Religion and Science Debate : Why Does It Continue?

Six acclaimed scholars—including a biologist, a sociologist, a historian, a philosopher, and a physicist—examine the evolution debate.

Eighty-one years after America witnessed the Scopes trial over the teaching of evolution in public schools, the debate between science and religion continues. In this book scholars from a variety of disciplines—sociology, history, science, and theology—provide new insights into the contemporary dialogue as well as some perspective suggestions for delineating the responsibilities of both the scientific and religious spheres.

Why does the tension between science and religion continue? How have those tensions changed during the past one hundred years? How have those tensions impacted the public debate about so-called “intelligent design” as a scientific alternative to evolution? With wit and wisdom the authors address the conflict from its philosophical roots to its manifestations within American culture. In doing so, they take an important step toward creating a society that reconciles scientific inquiry with the human spirit. This book, which marks the one hundredth anniversary of The Terry Lecture Series, offers a unique perspective for anyone interested in the debate between science and religion in America.

Harold W. Attridge is the Dean and Lillian Claus Professor of New Testament at the Yale Divinity School. Keith Thomson is professor emeritus of natural history, University of Oxford, and senior research fellow, American Philosophical Society. Ronald L. Numbers is Hilldale and William Coleman Professor of History of Science and Medicine, University of Wisconsin-Madison. Kenneth R. Miller is Professor of Biology, Brown University. Lawrence M. Krauss is Foundation Professor in the School of Earth and Space Exploration and Physics Department, and Inaugural Director of the Origins Initiative at Arizona State University. Alvin Plantinga is John A. O’Brien Professor of Philosophy, University of Notre Dame. Robert Wuthnow is Gerhard R. Andlinger Professor of Sociology and Director of the Center for the Study of Religion, Princeton University.