Reason and Wonder: Why Science and Faith Need Each Other

Often science and religion are seen as completely separate enti­ties. Science exists in the realm of fact, whereas religion exists in the realm of faith. Conversations about genes, psychology, or even the meaning of life occur in silos. But as Eric Priest, Keith Ward, David Myers, N. T. Wright, and others show, these conversations are so much richer when both science and faith are incorporated.

This is exactly what Reason and Wonder does. Eric Priest has brought together twelve of the leading thinkers in science and theology to discuss everything from the origins of the universe to evolution and evil. At the heart of each essay is an understanding that the best science—and the best theology— are both undergirded by an appeal to reason as well as a deep sense of wonder.

Each of these great scientific and theological thinkers offers a chapter on their area of expertise, and the book closes with a stimulating set of questions for group discussion or personal reflection.

• Contributors and their topics include:
• Eric Priest: Towards an integration of science and religion
• Keith Ward: God, science and the New Atheism
• Eleonore Stump: Natural law, reductionism and the Creator
• David Wilkinson: The origin and end of the universe: A challenge for Christianity
• Jennifer Wiseman: Universe of wonder, universe of life
• Kenneth R. Miller: Evolution, faith and science
• Michael J. Murray and Jeff Schloss: Evolution and evil
• Pauline Rudd: Is there more to life than genes?
• David G. Myers: Psychological science meets Christian faith
• John Wyatt: Being a person: Towards an integration of neuroscientific and Christian perspectives
• John Swinton: From projection to connection: Conversa­tions between science, spirituality and health
• Mark Harris: Do the miracles of Jesus contradict science?
• N. T. Wright: Can a scientist trust the New Testament? 

Eric Priest was appointed as a lecturer (1968) and profes­sor (1983) at St Andrews University, where he founded an internationally renowned research group on solar theory. His honors include being elected a member of the Norwegian Academy of Sciences and Letters (1994) and a fellow of the Royal Society (2002). In 2002 he was awarded the Hale Prize of the American Astronomical Society and in 2009 the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society. In 2015 St Andrews Univer­sity awarded him an honorary DSc. He has edited fifteen books and written three research monographs and 460 journal papers.