Subscribe to more of my writing at https://www.wesalwan.com Follow me on Twitter This essay is the first in a five-part series, in honor of the 200th anniversary of the publication of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Part two can be found here. Part I: Creature Growing up is the metamorphosis we all know. Classical literature will tell you of the shape-shifting of Continue Reading …
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Science, Religion, and Secularism Part XI: Arthur O. Lovejoy, the Great Chain of Being and Pre-Darwinian Biology
In the previous two articles, we took a detour in order to explore two interactions between theology and the science of astronomy. In the first, I argued that the oft-repeated narrative, which holds that Copernicus’s heliocentric model demolished a prideful, theologically inspired anthropocentrism, was not historically accurate. In the one that followed, I argued that a Continue Reading …
Science, Religion, and Secularism Part V: Ian Barbour—The Synthesis Model
In previous articles, we explored the conflict, independence, and dialogue models in science and religion studies. We now turn to Ian Barbour’s favored model, synthesis. In the synthesis model, the goal is to arrive at a unified world picture that incorporates the most important insights from both science and theology. Barbour identifies three principle representatives of the Continue Reading …
Diving with Melville
The author of a recent essay on Herman Melville’s first novel, Typee, labels the work a “hoax” and a “fraud” because Melville exaggerated or embellished various incidents of the story, which he based on actual events from his life at sea. The substance of the charge is very old news, dating back to the publication of the book. But what interests me is less the author’s timeworn Continue Reading …
Ep. 39: Schleiermacher Defends Religion
On Friedrich Schleiermacher's On Religion; Speeches to its Cultured Despisers (1799, with notes added 1821), first and second speeches. Plus some discussion of Immanuel Kant's Religion within the Limits of Reason Alone. Does religion necessarily conflict with science? Schleiermacher says no: the essence of religion is an emotional response to life; it doesn't give knowledge Continue Reading …