Subtitle: Social Perspectives on Science and Religion
Author: William A. Stahl, Robert A. Campbell, Yvonne Petry, and Gary Diver
Subject: Sociology/Religion
Paper ISBN 0-8135-3106-3
Cloth ISBN 0-8135-3107-1
Pages: 192 pp., figures
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Description: An examination of the interrelationship between religion and science from the perspective of the social sciences.
Praise for Webs of Reality
"This volume adds significantly to the science-religion discussion and probes to the heart of a crucial question: why do people feel so strongly about science and religion and, especially, about the manner in which these two ways of seeing the world interact?" Frederick Gregory, professor of history of science, University of Florida
Science and religion are often thought to be advancing irreconcilable goals and thus to be mutually antagonistic. Yet in the often acrimonious debates between the scientific and religions communities, it is easy to lose sight of the fact that both science and religion are systems of thought and knowledge that aim to understand the world and our place in it.
Webs of Reality, a rare examination of the interrelationship between religion and science from a social science perspective, offers a broad view of the relationship, and poses practical questions regarding technology and ethics. Emphasizing how science and religion are practiced instead of highlighting the differences between them, the authors look for the subtle connections, tacit understandings, common history, symbols, and implicit myths that tie them together. How can the practice of science be understood from a religious point of view? What contributions can science make to a religious understanding of the world? What contributions can the social sciences make to understanding both knowledge systems? Looking at religion and science as fields of inquiry and habits of mind, the authors discover not only similarities between them but also a wide number of ways in which they complement each other.
William A. Stahl is a professor of sociology at Luther College, University of Regina, Canada, and is the author of God and the Chip: Religion and the Culture of Technology. Robert A. Campbell is associate principal for educational resources and informational technology, University of Toronto at Scarborough. Yvonne Petry is an assistant professor of history at Luther Collegw, University of Regina, Canada. Gary Diver teaches physics at the University of Regina,