Engaging the Cosmos

Written by an experienced author with a strong background in both History and Earth Sciences, this text explores the philosophic implications of the dramatic developments now under way in astrophysics and astrobiology. How close may this progress, empirical and theoretical, bring us to a definitive understanding of ultimate realities? What could it connote for the future of the great religious obediences? What might it mean for the evolution of a planetary consciousness that could be the key to the survival of our overburdened world? Are there not alarming possibilities, yet also very positive ones? Discussion takes full account of hard science in a manner accessible to lay people, where the arguments and observations presented are set firmly in a deep historical perspective. A fundamental conclusion and imperative for the coming century is that there are some shaky but tangible grounds for believing we are poised to enter an era in which relations much improve within and between the great religious obediences; between them and philosophical agnosticism - to the many who subscribe to no established faith but who would lay claim to a broad ethical concern and spiritual aspiration; and between all of these and the natural sciences. Throughout, the author provides compelling examples of cosmic norms - rooted in Earth Science, Astronomy/Astrophysics and Historical Example - to demonstrate the issues mankind faces in coming to terms with the Universe, of which we are but a small part.

ISBN 1903900670   DEWEY edition DC22 ISBN13 9781903900673 (What's this?)   Pages 367 Publisher Sussex Academic Press   Volumes 1 Imprint Sussex Academic Press   Published in Brighton Format Paperback   Height (mm) 229 Publication date 01 Apr 2006   Width (mm) 152 Library of Congress 2005031337   Academic level General DEWEY 201.65

1		The age of stone		3
2		Hammurabi to Ptolemy		18
3		Late antiquity to Copernicus		33
4		A Renaissance continuum		49
5		The cosmological revolution		70
6		Astrobiology		83
7		Consciousness		98
8		An end to nature?		115
9		Retreat from reason		129
10		Conflict in heaven?		151
11		Judaism fulcral		165
12		Christ and the humanists		181
13		Countervalent Islam		197
14		Indian pluralism		212
15		Japanese togetherness		227
16		Yearnings for belief		243
17		Creative convergence		262
18		Fulfilment regained?		285

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