Science and Religion in a Postcolonial World: Interfaith Perspectives (ATF Science & Theology) - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1920691340 ISBN 13: 9781920691349

Publisher: ATF Press, 2005

Synopsis

This book addresses selected issues in the emerging field of science and religion and at the same time acknowledge the situation of Indonesia (or, more generally, a 'Third World' country) as the locus for this discussion. The book is concerned with how various world religions, in particular Islam and Christianity respond to shared challenges posed by science, as new theories in cosmology, physics, and the life sciences have brought challenges to many traditional religious ideas. There are also more generally epistemological challenges which reflect the recent success of natural science as a mode of inquiry. These are felt as problems in both the Western and non-Western worlds, but with an important difference. While the Western world is considered the "legitimate owner" of modern science, some in the Muslim world, and the Third World more generally, see modern science as a cultural alien imposed on them, due to its initial introduction in the colonial period.

Contributors Include:

Mahmoud Ayoub
Professor of Islamic Studies/Comparative Religion, Temple University, USA

Osman Bakar
Malaysia Chair of Islam in Southeast Asia, Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding, Georgetown University

Philip Clayton
Professor and Chair of the Philosophy Department, California State University, Sonoma; Principle Investigator, Science and the Spiritual Quest Project

Steve Fuller
Professor of Sociology at the University of Warwick, UK

Mehdi Golshani
Director of the Institute for Humanities and Culltural Studies, Tehran, Iran

Bruno Guiderdoni
Director of Research, Paris Institute of Astrophysics; Director, Islamic Institute for Advanced Studies

Teuku Jakob
Faculty of Medicine, Gadjah Mada University, Indonesia

Karlina Supelli
Driyarkara School of Philosophy, Jakarta

Meera Nanda
Visiting Scholar, Philosophy Department, Columbia University

J. Sudarminta, S.J.
Rector, Driyarkara Academy of Philosophy, Jakarta

William Grassie,
Founder and Excecutive Editor, Metanexus Institute on Religion and Science

Larry L. Rasmussen
Reinhold Niebuhr Professor of Social Ethics, Union Theological Seminary, New York City

About this title

About the Author

Zainal Abidin Bagir is a doctoral candidate at the Department of History and Philosophy of Science, Indiana University. His previous education includes undergraduate in mathemathics (Bandung Institute of Technology, Indonesia) and Master’s program in Islamic philosophy and science (International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilization, Kuala Lumpur). His Master’s thesis on The Problem of Definition in Islamic Logic (al-Faridi’s and Ibn Taimiyyah’s Criticisms) was published by ISTAC (1998). Since 2002 he has been a staff at the Center for Religious and Cross-cultural Studies, Gadjah Mada University, Indonesia, where he organized the program on religion and science, which includes organizing seminars and workshops, and editing several books. He is the chairpeson of Yogyakarta Society for Science and Religion. His academic interests are mainly science and religion (esp. in the context of Islam), contemporary philosophy of science, and Islamic philosophy. Prior to his study at IU he was a managing editor for a weekly news magazine in Indonesia (1994-1997), and is now a contributor of essays to several Indonesian magazines and newspapers.

Review

"Deftly compiled and edited by Zainal Abidin Bagir (Center for Religious and Cross-cultural Studies, Gadjah Mada University, Indonesia), Science And Religion In A Post-Colonial Word: Interfaith Perspectives is an in-depth study of conceptual findings and theories of modern science and the questioning required by the various theologies of diverse religions. Guiding readers with an easy-to-follow commentary on the "customization of sciences" as provided by the religious sects of Vedic, Islamic, Christian, and other faith-based rationales, Science And Religion presents the ideas and ideals of scientifically-inclined modern socially progressive understandings for phenomena and observations which religion has previously explained through their theologies. Science And Religion is to be given high praise and very strong recommendation as a well authored study of religious adaption and progressive interpretation in the face of modern scientific inquiries, findings, and theories."-- Midwest Book Review

About this edition

• Publisher: ATF Press
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 1920691340
• ISBN 13: 9781920691349
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 243
• Editor: Bagir Zainal A.