Taking Rational Trouble Over the Mysteries

How can one believe in an age of doubt? How can we name the mystery of God in human words? Does nature speak of the glory of God? Does science undermine faith? Is the problem of evil unanswerable? In this volume scientists, theologians, philosophers, as well as a historian and social scientist, take seriously the challenge of knowing and speaking about God in an age of doubt and challenge. All New Zealand writers, the authors reflect a variety of styles, inputs, and assumptions from "down under." Some look to answer new atheists directly, others point out links between belief and unbelief in any age. There are essays that show us new ways of reading old texts. Scientists reflect on nature, its signs, and its obscurity. We are confronted also with the mixed picture of belief and unbelief that the last few hundred years reveals to us. Most of these essays have come out of seminars and conferences put on by TANSA (Theology and the Natural Sciences in Aotearoa), a forum for discussion and interpretation amongst scientists and theologians in New Zealand.

Nicola Hoggard Creegan lectures in systematic theology at Laidlaw College. She is author of Animal Suffering and the Problem of Evil (OUP, 2013).


Andrew Shepherd is a researcher and teacher in theology and ethics. He is involved in A Rocha Aotearoa New Zealand--a Christian conservation movement--and Servants to Asia's Urban Poor. His previous publications include the volume Taking Rational Trouble Over the Mysteries: Reactions to Atheism (2013), coedited with Nicola Hoggard Creegan.