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89 books match the query 'Religion & Science' and 7 start with c

cover of Can AI Ever Be Human? Consciousness Explained

Can AI Ever Be Human? Consciousness Explained

Steven Umbrello

Catholic University of America Press, 2026

Can a machine ever truly be human? In an age where artificial intelligence writes poems, diagnoses illnesses, and converses with uncanny fluency, the line between human and machine seems to blur. Yet beneath the surface lies a fundamental distinction. Drawing on Bernard Lonergan’s insights as well as the rich Catholic intellectual tradition, Can AI Ever Be Human? argues that while machines can simulate aspects of human behavior, they cannot cross the threshold into genuine consciousness. O’Hara and Umbrello guide readers through the essential structures of human knowing: experience, understanding, judgment, and decision. In doing so, they show how each involves intentionality, self-awareness, and freedom. These uniquely human capacities cannot be reduced to algorithms or replicated by even the most advanced neural networks. The book also addresses pressing ethical and theological questions: What does it mean to be made in the image of God? How do we preserve human dignity in a world increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence? Far from being anti-technology, O’Hara and Umbrello affirm the value of AI as a tool that emulates a Turing machine, although constrained by Gödel’s theorem, while rejecting the illusion that it can replace human beings. Accessible yet rigorous, Can AI Ever Be Human? speaks to scholars, students, clergy, and general readers alike. It is essential reading for anyone interested in the intersection of technology, scientific methodology, philosophy, and theology, and for all who seek to understand what makes us irreducibly human in an era of rapid technological change.
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cover of Chance or Dance: An Evaluation of Design

Chance or Dance

An Evaluation of Design

Jimmy H. Davis

Templeton Press, 2008

Chance or Dance provides an overview of design and clarification of the controversial Intelligent Design (ID) movement and ultimately concludes there is no scientific proof behind Intelligent Design. As the controversy over Intelligent Design has grown over the past few years, there is a tendency to confuse all statements about design with the Intelligent Design movement and to confuse any affirmation of creation with Scientific Creationism. Davis and Poe begin with a brief historical perspective of the design argument and then examine the significant breakthroughs in cosmology, math, physics, chemistry, and biology that have provided renewed speculation in design.

The authors discuss that the idea of design is far more expansive than the ID movement’s version of it, evaluate Dawkins’ interpretation of genetic determinism, include a chapter that explores the tendency since Darwin to assume that the presence of an observable cause excludes the possibility of divine involvement; and introduce further reflections on wonder and awe that take into account the recent surge of interest in this area. The book concludes with an argument for the correlation between faith and sensory experience and suggests that science has successfully described processes but failed to explain origins.

Chance or Dance is ideal for students and general readers interested in understanding how modern science gives evidence for nature’s creation by the Bible’s God.

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cover of Cognitive Science, Religion, and Theology: From Human Minds to Divine Minds

Cognitive Science, Religion, and Theology

From Human Minds to Divine Minds

Justin L. Barrett

Templeton Press, 2011

Cognitive Science, Religion, and Theology is the eighth title published in the Templeton Science and Religion Series, in which scientists from a wide range of fields distill their experience and knowledge into brief tours of their respective specialties. In this volume, well-known cognitive scientist Justin L. Barrett offers an accessible overview of this interdisciplinary field, reviews key findings in this area, and discusses the implications of these findings for religious thought and practice.
 
Cognitive science is the interdisciplinary study of minds and mental activity, and as such, it addresses a fundamental feature of what it is to be human. Further, as religious traditions concern ideas and beliefs about the nature of humans, the nature of the world, and the nature of the divine, cognitive science can contribute directly and indirectly to these theological concerns. Barrett shows how direct contributions come from the growing area called cognitive science of religion (CSR), which investigates how human cognitive systems inform and constrain religious thought, experience, and expression. CSR attempts to answer questions such as: Why do humans tend to be religious? And why are specific ideas (e.g., the possibility of an afterlife) so cross-culturally recurrent? Barrett also covers the indirect implications that cognitive science has for theology, such as human similarities and differences with the animal world, freedom and determinism, and the relationship between minds and bodies.
 
Cognitive Science, Religion, and Theology critically reviews the research on these fascinating questions and discusses the many implications that arise from them. In addition, this short volume also offers suggestions for future research, making it ideal not only for those looking for an overview of the field thus far but also for those seeking a glimpse of where the field might be going in the future.
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cover of Cosmic Blueprint: New Discoveries In Natures Ability To Order Universe

Cosmic Blueprint

New Discoveries In Natures Ability To Order Universe

Paul Davies

Templeton Press, 2004

In this critically acclaimed book, first published in 1988 and now reprinted in paperback, scientist and author Paul Davies explains how recent scientific advances are transforming our understanding of the emergence of complexity and organization in the universe.

Melding a variety of ideas and disciplines from biology, fundamental physics, computer science, mathematics, genetics, and neurology, Davies presents his provocative theory on the source of the universe's creative potency. He explores the new paradigm (replacing the centuries-old Newtonian view of the universe) that recognizes the collective and holistic properties of physical systems and the power of self-organization. He casts the laws in physics in the role of a "blueprint," embodying a grand cosmic scheme that progressively unfolds as the universe develops.

Challenging the viewpoint that the physical universe is a meaningless collection of particles, he finds overwhelming evidence for an underlying purpose: "Science may explain all the processes whereby the universe evolves its own destiny, but that still leaves room for there to be a meaning behind existence."

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cover of Cosmic Dance

Cosmic Dance

Guiseppe Dr. Del Re

Templeton Press, 1999

This book focuses on a new worldview emerging from the science of the last decades of the second millennium. Its metaphor is the cosmic dance, or the harmony between systems so strongly interdependent that they behave as a single entity. This dance image hints at a general, evolving pattern in which all objects in the universe participate—like the ordered chaos of an African open-air market.

Some chapters discuss the nature of processes in the universe, including chaos and chance in the game of life. The reconciliation of variety and unity is addressed about the space-time continuum and the unified field of relativity theory. Del Re continues investigating the origins of freedom and ethics, suggesting that science indicates that the human species may have a specific task in the universe: building a bridge between matter and spirit.
Del Re ponders alchemy, the significance of symbols, and the meaning of the soul. Woven throughout various esoteric and scientific inquiries is the underlying sense of the unifying principles of science and a spiritual outlook. The questions raised are issues that will be discussed by an emerging network of scientists and spiritual seekers, and this book will add a valued and informed perspective to these conversations.
 
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cover of Cosmic Impressions: Traces of God in the Laws of Nature

Cosmic Impressions

Traces of God in the Laws of Nature

Walter Thirring

Templeton Press, 2007

Walter Thirring is an internationally renowned scientist who took part in and worked among those involved in many of the scientific developments of the twentieth century. His book, about the knowledge of the world as illuminated by twentieth century science, was originally published in German. This is the first English translation and is a book that is easily accessible to readers of popular science books and magazines.
Professor Thirring starts with cosmology as he examines scientific questions and theories concerning the intricacy of nature and the universe. He branches into an exposition of chaos and its connection to the macroscopic world, as well as to life sciences, touching on such diverse related subjects as the structure of the water molecule. He speaks of advances with which he was personally involved, and offers priceless vignettes of great scientists with whom he exchanged discussions, including Albert Einstein, Werner Heisenberg, Erwin Schrödinger, and Wolfgang Pauli.
His study of scientific theory and the intricacy of nature and the universe illuminates his argument for the role of a Creator. "Reflections on the creation of the universe lead to reflections about the creator," he writes. And arguing against atheism, he points out:
“When we are moved by a fantastic building, a cathedral or a mosque and have finally realized what is behind the glorious proportions, who would then say, ‘Now we don't need the architect anymore. There might not even be one, that could all just be the random product of circumstance.’”
Furthermore, in making humankind special in his creation, the Creator gave us the responsibility of seeking an understanding of creation and protecting it.
Tackling complex issues in science and religion, Professor Thirring presents a compelling argument for their synthesis. His tenure and influence in the scientific field make this argument even more compelling.
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cover of Creative Tension: Essays On Science & Religion

Creative Tension

Essays On Science & Religion

Michael Heller

Templeton Press, 2003

The voice of a renowned professor of philosophy in Poland, who is also a Roman Catholic priest, is introduced to the United States in this collection of his provocative essays on the interplay of science and religion. Michael Heller progressively outlines systematic steps that might lead to a peaceful coexistence of these traditionally separate fields of study. Some essays have their roots in the author's work in physics and cosmology, while others present his theories on the language of God, creation, and transcendence, inspired by his work in the applications of so-called noncommutative geometry, an emerging field of study.

The book is organized into four sections, each preceded by a brief introduction explaining the order of the essays and their internal logic.
  • Part one deals with methodology, evaluate the theological interpretation of scientific theories, and proposes a program for a "theology of science."
  • Part two looks at the interaction of science and religion from a historical perspective. Topics include the evolution of ideas connected with the place of man in the Universe and the evolution of matter, among others.
  • Part three concentrates on the "creation and science" quandary, including the big bang theory, the role of probability and chance in science, and their impact on theological questions.
  • Part four looks for vestiges of transcendence in contemporary science.
Creative Tension joins the Templeton library of resources contributing to the growing global dialogue on science and religion.

 

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