At the closing of each annual edition, the published materials are collected in one document, also made available via the journal’s website.
We especially invite proposals for articles in science/technology that have theological/ethical/spiritual implications, and articles in theology/ethics/ spirituality that engage scientific/technological topics. Original studies of the history of science and faith are equally welcome.
While the authors retain the copyright for their respective works, the materials published in CPOSAT may be freely disseminated, with due acknowledgment of their authorship and original publication.
Information for authors
https://journal.iscast.org/submit-an-article https://journal.iscast.org/submit-a-book-review
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Papers by Christian Perspectives on Science and Technology ISCAST
Abstract: Archaeological evidence records the sacking of the city of Jericho, but radiocarbon dating of this event puts it much earlier than the generally accepted dates for the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt. Since the Bible claims that Jericho was destroyed forty years after the exodus, this discrepancy has led most scholars to question the historicity of the biblical account. Many have concluded that the exodus from Egypt and the Israelite conquest of Canaan were not real events. Surprisingly, radiocarbon dating
of the Late Bronze Age is also in question, because at several critical sites such as Akrotiri, Avaris, and Jericho, radiocarbon ages are consistently older than dates from pottery stratigraphy. These discrepancies are a huge problem for both biblical and secular archaeology. On the one hand, there is a lack of evidence to support the historicity of the biblical account; on the other hand, secular archaeologists have failed to explain the Middle Bronze Age “collapse” in Canaan, of which the fall of Jericho was a part. This paper reviews radiocarbon constraints for several important sites, and concludes that the coherence of biblical and archaeological accounts would be greatly improved by adopting an early sixteenth-century date for the biblical exodus.
Abstract: Evolutionary biology is regarded with suspicion in some theological circles. However, the era of DNA sequencing, allowing linear side-by-side comparisons of our genome with those of related species, has revealed how our genetic “text”—that is, our genome—has incrementally developed, and has provided compelling insights into our evolutionary history. This paper presents examples of mutations in our genetic text that have generated features of our characteristically human biology. It is suggested that our genetic text be thought of as the Primal Testament, analogously to the Old and New Testaments that describe the history of God’s dealings with humankind. There are clear differences between the Primal Testament and those of the scriptures. The Primal Testament describes an impersonal and nonmoral history. But the three testaments have in common their witness to God’s purposes, their accounts of God’s creation of new realities (biological organisms, Israel, and the church), and their depictions of richer conceptions of life (successively, biological, personal/communal, and the Spirit-indwelt zoe aionios). The three testaments all describe contingent histories arising from God’s gift of freedom to the creatures. The histories alike describe ambiguities, suffering (even extinctions), goal-directedness, and incompleteness as they together anticipate God’s consummation of all things in the New Creation.
Abstract: The application of biomedical technology to human enhancement raises important philosophical, theological, and ethical questions. This paper focuses on questions relating to the practice of medicine: in particular, whether medicine should be in the business of human enhancement. I briefly outline the landscape of human enhancement, or better, anthropotechnics, and articulate a theological framework for the justification of biomedical research. I outline a theology of medicine in which vulnerability is recognised to be a fundamental feature of human existence, and care of various kinds is medicine’s primary response to it. In light of those theological perspectives, I seek to determine whether anthropotechnics and associated research is the proper concern of medicine. I close with some reflections on medicine, technology, and the commodification of the body in the late modern West.
Abstract: Over the last two decades, the engagement of various Orthodox Christian groups with digital communication technology increased significantly in Greece. The outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic not only reinforced the existing trend of using technology to support religious activities and outreach, but also brought to light previous pastoral and ecclesial concerns about worship and the dissemination of the Gospel message. The present paper explores the attitude of various Greek Orthodox circles towards digital communication expressed in representative periodicals and websites, before and during the pandemic. To understand this attitude, it provides an overview of how these groups have perceived communication technology since the 1950s, especially the use of radio and television for liturgical purposes. This paper shows that certain pastoral and ecclesial concerns regarding worship, the dissemination of the Gospel message, and the nature of the church have persisted over time, conditioning the attitude of some Greek Orthodox Christians towards contemporary digital media.
Keywords: communication technology, digital communication, Greek Orthodox Christian circles, radio, television
Full text available here: https://journal.iscast.org/articles/greek-orthodox-perceptions-of-communication-technology-past-and-present
Abstract: The Kantian “limits of knowledge” powerfully regulates the Enlightenment-framed contemporary academy as secular, methodologically atheistic, and functionally materialist when it comes to public knowledge. This shapes all science and religion discourse considered palatable to an Enlightenment sensibility. This limit makes public knowledge blind to the divine and the demonic in everyday life (and in extremis). The paper argues that this blindness illustrates the abstract and artificial conception of reality that governs academic knowledge. If “religion” adapts itself to these limits in order to dialogue successfully with “science” in an Enlightenment framed academy, it also becomes abstract and artificial. Using Nicholas of Cusa and Johann Hamann, the paper attempts to reclaim “learned ignorance” as a viable alternative to the Kantian “limits of knowledge.” Returning to the “science and religion” domain, the paper concludes by noting that conflict in the basic framing of reality and knowledge is now inherent if theology is to uphold a learned ignorance perspective on reality and natural philosophy. I argue that this sort of conflict should not be feared and is necessary to save modern science from floundering in its own metaphysical vacuum or being swept aside by a post-truth totally poetic constructivism.
Keywords: demonic, divine, Kant, limits of knowledge, Nicholas of Cusa, science and religion
Full text available here: https://journal.iscast.org/articles/learned-ignorance-on-enlightened-blindness-to-the-divine-and-the-demonic
Abstract: This article considers three picture book biographies of the artist and scientist Maria Sibylla Merian, and the metanarratives on science and religion that are embedded in each. Merian is famous for her detailed drawings of the lifecycle of insects within their ecosystem and for rejecting the old theory of spontaneous generation, which still had currency in Europe. The picture books bring to the fore Merian’s scientific curiosity and her skills of observation that swept away old superstitions about insects. The metanarratives cued through the visual imagery of her picture books ignore the underpinnings of Merian’s Calvinist faith in her commitment to portraying the details of insect ecosystems. These metanarratives also ignore Merian’s emergence as an entrepreneur within Protestant society and her contributions to the commodification of “exotic” nature in a colonial context.
Keywords: Calvinism; entomology; insects; Merian; metamorphosis; picture books
Full text available here: https://journal.iscast.org/articles/maria-sibylla-merian-in-picture-books-metanarratives-about-science-and-religion
Author's bio: Danielle Terceiro is completing a PhD by publication at Alphacrucis University College, considering how multimodal texts such as picture books and graphic novels make meaning through the interaction of word and image. This article was prepared with the financial support of ISCAST’s Integrate Award. The author would like to thank the reviewers of this article for their very constructive and insightful feedback.
Abstract: At a time when mental health is generally deteriorating, editors Eudoxia Delli and Vasileios Thermos have opportunely produced a volume that closely examines the intersection of Orthodox Christian theology and contemporary psychoanalysis. This volume provides access for English-speaking readers to a vibrant conversation on this topic, as it currently occurs in the Greek context. This review essay considers the insights this volume provides, and the application of these insights to the life of the church. The volume is a valuable contribution that argues persuasively from a variety of perspectives that the church and psychoanalysis can and ought to enjoy a fruitful and beneficial partnership. The art of looking within is as important today as ever, but more so in our age of widespread mental health issues.
Keywords: mystical theology; Orthodox Christian theology; pastoral care; psychoanalysis
Full text available here: https://journal.iscast.org/articles/reflections-on-the-relationship-between-orthodox-christian-theology-and-psychoanalysis-a-review-essay
Author's bio: Fr Antonios Kaldas lectures in Philosophy at St Cyril’s Coptic Orthodox Theological College within the Sydney College of Divinity. He has served as parish priest since 1991, was previously a medical practitioner, and is currently an active researcher in philosophy of mind and cognitive science.
Abstract: In this review essay, I examine in detail Nick Spencer’s recent book, Magisteria: The Entangled Histories of Science and Religion (2023). While there is much to commend in Spencer’s narrative, there are some glaring omissions. These omissions can lead the reader to assess the “entangled” relationship between science and religion incorrectly, despite Spencer’s promotion of a complexity thesis. This essay endeavours to disentangle the “entangled histories of science and religion.” It also seeks to correct the still-common view that the “conflict” between “science and religion” first emerged during the nineteenth century. It did not. In fact, the conflict between science and religion has a long history of contending theological traditions. In short, to understand the entangled histories of science and religion one must be aware of the complex history of theological thought.
Keywords: Andrew D. White; conflict thesis; history of Christianity; John W. Draper; nineteenth-century theology; science and religion
Full text available here: https://journal.iscast.org/articles/disentangling-the-histories-of-science-and-religion
Author's bio: Dr James C. Ungureanu teaches religious studies and philosophy at The Stony Brook School, in Long Island, New York. He authored Science, Religion, and the Protestant Tradition: Retracing the Origins of Conflict (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2019) and coauthored Of Popes and Unicorns: Science, Christianity, and How the Conflict Thesis Fooled the World (Oxford University Press, 2022).
Abstract: The supposed conflict between science and religion is widely assumed to be longstanding and inevitable, but in fact is very recent, logically invalid, and unnecessary. Science and religion belong to different domains of human experience, so each can decide only between alternative explanations offered within their own domain, not across domains. The conflict image can descend into warfare when both sides ignore the dangers of misinterpreting the logical rules of inference and of selective perception of data. The most strident voices rarely admit their mutual lack of training in the sophisticated philosophy of metaphysical reasoning and the serious literature underlying their opponents’ position. Both sides base their arguments on necessarily incomplete models of invisible realities, treated as if they are as tangible as real life, so both fall into the “fallacy of misplaced concreteness.” Atheists promote materialism as a simpler alternative to religion, ignoring warnings from quantum physicists that the structure of the world is increasingly mysterious, and far from simple. Science does not entail materialism. The conflict image could be defused with dignity if the opposing sides agreed to take each other seriously, consider the hierarchical structure of reality seen and unseen, and work together for the benefit of the communities of both science and religion.
Keywords: history of religion; metaphysics; models of invisible reality; philosophy of science
Full text available here: https://journal.iscast.org/articles/an-unnecessary-war-the-tragedy-and-wasted-effort-of-the-conflict-between-science-and-religion
Author's bio: Carolyn M. King, FRSNZ, is Professor Emerita, University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand. Holder of doctorates in science (Oxford, 1971) and religious studies (Waikato, 1999).
Abstract: The genomic era has provided unassailable evidence that humans have evolved from common ancestors we share with chimpanzees and (further back in time) with all other primates and with all other mammals. One class of this evidence is the presence of ancient viral genes that were spliced into the genomes of our prehuman ancestors and transmitted to us. Retroviruses are the classical exemplar of this phenomenon, but more recently genes derived from potentially pathogenic bornaviruses have been discovered in our genome. At least two of these genes have been coopted to provide important functions. The advent of humanity, due in part to capabilities generated by random genetic mechanisms, is describable in theological terms as creatio ex vetere—creation of the new from the old (from stardust and antecedent species). This concept is applicable to the biblical depiction of human development, as seen in the commissioning of humanity as the image of God. Genetic changes are usually innocuous but may generate either disease or new capabilities. The cost of evolution reflects the biblical theme that suffering precedes glory, of which the history of Jesus is paradigmatic. Our biological history argues against our tendency to self-glorification—our hubris—but can be seen, from a theological point of view, to be part of the divine plan by which a redeemed and transformed humanity will be raised to share in the very life of God.
Keywords: creatio ex vetere; human genome; image of God; endogenous bornaviruses; evolution; suffering
Full text available here: https://journal.iscast.org/articles/bornavirus-genes-in-the-human-genome-bringing-the-new-from-the-old
Author's bio: Graeme Finlay is retired from teaching scientific pathology at the University of Auckland and is a lay preacher. He has written Human Evolution (Cambridge University Press, 2013), The Gospel According to Dawkins (Austin-Macauley, 2017), Evolution and Eschatology (Wipf and Stock, 2021), and God’s Gift of Science (Wipf and Stock, 2022). He is married to Jean, a musician, and they have two wonderful adult offspring.
Abstract: This article investigates the earliest Christian encounter with ancient China through the missionaries of the Church of the East in the seventh century. In his monumental Science and Civilisation in China, Joseph Needham argues that China was then a country with one of the world’s most advanced science and technology. It was also a time when Buddhism, Daoism, Confucianism, Manichaeism, and Zoroastrianism contributed to a pluralistic society. The paper attempts to answer questions such as: How did the Christian missionaries, as representatives of a minority religion, engage with techno-scientific China theologically? Were their efforts successful? What critical lessons can we learn from their successes and/or failures? By studying the earliest Christian texts in China, the proposal argues that, being equipped with advanced Greek-Byzantine scientific knowledge and skills in medicine, architecture, astronomy, and mechanics, the Church of the East missionaries boldly engaged with the ancient techno-scientific and pluralistic China through their qi- tological, or creative pneumatological approach, which is closely intertwined with the Chinese metaphysical concept of qi (or Chi, breath, air). The article proposes that such an approach serves as a crucial bridge toward a constructive Chinese theology of science for the pluralistic world of the third millennium.
Keywords: Church of the East; Jingjiao; qi-tological approach; techno-scientific China; theology and science
Full text available here:
https://journal.iscast.org/articles/christianitys-earliest-encounter-with-the-ancient-techno-scientific-china-critical-lessons-from-jingjiaos-approach
Author's bio: Jacob Chengwei Feng is currently a PhD candidate (ABD) at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, CA, majoring in Theological Studies. His research interests include systematic theology, theological interpretation of Scripture, Chinese theology, religion and science, and ecumenical and interfaith dialogue with world religions. The author is grateful to the CPOSAT reviewers and proofreaders for their input and suggestions.
Abstract: In this paper, I engage work done in philosophy, theology, and addiction science to argue that the church possesses resources for preventing technology addiction. First, I briefly sketch what technology addiction is and provide evidence to suggest that it is rapidly growing. Then, I suggest two causes for the growth of technology addiction: boredom and the desire for a meaningful identity. Third, I discuss two resources that the ancient churches possess to address these two causes. These two resources are the doctrine of divinisation and the sacrament of reconciliation. Fourth, I argue that some Protestant traditions possess similar practices for addressing technology addiction. The significance of my thesis is that the church can help preventing non-addicted people from falling prey to technology addiction.
Keywords: addiction theory; boredom; divinisation; meaningful identity; philosophy; technology
Full text available here:
https://journal.iscast.org/articles/church-responses-and-theological-resources-for-technological-addiction
Author's bio: Armand Babakhanian is a graduate student of philosophy at Georgia State University and a Roman Catholic. He received his Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from Biola University in 2022. His current areas of interest are in the history of philosophy, philosophy of religion, metaphysics, and theology. The author acknowledges the editors of this journal, Kent Dunnington, and the two anonymous reviewers for their helpful suggestions that led to the improvement of his paper.
Abstract: The Genesis 1 creation story is an enigma to modern society because it reads like a historical account, and yet does not accord with scientific descriptions of origins. The cosmic temple model explains some of the puzzling features of Genesis 1, including its six/seven-day structure. However, it leaves many unanswered questions, including the watery beginning of the earth, in contrast to the desert-like beginning of creation in Genesis 2. Nevertheless, the watery beginning and seven-day structure of Genesis 1 provide links with the biblical and Mesopotamian Flood stories. In addition, the stages of creation in Genesis 1 seem to closely mirror the re-creation of the earth after the Flood. This leads to the suggestion here that Genesis 1 was revealed as a series of visions inspired by the experience of Noah’s Flood. Inspiration of the creation story by the cosmic Flood would have grounded the account in historical reality, and also served to intensify its spiritual message. However, this implies that attempts to find concordance between Genesis 1 and scientific accounts of origins are mistaken. Instead, seeing Genesis 1 as a True Myth inspired by the Flood imparts the reality of God’s creation at a deeper level of human experience than a rational scientific explanation could ever achieve.
Keywords: creation; flood; history; spiritual intensification; true myth; watery chaos
Full text available here:
https://journal.iscast.org/articles/recovering-genesis-one-from-scientific-and-societal-misunderstanding
Author's bio: Alan Dickin (DPhil, Oxford) is Emeritus Professor of Geology at McMaster University, Ontario, Canada, where he worked in the School of Earth Environment and Society. His books include A Scientific Commentary on Genesis 1–11 (2015) and From the Stone Age to Abraham: A Biblical History of the Ancient World (2021).
Longstanding debates relating to biological evolution concern whether random events (mutations of DNA) are able to generate new functionality, and whether such proposed evolutionary mechanisms are compatible with belief in divine creation. The sequencing of genomes from multiple species has generated a flood of genomic data, so that genetic changes may be correlated with species’ phenotypes. Our genomes are modified by mutagenic agents such as retroviruses (ERVs) and transposable elements (TEs). Empirical data confirm that random accumulations of ERVs and TEs in the human genome have rewired regulatory networks in early embryos (ERV-like MaLR elements), embryonic stem cells (ERV-H), and primordial germ cells (ERV-K). Altered regulation of gene activity in neural cells has been evinced for a class of TEs called SVA elements. Random, stochastic events in the context of natural laws that are hospitable to life may indeed generate new genetic information. Christians may see such phenomena as aspects of a freely operating and fruitful creation. Acceptance of biological evolution and the role of randomness in an anthropic cosmos are indeed compatible with the biblical concept of creation—that the whole system is ordained, ordered, and sustained by a purposeful and self-revealing God.
Keywords: creation; evolution; gift of existence; humanness; randomness
Full text available here
https://journal.iscast.org/articles/being-and-becoming-the-complementarity-of-creation-and-evolution
Author's bio: Graeme Finlay is retired from teaching scientific pathology at the University of Auckland and is a lay preacher. He has written Human Evolution (Cambridge University Press, 2013), The Gospel According to Dawkins (Austin-Macauley, 2017), Evolution and Eschatology (Wipf and Stock, 2021), and God’s Gift of Science (Wipf and Stock, 2022). He is married to Jean, a musician, and they have two adult offspring.
Abstract: Modern developments in evolutionary and cognitive science have increasingly challenged the view that humans are distinctive creatures. In theological anthropology, this view is germane to the doctrine of the image of God. To address these challenges, imago Dei theology has shifted from substantial toward functional and relational interpretations: the image of God is manifested in our divine mandate to rule the world, or in the unique personal relationships we have with God and with each other. If computers ever attain human-level Artificial Intelligence, such imago Dei interpretations could be seriously contested. This article reviews the recent shifts in theological anthropology and reflects theologically on the questions raised by the potential scenario of human-level AI. It argues that a positive outcome of this interdisciplinary dialogue is possible: theological anthropology has much to gain from engaging with AI. Comparing ourselves to intelligent machines, far from endangering our uniqueness, might instead lead to a better understanding of what makes humans genuinely distinctive and in the image of God.
Keywords: artificial intelligence; human distinctiveness; imago Dei; relationship; vulnerability
Full text available here
https://journal.iscast.org/articles/imago-dei-in-the-age-of-artificial-intelligence-challenges-and-opportunities-for-a-science-engaged-theology
Author's bio: Marius Dorobantu is a Theology & Science researcher at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and a fellow of the ISSR. His doctoral dissertation (at the University of Strasbourg) investigated the potential challenges of human-level AI for the theological understanding of human distinctiveness and the image of God. The article presented here was supported by the Templeton World Charity Foundation under Grant TWCF0542. The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Templeton World Charity Foundation.
Abstract: The lines of biological evolution are documented in the genomic “texts” of species. Phylogenies of texts, both genetic and literary, can be studied by the same methodologies. In each case, scholars use the presence of variants to elucidate the history of their chosen text—whether it be genetic (the four chemical letters inscribed in DNA) or alphabetic (the letters of biblical languages such as Hebrew and Greek). Several conclusions arise. First, genetic and textual variants constitute the data from which phylogenetic trees of organisms and manuscripts (respectively) may be constructed. Second, such analyses assume the existence of (now extinct) ancestral genomes and ancestral texts, providing evidence that such urtexts existed and enable their reconstruction. Third, biological evolution belongs to the category of history, and like all histories, can be understood as development within the created order. Fourth, biological evolution raises questions about divine providence that are similar to questions that arise from any other history. Fifth, theologians need to develop a theology of evolutionary history in the same way as they seek to understand God’s [151] action in biblical history (allowing that only the latter involves personal creatures).
Keywords: comparative genomics; evolution; history; providence; textual criticism
Full text available here
https://journal.iscast.org/articles/evolution-as-history-phylogenetics-of-genomes-and-manuscripts
Author's bio: Graeme Finlay is retired from teaching scientific pathology at the University of Auckland and is a lay preacher. He has written Human Evolution (Cambridge University Press, 2013), The Gospel According to Dawkins (Austin-Macauley, 2017), Evolution and Eschatology (Wipf and Stock, 2021) and God’s Gift of Science (Wipf and Stock, 2022). He is married to Jean, a musician, and they have two adult offspring.
Abstract: To save what is human (and humane) about the human sciences, the subject/object dyad must be abandoned in favour of a semiotic and an anthropological point of view. This viewpoint draws on the interaction of several signifiers in dialogue with a salient space similar in nature to the transitional field of psychoanalysis and—via an interpretation of that space—to the iconic function of human culture as seen by patristic wisdom. To attain this viewpoint entails abandoning the idea that the human sciences are supposed to explain the human being. Their task is to clarify the plural and ecological character of humans.[1]
Keywords: Anthropic zones; Byzantine icons; human sciences; ontology; person; semiotics; subject/object dyad; transitional objects
Full text available here
https://journal.iscast.org/articles/on-subjects-objects-transitional-fields-and-icons-the-semiotics-of-a-new-paradigm-in-human-studies
Author's bio: Marcello La Matina is Professor of Semiotics and Philosophy of Language at the Department of Human Studies, University of Macerata, Italy. The author expresses his gratitude to the CPOSAT referees, whose comments contributed to bringing this article, which has known a long gestation, to the current form. He also acknowledges that he alone must be held responsible for any oversights and errors still to be found in the text.
Abstract: This article continues the author’s tribute to Bruce Craven, published on the ISCAST website earlier this year and reproduced here, revised and expanded, in the Appendix. Craven’s relevant contributions are reviewed in the hope that both ISCAST members and other readers can appreciate his robust thinking at the nexus of Christianity and science. The approach is straightforward, the author focusing on Craven’s articles published in Christian Perspectives on Science and Technology, where he gleans true gems and a few weaknesses. What emerges at the end of this exploration is the portrait of Bruce Craven as a Christian “questioning thinker” who—equiped with the specific skills of his mathematical expertise—is able to inspire his readers today, as he did in the past.
Keywords: Bruce Craven; creation narratives; divine presence; evolution; scientific method
Full text available here
https://journal.iscast.org/articles/bruce-craven-contrarian-or-questioning-thinker
Author's bio: Emeritus Professor John Pilbrow is a Life Fellow and former President of ISCAST.
Abstract: This article shows that beliefs or convictions permeate the use of the scientific method just as they permeate religion. To that end, it begins by showing how belief is a prerequisite for both religion and for the deployment of the scientific method as a valid tool for empirical science. Then it describes the scientific method, bringing to the fore the extent to which it entails faith or beliefs. It also shows that Deuteronomy 18 and other biblical passages prove critical thinking to be embedded in the faith both in the use of religion and in the scientific method.
Keywords: circular reasoning, conflict narrative, faith, falsification, scientific method
Full text available here
https://journal.iscast.org/articles/faith-deuteronomy-1821-22-and-the-scientific-method
Author's bio: Rev. Dr Charles Riding is a retired minister of the Presbyterian Church of Australia, having ministered in six parishes over forty years. Before that he taught mathematics and science, particularly physics, at all high school grades. He has published several articles in Reformed Theological Review.
Abstract: Brian Cox, at the end of his fifth episode in the 2021 BBC series Universe, says that big questions like, “why is there anything at all?” are scientific questions about nature. The paper challenges this form of naturalism by drawing on the work of V. J. Stenger, who derived virtually all the great laws of physics L from some physical knowledge and from a principle of point-of-view-invariance used by physicists in their enquiries. We will call this result R. The move from R to metaphysics is motivated by R having the oddity that L, operating from the Big Bang, are derivable from premises that include something that appears billions of years later, namely physicists using the above principle. The move is only justified if it can overcome two blockers: #1 that R is explicable wholly within the resources of the natural sciences; #2 that R is a brute fact. Either way, seeking a further explanation is not justified. I show these blockers logically cannot hold. Seeking a metaphysical explanation of R is therefore justified. It is shown that it is not unreasonable to conclude the universe is structured according to the laws of physics by God, the creator of the universe ex nihilo, in order that the universe be knowable through empirical enquiry, by embodied rational agents, using the principle of point-of-view-invariance.
Keywords: laws of physics; physicalism; point-of-view-invariance; Universe (2021 BBC series)
Full text available at
https://journal.iscast.org/articles/from-physics-to-metaphysics-a-new-way
Author's bio: Stephen Ames is an Honorary Fellow of the School of Historical and Philosophical Studies in The University of Melbourne, Australia. He holds a PhD in Physics and a PhD in Philosophy of Science, both from Melbourne. The author has greatly benefited from conversations with Neil Thomason, Keith Hutchison, Kristian Camilleri, William Stoeger SJ, Roger Lewis, John Pilbrow, Matthew Pinson SJ, and Sean Devine. Any remaining errors are entirely the author’s responsibility.
Abstract: Archaeological evidence records the sacking of the city of Jericho, but radiocarbon dating of this event puts it much earlier than the generally accepted dates for the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt. Since the Bible claims that Jericho was destroyed forty years after the exodus, this discrepancy has led most scholars to question the historicity of the biblical account. Many have concluded that the exodus from Egypt and the Israelite conquest of Canaan were not real events. Surprisingly, radiocarbon dating
of the Late Bronze Age is also in question, because at several critical sites such as Akrotiri, Avaris, and Jericho, radiocarbon ages are consistently older than dates from pottery stratigraphy. These discrepancies are a huge problem for both biblical and secular archaeology. On the one hand, there is a lack of evidence to support the historicity of the biblical account; on the other hand, secular archaeologists have failed to explain the Middle Bronze Age “collapse” in Canaan, of which the fall of Jericho was a part. This paper reviews radiocarbon constraints for several important sites, and concludes that the coherence of biblical and archaeological accounts would be greatly improved by adopting an early sixteenth-century date for the biblical exodus.
Abstract: Evolutionary biology is regarded with suspicion in some theological circles. However, the era of DNA sequencing, allowing linear side-by-side comparisons of our genome with those of related species, has revealed how our genetic “text”—that is, our genome—has incrementally developed, and has provided compelling insights into our evolutionary history. This paper presents examples of mutations in our genetic text that have generated features of our characteristically human biology. It is suggested that our genetic text be thought of as the Primal Testament, analogously to the Old and New Testaments that describe the history of God’s dealings with humankind. There are clear differences between the Primal Testament and those of the scriptures. The Primal Testament describes an impersonal and nonmoral history. But the three testaments have in common their witness to God’s purposes, their accounts of God’s creation of new realities (biological organisms, Israel, and the church), and their depictions of richer conceptions of life (successively, biological, personal/communal, and the Spirit-indwelt zoe aionios). The three testaments all describe contingent histories arising from God’s gift of freedom to the creatures. The histories alike describe ambiguities, suffering (even extinctions), goal-directedness, and incompleteness as they together anticipate God’s consummation of all things in the New Creation.
Abstract: The application of biomedical technology to human enhancement raises important philosophical, theological, and ethical questions. This paper focuses on questions relating to the practice of medicine: in particular, whether medicine should be in the business of human enhancement. I briefly outline the landscape of human enhancement, or better, anthropotechnics, and articulate a theological framework for the justification of biomedical research. I outline a theology of medicine in which vulnerability is recognised to be a fundamental feature of human existence, and care of various kinds is medicine’s primary response to it. In light of those theological perspectives, I seek to determine whether anthropotechnics and associated research is the proper concern of medicine. I close with some reflections on medicine, technology, and the commodification of the body in the late modern West.
Abstract: Over the last two decades, the engagement of various Orthodox Christian groups with digital communication technology increased significantly in Greece. The outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic not only reinforced the existing trend of using technology to support religious activities and outreach, but also brought to light previous pastoral and ecclesial concerns about worship and the dissemination of the Gospel message. The present paper explores the attitude of various Greek Orthodox circles towards digital communication expressed in representative periodicals and websites, before and during the pandemic. To understand this attitude, it provides an overview of how these groups have perceived communication technology since the 1950s, especially the use of radio and television for liturgical purposes. This paper shows that certain pastoral and ecclesial concerns regarding worship, the dissemination of the Gospel message, and the nature of the church have persisted over time, conditioning the attitude of some Greek Orthodox Christians towards contemporary digital media.
Keywords: communication technology, digital communication, Greek Orthodox Christian circles, radio, television
Full text available here: https://journal.iscast.org/articles/greek-orthodox-perceptions-of-communication-technology-past-and-present
Abstract: The Kantian “limits of knowledge” powerfully regulates the Enlightenment-framed contemporary academy as secular, methodologically atheistic, and functionally materialist when it comes to public knowledge. This shapes all science and religion discourse considered palatable to an Enlightenment sensibility. This limit makes public knowledge blind to the divine and the demonic in everyday life (and in extremis). The paper argues that this blindness illustrates the abstract and artificial conception of reality that governs academic knowledge. If “religion” adapts itself to these limits in order to dialogue successfully with “science” in an Enlightenment framed academy, it also becomes abstract and artificial. Using Nicholas of Cusa and Johann Hamann, the paper attempts to reclaim “learned ignorance” as a viable alternative to the Kantian “limits of knowledge.” Returning to the “science and religion” domain, the paper concludes by noting that conflict in the basic framing of reality and knowledge is now inherent if theology is to uphold a learned ignorance perspective on reality and natural philosophy. I argue that this sort of conflict should not be feared and is necessary to save modern science from floundering in its own metaphysical vacuum or being swept aside by a post-truth totally poetic constructivism.
Keywords: demonic, divine, Kant, limits of knowledge, Nicholas of Cusa, science and religion
Full text available here: https://journal.iscast.org/articles/learned-ignorance-on-enlightened-blindness-to-the-divine-and-the-demonic
Abstract: This article considers three picture book biographies of the artist and scientist Maria Sibylla Merian, and the metanarratives on science and religion that are embedded in each. Merian is famous for her detailed drawings of the lifecycle of insects within their ecosystem and for rejecting the old theory of spontaneous generation, which still had currency in Europe. The picture books bring to the fore Merian’s scientific curiosity and her skills of observation that swept away old superstitions about insects. The metanarratives cued through the visual imagery of her picture books ignore the underpinnings of Merian’s Calvinist faith in her commitment to portraying the details of insect ecosystems. These metanarratives also ignore Merian’s emergence as an entrepreneur within Protestant society and her contributions to the commodification of “exotic” nature in a colonial context.
Keywords: Calvinism; entomology; insects; Merian; metamorphosis; picture books
Full text available here: https://journal.iscast.org/articles/maria-sibylla-merian-in-picture-books-metanarratives-about-science-and-religion
Author's bio: Danielle Terceiro is completing a PhD by publication at Alphacrucis University College, considering how multimodal texts such as picture books and graphic novels make meaning through the interaction of word and image. This article was prepared with the financial support of ISCAST’s Integrate Award. The author would like to thank the reviewers of this article for their very constructive and insightful feedback.
Abstract: At a time when mental health is generally deteriorating, editors Eudoxia Delli and Vasileios Thermos have opportunely produced a volume that closely examines the intersection of Orthodox Christian theology and contemporary psychoanalysis. This volume provides access for English-speaking readers to a vibrant conversation on this topic, as it currently occurs in the Greek context. This review essay considers the insights this volume provides, and the application of these insights to the life of the church. The volume is a valuable contribution that argues persuasively from a variety of perspectives that the church and psychoanalysis can and ought to enjoy a fruitful and beneficial partnership. The art of looking within is as important today as ever, but more so in our age of widespread mental health issues.
Keywords: mystical theology; Orthodox Christian theology; pastoral care; psychoanalysis
Full text available here: https://journal.iscast.org/articles/reflections-on-the-relationship-between-orthodox-christian-theology-and-psychoanalysis-a-review-essay
Author's bio: Fr Antonios Kaldas lectures in Philosophy at St Cyril’s Coptic Orthodox Theological College within the Sydney College of Divinity. He has served as parish priest since 1991, was previously a medical practitioner, and is currently an active researcher in philosophy of mind and cognitive science.
Abstract: In this review essay, I examine in detail Nick Spencer’s recent book, Magisteria: The Entangled Histories of Science and Religion (2023). While there is much to commend in Spencer’s narrative, there are some glaring omissions. These omissions can lead the reader to assess the “entangled” relationship between science and religion incorrectly, despite Spencer’s promotion of a complexity thesis. This essay endeavours to disentangle the “entangled histories of science and religion.” It also seeks to correct the still-common view that the “conflict” between “science and religion” first emerged during the nineteenth century. It did not. In fact, the conflict between science and religion has a long history of contending theological traditions. In short, to understand the entangled histories of science and religion one must be aware of the complex history of theological thought.
Keywords: Andrew D. White; conflict thesis; history of Christianity; John W. Draper; nineteenth-century theology; science and religion
Full text available here: https://journal.iscast.org/articles/disentangling-the-histories-of-science-and-religion
Author's bio: Dr James C. Ungureanu teaches religious studies and philosophy at The Stony Brook School, in Long Island, New York. He authored Science, Religion, and the Protestant Tradition: Retracing the Origins of Conflict (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2019) and coauthored Of Popes and Unicorns: Science, Christianity, and How the Conflict Thesis Fooled the World (Oxford University Press, 2022).
Abstract: The supposed conflict between science and religion is widely assumed to be longstanding and inevitable, but in fact is very recent, logically invalid, and unnecessary. Science and religion belong to different domains of human experience, so each can decide only between alternative explanations offered within their own domain, not across domains. The conflict image can descend into warfare when both sides ignore the dangers of misinterpreting the logical rules of inference and of selective perception of data. The most strident voices rarely admit their mutual lack of training in the sophisticated philosophy of metaphysical reasoning and the serious literature underlying their opponents’ position. Both sides base their arguments on necessarily incomplete models of invisible realities, treated as if they are as tangible as real life, so both fall into the “fallacy of misplaced concreteness.” Atheists promote materialism as a simpler alternative to religion, ignoring warnings from quantum physicists that the structure of the world is increasingly mysterious, and far from simple. Science does not entail materialism. The conflict image could be defused with dignity if the opposing sides agreed to take each other seriously, consider the hierarchical structure of reality seen and unseen, and work together for the benefit of the communities of both science and religion.
Keywords: history of religion; metaphysics; models of invisible reality; philosophy of science
Full text available here: https://journal.iscast.org/articles/an-unnecessary-war-the-tragedy-and-wasted-effort-of-the-conflict-between-science-and-religion
Author's bio: Carolyn M. King, FRSNZ, is Professor Emerita, University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand. Holder of doctorates in science (Oxford, 1971) and religious studies (Waikato, 1999).
Abstract: The genomic era has provided unassailable evidence that humans have evolved from common ancestors we share with chimpanzees and (further back in time) with all other primates and with all other mammals. One class of this evidence is the presence of ancient viral genes that were spliced into the genomes of our prehuman ancestors and transmitted to us. Retroviruses are the classical exemplar of this phenomenon, but more recently genes derived from potentially pathogenic bornaviruses have been discovered in our genome. At least two of these genes have been coopted to provide important functions. The advent of humanity, due in part to capabilities generated by random genetic mechanisms, is describable in theological terms as creatio ex vetere—creation of the new from the old (from stardust and antecedent species). This concept is applicable to the biblical depiction of human development, as seen in the commissioning of humanity as the image of God. Genetic changes are usually innocuous but may generate either disease or new capabilities. The cost of evolution reflects the biblical theme that suffering precedes glory, of which the history of Jesus is paradigmatic. Our biological history argues against our tendency to self-glorification—our hubris—but can be seen, from a theological point of view, to be part of the divine plan by which a redeemed and transformed humanity will be raised to share in the very life of God.
Keywords: creatio ex vetere; human genome; image of God; endogenous bornaviruses; evolution; suffering
Full text available here: https://journal.iscast.org/articles/bornavirus-genes-in-the-human-genome-bringing-the-new-from-the-old
Author's bio: Graeme Finlay is retired from teaching scientific pathology at the University of Auckland and is a lay preacher. He has written Human Evolution (Cambridge University Press, 2013), The Gospel According to Dawkins (Austin-Macauley, 2017), Evolution and Eschatology (Wipf and Stock, 2021), and God’s Gift of Science (Wipf and Stock, 2022). He is married to Jean, a musician, and they have two wonderful adult offspring.
Abstract: This article investigates the earliest Christian encounter with ancient China through the missionaries of the Church of the East in the seventh century. In his monumental Science and Civilisation in China, Joseph Needham argues that China was then a country with one of the world’s most advanced science and technology. It was also a time when Buddhism, Daoism, Confucianism, Manichaeism, and Zoroastrianism contributed to a pluralistic society. The paper attempts to answer questions such as: How did the Christian missionaries, as representatives of a minority religion, engage with techno-scientific China theologically? Were their efforts successful? What critical lessons can we learn from their successes and/or failures? By studying the earliest Christian texts in China, the proposal argues that, being equipped with advanced Greek-Byzantine scientific knowledge and skills in medicine, architecture, astronomy, and mechanics, the Church of the East missionaries boldly engaged with the ancient techno-scientific and pluralistic China through their qi- tological, or creative pneumatological approach, which is closely intertwined with the Chinese metaphysical concept of qi (or Chi, breath, air). The article proposes that such an approach serves as a crucial bridge toward a constructive Chinese theology of science for the pluralistic world of the third millennium.
Keywords: Church of the East; Jingjiao; qi-tological approach; techno-scientific China; theology and science
Full text available here:
https://journal.iscast.org/articles/christianitys-earliest-encounter-with-the-ancient-techno-scientific-china-critical-lessons-from-jingjiaos-approach
Author's bio: Jacob Chengwei Feng is currently a PhD candidate (ABD) at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, CA, majoring in Theological Studies. His research interests include systematic theology, theological interpretation of Scripture, Chinese theology, religion and science, and ecumenical and interfaith dialogue with world religions. The author is grateful to the CPOSAT reviewers and proofreaders for their input and suggestions.
Abstract: In this paper, I engage work done in philosophy, theology, and addiction science to argue that the church possesses resources for preventing technology addiction. First, I briefly sketch what technology addiction is and provide evidence to suggest that it is rapidly growing. Then, I suggest two causes for the growth of technology addiction: boredom and the desire for a meaningful identity. Third, I discuss two resources that the ancient churches possess to address these two causes. These two resources are the doctrine of divinisation and the sacrament of reconciliation. Fourth, I argue that some Protestant traditions possess similar practices for addressing technology addiction. The significance of my thesis is that the church can help preventing non-addicted people from falling prey to technology addiction.
Keywords: addiction theory; boredom; divinisation; meaningful identity; philosophy; technology
Full text available here:
https://journal.iscast.org/articles/church-responses-and-theological-resources-for-technological-addiction
Author's bio: Armand Babakhanian is a graduate student of philosophy at Georgia State University and a Roman Catholic. He received his Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from Biola University in 2022. His current areas of interest are in the history of philosophy, philosophy of religion, metaphysics, and theology. The author acknowledges the editors of this journal, Kent Dunnington, and the two anonymous reviewers for their helpful suggestions that led to the improvement of his paper.
Abstract: The Genesis 1 creation story is an enigma to modern society because it reads like a historical account, and yet does not accord with scientific descriptions of origins. The cosmic temple model explains some of the puzzling features of Genesis 1, including its six/seven-day structure. However, it leaves many unanswered questions, including the watery beginning of the earth, in contrast to the desert-like beginning of creation in Genesis 2. Nevertheless, the watery beginning and seven-day structure of Genesis 1 provide links with the biblical and Mesopotamian Flood stories. In addition, the stages of creation in Genesis 1 seem to closely mirror the re-creation of the earth after the Flood. This leads to the suggestion here that Genesis 1 was revealed as a series of visions inspired by the experience of Noah’s Flood. Inspiration of the creation story by the cosmic Flood would have grounded the account in historical reality, and also served to intensify its spiritual message. However, this implies that attempts to find concordance between Genesis 1 and scientific accounts of origins are mistaken. Instead, seeing Genesis 1 as a True Myth inspired by the Flood imparts the reality of God’s creation at a deeper level of human experience than a rational scientific explanation could ever achieve.
Keywords: creation; flood; history; spiritual intensification; true myth; watery chaos
Full text available here:
https://journal.iscast.org/articles/recovering-genesis-one-from-scientific-and-societal-misunderstanding
Author's bio: Alan Dickin (DPhil, Oxford) is Emeritus Professor of Geology at McMaster University, Ontario, Canada, where he worked in the School of Earth Environment and Society. His books include A Scientific Commentary on Genesis 1–11 (2015) and From the Stone Age to Abraham: A Biblical History of the Ancient World (2021).
Longstanding debates relating to biological evolution concern whether random events (mutations of DNA) are able to generate new functionality, and whether such proposed evolutionary mechanisms are compatible with belief in divine creation. The sequencing of genomes from multiple species has generated a flood of genomic data, so that genetic changes may be correlated with species’ phenotypes. Our genomes are modified by mutagenic agents such as retroviruses (ERVs) and transposable elements (TEs). Empirical data confirm that random accumulations of ERVs and TEs in the human genome have rewired regulatory networks in early embryos (ERV-like MaLR elements), embryonic stem cells (ERV-H), and primordial germ cells (ERV-K). Altered regulation of gene activity in neural cells has been evinced for a class of TEs called SVA elements. Random, stochastic events in the context of natural laws that are hospitable to life may indeed generate new genetic information. Christians may see such phenomena as aspects of a freely operating and fruitful creation. Acceptance of biological evolution and the role of randomness in an anthropic cosmos are indeed compatible with the biblical concept of creation—that the whole system is ordained, ordered, and sustained by a purposeful and self-revealing God.
Keywords: creation; evolution; gift of existence; humanness; randomness
Full text available here
https://journal.iscast.org/articles/being-and-becoming-the-complementarity-of-creation-and-evolution
Author's bio: Graeme Finlay is retired from teaching scientific pathology at the University of Auckland and is a lay preacher. He has written Human Evolution (Cambridge University Press, 2013), The Gospel According to Dawkins (Austin-Macauley, 2017), Evolution and Eschatology (Wipf and Stock, 2021), and God’s Gift of Science (Wipf and Stock, 2022). He is married to Jean, a musician, and they have two adult offspring.
Abstract: Modern developments in evolutionary and cognitive science have increasingly challenged the view that humans are distinctive creatures. In theological anthropology, this view is germane to the doctrine of the image of God. To address these challenges, imago Dei theology has shifted from substantial toward functional and relational interpretations: the image of God is manifested in our divine mandate to rule the world, or in the unique personal relationships we have with God and with each other. If computers ever attain human-level Artificial Intelligence, such imago Dei interpretations could be seriously contested. This article reviews the recent shifts in theological anthropology and reflects theologically on the questions raised by the potential scenario of human-level AI. It argues that a positive outcome of this interdisciplinary dialogue is possible: theological anthropology has much to gain from engaging with AI. Comparing ourselves to intelligent machines, far from endangering our uniqueness, might instead lead to a better understanding of what makes humans genuinely distinctive and in the image of God.
Keywords: artificial intelligence; human distinctiveness; imago Dei; relationship; vulnerability
Full text available here
https://journal.iscast.org/articles/imago-dei-in-the-age-of-artificial-intelligence-challenges-and-opportunities-for-a-science-engaged-theology
Author's bio: Marius Dorobantu is a Theology & Science researcher at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and a fellow of the ISSR. His doctoral dissertation (at the University of Strasbourg) investigated the potential challenges of human-level AI for the theological understanding of human distinctiveness and the image of God. The article presented here was supported by the Templeton World Charity Foundation under Grant TWCF0542. The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Templeton World Charity Foundation.
Abstract: The lines of biological evolution are documented in the genomic “texts” of species. Phylogenies of texts, both genetic and literary, can be studied by the same methodologies. In each case, scholars use the presence of variants to elucidate the history of their chosen text—whether it be genetic (the four chemical letters inscribed in DNA) or alphabetic (the letters of biblical languages such as Hebrew and Greek). Several conclusions arise. First, genetic and textual variants constitute the data from which phylogenetic trees of organisms and manuscripts (respectively) may be constructed. Second, such analyses assume the existence of (now extinct) ancestral genomes and ancestral texts, providing evidence that such urtexts existed and enable their reconstruction. Third, biological evolution belongs to the category of history, and like all histories, can be understood as development within the created order. Fourth, biological evolution raises questions about divine providence that are similar to questions that arise from any other history. Fifth, theologians need to develop a theology of evolutionary history in the same way as they seek to understand God’s [151] action in biblical history (allowing that only the latter involves personal creatures).
Keywords: comparative genomics; evolution; history; providence; textual criticism
Full text available here
https://journal.iscast.org/articles/evolution-as-history-phylogenetics-of-genomes-and-manuscripts
Author's bio: Graeme Finlay is retired from teaching scientific pathology at the University of Auckland and is a lay preacher. He has written Human Evolution (Cambridge University Press, 2013), The Gospel According to Dawkins (Austin-Macauley, 2017), Evolution and Eschatology (Wipf and Stock, 2021) and God’s Gift of Science (Wipf and Stock, 2022). He is married to Jean, a musician, and they have two adult offspring.
Abstract: To save what is human (and humane) about the human sciences, the subject/object dyad must be abandoned in favour of a semiotic and an anthropological point of view. This viewpoint draws on the interaction of several signifiers in dialogue with a salient space similar in nature to the transitional field of psychoanalysis and—via an interpretation of that space—to the iconic function of human culture as seen by patristic wisdom. To attain this viewpoint entails abandoning the idea that the human sciences are supposed to explain the human being. Their task is to clarify the plural and ecological character of humans.[1]
Keywords: Anthropic zones; Byzantine icons; human sciences; ontology; person; semiotics; subject/object dyad; transitional objects
Full text available here
https://journal.iscast.org/articles/on-subjects-objects-transitional-fields-and-icons-the-semiotics-of-a-new-paradigm-in-human-studies
Author's bio: Marcello La Matina is Professor of Semiotics and Philosophy of Language at the Department of Human Studies, University of Macerata, Italy. The author expresses his gratitude to the CPOSAT referees, whose comments contributed to bringing this article, which has known a long gestation, to the current form. He also acknowledges that he alone must be held responsible for any oversights and errors still to be found in the text.
Abstract: This article continues the author’s tribute to Bruce Craven, published on the ISCAST website earlier this year and reproduced here, revised and expanded, in the Appendix. Craven’s relevant contributions are reviewed in the hope that both ISCAST members and other readers can appreciate his robust thinking at the nexus of Christianity and science. The approach is straightforward, the author focusing on Craven’s articles published in Christian Perspectives on Science and Technology, where he gleans true gems and a few weaknesses. What emerges at the end of this exploration is the portrait of Bruce Craven as a Christian “questioning thinker” who—equiped with the specific skills of his mathematical expertise—is able to inspire his readers today, as he did in the past.
Keywords: Bruce Craven; creation narratives; divine presence; evolution; scientific method
Full text available here
https://journal.iscast.org/articles/bruce-craven-contrarian-or-questioning-thinker
Author's bio: Emeritus Professor John Pilbrow is a Life Fellow and former President of ISCAST.
Abstract: This article shows that beliefs or convictions permeate the use of the scientific method just as they permeate religion. To that end, it begins by showing how belief is a prerequisite for both religion and for the deployment of the scientific method as a valid tool for empirical science. Then it describes the scientific method, bringing to the fore the extent to which it entails faith or beliefs. It also shows that Deuteronomy 18 and other biblical passages prove critical thinking to be embedded in the faith both in the use of religion and in the scientific method.
Keywords: circular reasoning, conflict narrative, faith, falsification, scientific method
Full text available here
https://journal.iscast.org/articles/faith-deuteronomy-1821-22-and-the-scientific-method
Author's bio: Rev. Dr Charles Riding is a retired minister of the Presbyterian Church of Australia, having ministered in six parishes over forty years. Before that he taught mathematics and science, particularly physics, at all high school grades. He has published several articles in Reformed Theological Review.
Abstract: Brian Cox, at the end of his fifth episode in the 2021 BBC series Universe, says that big questions like, “why is there anything at all?” are scientific questions about nature. The paper challenges this form of naturalism by drawing on the work of V. J. Stenger, who derived virtually all the great laws of physics L from some physical knowledge and from a principle of point-of-view-invariance used by physicists in their enquiries. We will call this result R. The move from R to metaphysics is motivated by R having the oddity that L, operating from the Big Bang, are derivable from premises that include something that appears billions of years later, namely physicists using the above principle. The move is only justified if it can overcome two blockers: #1 that R is explicable wholly within the resources of the natural sciences; #2 that R is a brute fact. Either way, seeking a further explanation is not justified. I show these blockers logically cannot hold. Seeking a metaphysical explanation of R is therefore justified. It is shown that it is not unreasonable to conclude the universe is structured according to the laws of physics by God, the creator of the universe ex nihilo, in order that the universe be knowable through empirical enquiry, by embodied rational agents, using the principle of point-of-view-invariance.
Keywords: laws of physics; physicalism; point-of-view-invariance; Universe (2021 BBC series)
Full text available at
https://journal.iscast.org/articles/from-physics-to-metaphysics-a-new-way
Author's bio: Stephen Ames is an Honorary Fellow of the School of Historical and Philosophical Studies in The University of Melbourne, Australia. He holds a PhD in Physics and a PhD in Philosophy of Science, both from Melbourne. The author has greatly benefited from conversations with Neil Thomason, Keith Hutchison, Kristian Camilleri, William Stoeger SJ, Roger Lewis, John Pilbrow, Matthew Pinson SJ, and Sean Devine. Any remaining errors are entirely the author’s responsibility.
Christian Perspectives on Science and Technology, New Series, Vol. 2 (2023).
Full text available here: https://journal.iscast.org/book-reviews/elaine-howard-ecklund-why-science-and-faith-need-each-other-eight-shared-values-that-move-us-beyond-fear
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John H. Walton: The Lost World of Adam and Eve: Genesis 2–3 and the Human Origins Debate. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2015; 258 pages.
Christian Perspectives on Science and Technology, New Series, Vol. 2 (2023).
Full text available here: https://journal.iscast.org/book-reviews/john-h-walton-the-lost-world-of-genesis-one-ancient-cosmology-and-the-origins-debate-and-the-lost-world-of-adam-and-eve-genesis-2-3-and-the-human-origins-debate
Christian Perspectives on Science and Technology, New Series, Vol. 2 (2023).
Full text available here: https://journal.iscast.org/book-reviews/philip-hefner-human-becoming-in-an-age-of-science-technology-and-faith-jason-p-roberts-and-mladen-turk-eds
Christian Perspectives on Science and Technology, New Series, Vol. 2 (2023).
Full text available here: https://journal.iscast.org/book-reviews/david-bradshaw-and-richard-swinburne-eds-natural-theology-in-the-eastern-orthodox-tradition
Christian Perspectives on Science and Technology, New Series, Vol. 2 (2023).
Full text available here: https://journal.iscast.org/book-reviews/elaine-howard-ecklund-and-david-r-johnson-varieties-of-atheism-in-science
Christian Perspectives on Science and Technology, New Series, Vol. 2 (2023).
Full text available here: https://journal.iscast.org/book-reviews/john-f-haught-is-nature-enough-meaning-and-truth-in-the-age-of-science
The Strange Tale of How the Conflict of Science and Christianity Was Written into History. Cascade Books, 2021; 378 pages.
Christian Perspectives on Science and Technology, New Series, Vol. 2 (2023).
Full text available here: https://journal.iscast.org/book-reviews/derrick-peterson-flat-earths-and-fake-footnotes-the-strange-tale-of-how-the-conflict-of-science-and-christianity-was-written-into-history
Christian Perspectives on Science and Technology, New Series, Vol. 2 (2023).
Full text available here: https://journal.iscast.org/book-reviews/paul-tyson-theology-and-climate-change
Complexity of the Universe Tells Us About Meaning. Cooma, NSW: Information Press, 2019; 152 pages.
Christian Perspectives on Science and Technology, New Series, Vol. 2 (2023).
Full text available here: https://journal.iscast.org/book-reviews/robert-wiles-the-mind-in-the-matrix-what-the-complexity-of-the-universe-tells-us-about-meaning
Christian Perspectives on Science and Technology, New Series, Vol. 2 (2023).
Full text available here: https://journal.iscast.org/book-reviews/peter-harrison-and-john-milbank-eds-after-science-and-religion-fresh-perspectives-from-philosophy-and-theology
Christian Perspectives on Science and Technology, New Series, Vol. 2 (2023).
Full text available here: https://journal.iscast.org/book-reviews/paul-tyson-seven-brief-lessons-on-magic
Christian Perspectives on Science and Technology, New Series, Vol. 2 (2023).
Full text available here: https://journal.iscast.org/book-reviews/marc-a-pugliese-and-john-becker-eds-process-thought-and-roman-catholicism-challenges-and-promises
Christian Perspectives on Science and Technology, New Series, Vol. 2 (2023).
Full text available here:
https://journal.iscast.org/book-reviews/at-the-margins-a-life-in-biomedical-science-faith-and-ethical-dilemmas-by-d-gareth-jones
Christian Perspectives on Science and Technology, New Series, Vol. 1 (2022), 241–244.
Full text available here:
https://journal.iscast.org/book-reviews/le-physiologus-grec-vol-1-la-reecriture-de-lhistoire-naturelle-antique-by-stavros-lazaris
Christian Perspectives on Science and Technology, New Series, Vol. 1 (2022), 241–244.
Full text available here:
https://journal.iscast.org/book-reviews/evolution-and-eschatology-genetic-science-and-the-goodness-of-god-by-graeme-finlay
Christian Perspectives on Science and Technology, New Series, Vol. 1 (2022), 237–240.
Full text available here:
https://journal.iscast.org/book-reviews/the-matter-of-everything-twelve-experiments-that-changed-our-world-by-suzie-sheehy
Christian Perspectives on Science and Technology, New Series, Vol. 1 (2022), 235–237.
Full text available here:
https://journal.iscast.org/book-reviews/gods-providence-and-randomness-in-nature-scientific-and-theological-perspectives-by-robert-john-russell-joshua-m-moritz-eds
Christian Perspectives on Science and Technology, New Series, Vol. 1 (2022), 230–235.
Full text available here:
https://journal.iscast.org/book-reviews/the-nature-of-things-rediscovering-the-spiritual-in-gods-creation-by-graham-buxton-and-norman-habel-eds
Christian Perspectives on Science and Technology, New Series, Vol. 1 (2022), 226–230.
Full text available here:
https://journal.iscast.org/book-reviews/from-extraterrestrials-to-animal-minds-six-myths-of-evolution-by-simon-conway-morris
Christian Perspectives on Science and Technology, New Series, Vol. 1 (2022), 223–226.
Full text available here:
https://journal.iscast.org/book-reviews/can-a-scientist-believe-in-miracles-an-mit-professor-answers-questions-on-god-and-science-by-ian-hutchinson
https://journal.iscast.org/full-issue/christian-perspectives-on-science-and-technology-volume-2-2023
As a foretaste, here is the frontmatter, attached.
https://journal.iscast.org/full-issue/christian-perspectives-on-science-and-technology-volume-1-2022
You are kindly invited to attend the online launch of ISCAST's journal's, Christian Perspectives on Science and Technology (new series)
When: 4 May 2023, from 8:00 to 9:00PM AEST
Where: online
Please RSVP by 1 May at
https://iscast.wildapricot.org/event-5237151
The video recording of the launch is now available
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmFceKnWm8c