New Maps for Old: Explorations in Science and Religion [Paperback]

Mary Gerhardt (Author), Allan Melvin Russell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2001

Mary Gerhart and Allan Russell have been writing articles on science and religion together for twenty-five years. Their collaboration developed out of the conviction that both science and theology are today such highly developed and complicated fields that their interaction is best studied by two persons--one from each field--working together. In their efforts to map science and theology together, these are some of the questions they address:+ Do theologians and scientists see the same thing when they look at the world?+ Does myth play a role in science as it does in religion?+ How do metaphors function in science and religion?+ Why don't religious understandings change in a rational way--the way understandings in science do?+ Is theology required to take account of all of natural science when natural science is allowed to pick and choose the mathematics it uses?+ If we think of science as having "texts," can we apply to them the hermeneutical methods of religion? + When scientists and theologians discuss religious ideas, what (literary) form does their discussion take?+ Can the "weirdness" found in quantum physics provide an insight into the way God acts in the world?+ How are the design and construction of anthropomorphic robots like the creation of Adam and Eve?>

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The authors' [previous book] received considerable acclaim…the eleven essays in this volume continue this line of argument."
--Joseph A. Bracken, Interpretation, April 2002

"It is possible to be critical of many details in the book… But the boldness of the book's centra; hypothesis, that metaphoric process creates new meanings out of old, and the courage of putting that hypothesis to the test fully justify setting such criticisms aside as rhetorical simplifications." -Stephen Goldman, Lehigh University

"Amid the literature in science and religion, Gerhart and Russell's work stands as a unique and challenging contribution whose full influence is yet to be felt. They have helped point the way for further work that needs to be done in relating science and theology in terms of metaphor, text, and narrative—exchanging new maps for old." -- The Journal of Religion, January 2005 (Journal Of Religion )

“Amid the literature in science and religion, Gerhart and Russell’s work stands as a unique and challenging contribution whose full influence is yet to be felt. They have helped point the way for further work that needs to be done in relating science and theology in terms of metaphor, text, and narrative—exchanging new maps for old.” – The Journal of Religion, January 2005 (Journal Of Religion )

About the Author

Mary Gerhart is Professor of Religious Studies at Hobart and William Smith Colleges. She lives in Geneva, NY. Mary Gerhart is Professor of Religious Studies at Hobart and William Smith Colleges. Allan Melvin Russell is Professor of Physics Emeritus at Hobart and William Smith Colleges. Together they wrote Metaphoric Process: The Creation of Scientific and Religious Understandings as well as numerous articles and presentations. They live in Geneva, NY.

Product Details

• Paperback: 220 pages
• Publisher: Continuum (May 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0826413382
• ISBN-13: 978-0826413383
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.8 ounces
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,838,294 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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