More Books That Detail the Clash Between Science and Faith
“The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief” by Francis Collins; Free Press.
The author, a giant in genetics research and leader of the Human Genome Project, describes how he came to see his Christian faith as intertwined with his scientific passions.
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“Life’s Solution: Inevitable Humans in a Lonely Universe” by Simon Conway Morris; Cambridge University Press.
Rejecting intelligent design and the idea of evolution as an aimless process, the Cambridge paleontologist argues that evolution has trends, suggesting that “the Universe is a set-up job.”
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“The Sacred Depths of Nature” by Ursula Goodenough; Oxford University Press.
A professor of biology at Washington University in St. Louis, Ursula Goodenough tries to find room for the spiritual within hard science, sketching a route toward conciliation and a new “planetary ethic.”
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“Summer for the Gods: The Scopes Trial and America’s Continuing Debate Over Science and Religion” by Edward Larson; Harvard University Press.
Before the Dover, Pa., trial over intelligent design, there was the Scopes monkey trial, which historian Edward Larson retells with exquisite detail and sympathy for those on both sides.
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“The God Delusion” by Richard Dawkins; Houghton Mifflin.
Using the same readable style that makes his explanations of evolution so enjoyable, biologist Richard Dawkins tries to slice apart the case for religious belief.
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“Letter to a Christian Nation” by Sam Harris; Knopf.
A kindred spirit to Dawkins, Sam Harris highlights the negative effects that anti-scientific theology can have on American public life.
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“Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon” by Daniel C. Dennett; Viking Adult.
The philosopher who wrote “Darwin’s Dangerous Idea” takes on the origins of religion and proposes ways of subjecting theological ideas to scientific scrutiny.
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“God’s Universe” by Owen Gingerich; Belknap.
The prominent historian of astronomy, who played a role in last year’s controversy over Pluto’s status as a planet, finds a natural accommodation between the findings of science and the solid faith of his Mennonite upbringing.
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“Living With Darwin: Evolution, Design and the Future of Faith” by Philip Kitcher; Oxford University Press.
Philip Kitcher, a professor of philosophy at Columbia University, traces modern intelligent-design proposals to some of the earliest religious objections to Charles Darwin’s theory and proposes a path of retaining spirituality without religion’s supernatural claims.
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“Finding Darwin’s God: A Scientist’s Search for Common Ground Between God and Evolution” by Kenneth Miller; HarperPerennial.
Kenneth Miller, a biologist at Brown University whose Catholic faith is as strong as his aversion to creationism, demonstrates the truth of evolution and claims it is the brainchild of a loving God.
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