The Religious Philosophy series is the first systematic philosophical theology that thoroughly engages the natural and social sciences, as well as the world's religious and philosophical traditions. Five volumes of this ground-breaking intellectual milestone are in print and only one volume, Science and Ultimate Reality, remains to be written. This project seeks sabbatical support to enable the author to bring this monumental project to a strong conclusion.
Science and Ultimate Reality answers a vital but as yet unanswered question: which philosophically well-established conceptions of God or ultimate reality comport best with fundamental physics and biology? The book answers that question by systematically analyzing domains of the sciences that impact philosophical and theological reflection, from neuroscience to evolutionary biology and from quantum physics to relativity. While there are many discussions of such topics in the literature, they typically focus on a single idea of God and a particular domain of the sciences. In order to capitalize on existing research and advance theology and the theology-science dialogue to a new stage, the field needs an authoritative, comprehensive treatment that examines simultaneously the major domains of the sciences AND the major conceptions of ultimate reality. That’s what is proposed here.
In addition to writing a book, the proposed project involves consultations with experts in physics and biology, consultations with experts in philosophical and comparative theology, and training a science-religion PhD research assistant in the skills associated with research that combines theology-science interaction with comparative philosophical theology.
The project stretches beyond contributing to the ongoing religion-science dialogue. The proposed research is also directly relevant to other theological disciplines, including systematic theology, philosophical theology, comparative theology, and theological ethics.
