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

Description

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.

Brendan Sweetman is Professor of Philosophy at Rockhurst University, USA. He is author and editor of ten books, including Religion and Science: An Introduction (2010) and Religion: Key Concepts in Philosophy (2007).

Evolution, Chance, and God is a timely and relevant contribution to the current discussions on science and religion. Clear and engaging, it provides a lucid account of evolutionary theory and isolates the major questions that are raised (or ought to be raised) in considering its relationship to religion. Sweetman's volume also makes important clarifications and conceptual distinctions crucial to the debate. * William Sweet, Professor of Philosophy and Director of the Centre for Philosophy, Theology and Cultural Traditions, St Francis Xavier University, Canada * Foregoing the tired cliches of the debates between evolution and religion, Sweetman offers the reader a precise and honest account of what is at stake. In asserting the non-random foundation for evolutionary processes, he poses new philosophical challenges to naturalism and atheism by closely examining what we mean by chance, randomness and, above all, causality. Determinism and design are not dirty words when thinking about evolution and religion; Sweetman discloses why this is true. * Paul Allen, Associate Professor of Theological Studies, Concordia University, Canada *