Incarnation and Physics


Book Description

Thomas F. Torrance is the most prominent theologian to have taken seriously the challenge posed to theology by the natural sciences. His model for interaction between the two disciplines is based on the theological heart of the Church: the Incarnation. Luoma here offers a thorough overview and critique of Torrance's insights into the theology-science dialogue.







Incarnation


Book Description

This volume takes the reader on a journey from New Testament and early church views of incarnation to contemporary understandings of Christology. A prominent group of scholars explores and debates the idea of “deep incarnation”—the view that the divine incarnation in Jesus presupposes a radical embodiment that reaches into the roots of material and biological existence, as well as into the darker sides of creation. Such a wide-scope view of incarnation allows Christology to be meaningful when responding to the challenges of scientific cosmology and global religious pluralism.




Incarnation


Book Description

Western dualism is an illusion. Reality is a dialectical unity of incarnate love through the condition of the possibilities of divine and human, spirit and matter, Self and Other. The historical development to this metaphysical view is investigated in depth. Incarnation is a “legitimate pantheism.” Similarities to the Aum, the Tao, Rastafari and the “New Physics” are also provided. Incarnation offers an understanding of the Self with ethical and cultural applications which are presented in the material-supernatural existential of music and dance found in the Riddim of Creation.




Physics Incarnate


Book Description

As a professor of physics at Catskill Community College, Emmett Eisenberg has a fairly pleasant life. His girlfriend, Dr. Maria Montclaire of the Psychology department, is quite the catch! His job pays well, and his reputation in his field is top-notch. He even has students who appreciate his approach to academics, though they lack his passion and talent. His unique view of the world - best reflected in his ability to see and manipulate atomic structures - has afforded him unlimited opportunities, so when a former colleague of his invites Emmett and Maria to reunite in New York City, he agrees. Unfortunately for the physicist, meeting with his old friend Jethro Marx opens up a door to his past; to ten years ago, when he, 'Geddy,' and his fellow geniuses conspired together at a secretive research center called Connor Point. The public's knowledge of the results are as false as they are vague: A nuclear accident forced Connor Point's closure. It was safely dismantled, thanks in part to Emmett and Geddy, however the details are more devilish, and the true cause of the disaster was never disclosed to the media. While Emmett's former fellows may have saved the day a decade ago, the sins of his past have caught up to him. His colleagues are met with a vendetta of one of their own - another hero from Connor Point, the buxom blonde songbird Erica Hall. She bears a grudge against Emmett which even he is not aware of, and her revenge will shatter the physicist's placid existence once and for all. The only question is: Will the rest of the world fare any better?




Understanding the Incarnation


Book Description

Human beings have always struggled to find their place in the universe and sought understanding and contact with the divine. In contrast to the many failures and dead-ends the historically rooted but timeless Christian message looks radically different. Precisely the reverse dynamic has created the way: In the Incarnation the divine has come to humanity, making a bridge through the life and redeeming death of Jesus. As the author shows, the multiple witnesses of the New Testament and generations of Christian writers have grasped this and expounded it in their different ways. The philosophers and the scientists down to the present day have sought and are seeking a Theory of Everything. In the light of the candle of understanding, it is there to be discovered by all in the Incarnation. Suddenly, Christmas, Easter, and much besides, make sense.




How the Doctrine of the Incarnation Shaped Western Culture


Book Description

In recent years numerous scholars in disciplines not traditionally associated with theology have promoted an interesting thesis. They maintain that one particular Christian doctrine, the Incarnation, had an inordinate influence on the shape of Western culture. The doctrine, they say, was so radical that it mandated an epistemological break with pagan society's perception of the universe and forced Christians to form a new culture. As medieval society worked out the consequences of the doctrine, it gave birth to those attitudes, institutions, and actions that define modern Western culture. The claims are well argued, but it is a historically untested thesis. How the Doctrine of Incarnation Shaped Western Culture is a response to the situation. It investigates whether the presence of the doctrine had the definitive effect on Western culture that so many scholars claim it did. It searches early Christian and medieval sources for evidence and concludes that the doctrine had a dominant effect on the developing culture. No other idea was as omnipresent or pervasive in Western society during its formative stage as the Incarnation doctrine. The doctrine was influential in the establishment of every major facet of Western culture. Its paradox, irrationality, and juxtaposition of opposites created a tension that cried out for resolution, and society responded accordingly. The ideas within the doctrine acted as catalysts for cultural change. As a result, the West developed its most characteristic traits and forged a path that was uniquely its own.




Theological and Natural Science


Book Description




God's Action in Nature's World


Book Description

In 1981 Robert John Russell founded what would become the leading center of research at the interface of science and religion, the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences. Throughout its twenty-five year history, CTNS under Russell's leadership has continued to guide and further the dialogue between science and theology. Russell has been an articulate spokesperson in calling for "creative mutual interaction" between the two fields. God's Action in Nature's World brings together sixteen internationally-recognized scholars to assess Robert Russell's impact on the discipline of science and religion. Focusing on three areas of Russell's work - methodology, cosmology, and divine action in quantum physics - this book celebrates Robert John Russell's contribution to the interdisciplinary engagement between the natural sciences and theology.




A Critical Study on T. F. Torrance's Theology of Incarnation


Book Description

This book analyses T. F. Torrance's theology of incarnation. His theology is built upon several crucial presuppositions. This book examines these presuppositions and their role within the framework of Torrance's theology. It explores its unitary structure by analyzing his fundamental methods in hermeneutics, dialectics, natural theology, and natural science. In particular, the study addresses the internal incoherence, inconsistency and seemingly paradoxical nature of his writings (such as the integration of dualistic ideas into a unitary theological structure), and highlights the impact of Barthian theology on his theological formulation.