Design and Disorder

The concept of a divine design has traditionally been based on the assumption of a world order. If there is order in creation, this proves there is a God: if disorder, then no God. Or so it has been assumed by design proponents as well as their critics. This volume questions the picture. The sciences of complexity show how nature abounds with fluid and semi-stable patterns which are essential for the emergence and further propagation of evolutionary order. Order and disorder seem to wander together. The fact that fundamental physics, chemistry and mathematics appear as if tuned for the emergence and harbouring of life, for the support and channelling of the evolutionary processes of creation and selection, continues to trigger religious awe and reflection. It is also argued that a Christian theology has the potential of affirming instability and transient orders as part of the "grandeur" of creation. Authors of the essays in this work include prominent voices from the secular, the Protestant, the Catholic and the Orthodox traditions.

ISBN 0567088685   Volumes 1 ISBN13 9780567088680 (What's this?)   Weight (grammes) 330 Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing PLC   Published in London Imprint Continuum International Publishing Group Ltd.   Series ISSN 02 Format Paperback   Series title European Society for the Study of Science & Theology series Publication date 07 Nov 2002   Height (mm) 234 Library of Congress BL   Width (mm) 156 DEWEY 231.7652   Spine width (mm) 19 DEWEY edition DC21   Academic level Tertiary education, General, Professional / Scholarly Pages 240

		Preface and Acknowledgements
		List of Contributors
1		Introduction by Ulf Gorman
2		How Chaos Coexists with Order by John D. Barrow
3		Revisiting Darwin on Order and Design by John Hedley Brooke
4		Beyond the Balance: Theology in a Self-Organizing World by Niels Henrik Gregersen
5		Landscapes of Human Discourse by John C. Puddefoot
6		Science and Religion: Beyond Complementarity? by Isabelle Stengers
7		On Finality in Creation Theology: Epistemological and Theological Considerations by Christoph Theobald
8		Design in the Universe and the Logos of Creation: Patristic Synthesis and Modern Cosmology by Alexei V. Nesteruk
9		Disorder and the Ambitions of 'Science and Theology': Ten Theses by Willem B. Drees
		Index

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