Evolution, Chance, and God: Understanding the Relationship between Evolution and Religion

✍ Scribed by Brendan Sweetman

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Year: 2015
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 249
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Evolution, Chance, and God looks at the relationship between religion and evolution from a philosophical perspective. This relationship is fascinating, complex and often very controversial, involving myriad issues that are difficult to keep separate from each other. Evolution, Chance, and God introduces the reader to the main themes of this debate and to the theory of evolution, while arguing for a particular viewpoint, namely that evolution and religion are compatible, and that, contrary to the views of some influential thinkers, there is no chance operating in the theory of evolution, a conclusion that has great significance for teleology.
One of the main aims of this book is not simply to critique one influential contemporary view that evolution and religion are incompatible, but to explore specific ways of how we might understand their compatibility, as well as the implications of evolution for religious belief. This involves an exploration of how and why God might have created by means of evolution, and what the consequences in particular are for the status of human beings in creation, and for issues such as free will, the objectivity of morality, and the problem of evil. By probing how the theory of evolution and religion could be reconciled, Sweetman says that we can address more deeply key foundational questions concerning chance, design, suffering and morality, and God’s way of acting in and through creation.

✦ Table of Contents

Cover
Contents
1 Introduction: Evolution and Religion Today
How to approach the topic of evolution and religion
Evolution and contemporary culture
The compatibility of religion and evolution
The dialogue model
A philosophical approach
2 The Theory of Evolution
Three important questions to ask about the theory of evolution
Some preliminary points about science and the scientific method
Historical background to evolution
The theory of evolution: Key concepts
Illustrations of natural selection: Finches and bacteria
Microevolution and macroevolution
Timeline of evolution
3 Evolution and the Evidence: Questions and Answers
Two kinds of natural selection: Is the evidence convincing?
What is the evidence for common descent?
Is the DNA evidence for macroevolution persuasive?
A problem for evolution?
Is evolution only a theory?
Can evolution be falsified?
4 Evolution: Reactions and Implications
Overview of some reactions to evolution
Is evolution an ideology?
Are there different types of evolution?
The implications of evolution
5 Evolution, Chance, and Determinism
Necessity and contingency
Chance, and the random nature of evolution
What does chance mean?
The meaning of randomness
Determinism and chance in the universe
6 Chance and Randomness in Evolution
Evolution, determinism, and the absence of chance
Replaying the tape of life
Chance and probability
Chance and quantum mechanics
Is evolution progressive?
7 How Does God Act? The Compatibility of Religion and Evolution
Ultimate origins: An argument against naturalism
Do we come from stardust?
Divine action in the universe
What is God’s role in evolution?
Could chance be part of nature after all?
8 Evolution and Design, and the Challenges of Evil and Morality
Design and chance
Design in the universe
Intelligent Design theory
Determinism and the question of evil
Evolution, naturalism, and morality
The significance of free will and moral agency
Notes
Further Reading
Index