Evolution: The Disguised Friend of Faith?

Arthur Peacocke, eminent priest-scientist, has collected thirteen of his essays for this volume. Previously published in various academic journals and edited books, the provocative essays expand upon the theme of the evolution of nature, humanity, and belief. They are grouped into three parts:

• Natural Evolution covers topics ranging from the implications of deterministic chaos; biological evolution and Christian theology; chance, potentiality, and God; complexity, emergence, and divine creativity.
• Humanity Evolving in the Presence of God, articulating God’s presence in and to the world as it is unveiled by the sciences; the chrysalis of the human; the nature and purpose of man in science and Christian theology.
• Theological Evolution—the Reshaping of Belief, dealing with science and the future of theology; public truth in religion; the incarnation of the self-expressive word of God; DNA; and the challenges and possibilities of western theism.

In the epilogue, Dr. Peacocke discusses wisdom in science and education, referring to Robert Grosseteste, a medieval scientist-theologian.

Dr. Arthur Peacocke, physical biochemist, Anglican priest, and the 2001 Templeton Prize Laureate, began his adult life as a "mild" agnostic but slowly became an adherent of Christianity. Seeking an alternative to automatic acceptance of the scriptural authority of the church, however, he began a thorough study of theology with the encouragement of a professor, Geoffrey Lampe. Among his major publications in this area are Creation and the World of Science (1979), which established further his international reputation, Intimations of Reality: Critical Realism in Science and Religion (1984), Theology for a Scientific Age (1990, 2nd edition 1993, including his 1993 Gifford Lectures), God and the New Biology (1994), From DNA to DEAN: Reflections and Explorations of a Priest-Scientist (1996), God and Science: A Quest for Christianity Credibility (1996), and Paths from Science Towards God: The End of All Our Exploring (2001).

Peacocke had an international reputation for his succinct, no-nonsense method of challenging dominant religious orthodoxies in writing and speech. Because of Dr. Peacocke’s extraordinary impact, he was selected as the winner of the 2001 Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion. At the Templeton Prize public ceremony at Guildhall, London, on May 9, 2001, Peacocke advised the scientific community to give religion its due. "The public image of the relation between science and religion has tended to be dominated by scientists who are not only gifted communicators of their respective sciences but who also, deeming science alone to be the source of knowledge and wisdom, seek to reduce human experience to purely scientific terms. This renders them antipathetic to the spiritual and religious experience of humanity, and the name of the sport becomes science versus religion."