On the Moral Nature of the Universe: Theology, Cosmology & Ethics (Theology and the Sciences)

By George Francis Rayner Ellis and Nancey C. Murphy

Book Overview

What is the ethical import of contemporary scientific cosmology? How does our understanding of the universe relate to our most pressing social concerns? How do the disparate fields of theology, ethics, and the sciences relate to each other? Murphy and Ellis offer a coherent construction of these relations and show how a particular moral vision-a "kenotic" ethic-is supported "from below" by the social sciences and "from above" by theology. The theological import of contemporary cosmology, they argue, points ultimately to an ethic that centers on self-sacrifice and nonviolence. In ambition, rigor, and scale, in its search for an integrated and coherent worldview at a time of unprecedented complexity and uncertainty, readers will find this volume daring and important.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0800629833
• ISBN13: 9780800629830
• Release Date: October 1996
• Publisher: Fortress Press
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 0.99 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.1" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Science, Theology and Love Integrated

The book is co-written by Murphy, who is a professor of Christian philosophy, and Ellis, who is professor of applied mathematics. Both are members of the Anabaptist Christian tradition, and their thought, especially as it relates to pacifism and ethics, reveal this connection to Christian tradition. One of the book's virtues is that its authors clearly lay out their proposals in a very accessible manner. The overall argument for the book is the following: the fine-tuning of the cosmological constants that has produced a life-bearing universe calls for an explanation. The authors believe that a theistic explanation offers a more coherent account of reality than a non-theistic one. The pattern of divine action in the world, however, seems to indicate that God works with nature, "never over-riding or violating the very processes that God has created" (xv). The fact the God does not violate or override the processes leads the authors to believe that divine action entails refusal to do violence to creation. They link this with kenosis, a Christian New Testament word typically translated, "self-emptying." God renounces self-interest for the sake of the other, no matter what the cost is to God, and that this divine activity ought to be emulated by humans. The authors call for a new research program to explore the possibilities of this kenosis thesis in light of science. The ethical core of the proposal is that self-renunciation for the sake of the other is humankind's highest goal. One of the more illuminating chapters in the book addresses the power of persuasion, non-violent coercion, and violent coercion. The authors argue that persuasion is to be preferred and they speculate that "a consistent policy of using the least coercive means possible in each social situation will affect the character of the individuals involved such that less coercion will be needed in future resolution of conflict" (151). In sum, contemporary cosmology points ultimately to an ethic that centers on self-sacrifice and non-violence. Thomas Jay Oord

A happy marriage of science and religion.

I was astonished by this book's ability to analyze and typologize scientific activity within a framework of religious wisdom. It not only generates a field of relative connectivity between scientific disciplines, but places them as a whole within the spiritual and mythological activities of the human psyche. It reassures me regarding the fate of humanity that there are educated, well-trained and perceptive individuals who can see the connection between the imagination and human knowledge, and who in turn recognize human moral responsibility for an authentic embodiment of religious teaching through the renunciation of violence. Einstein is quoted as having said, "Religion without science is blind; science without religion is lame." This work has both vision and movement, both clarity and feeling. It provides a perennial balm in an age where specialization brings its own forms of nihilism, and where human violence is too often normalized with the most egregious and potentially catastrophic of consequences. It both clears the mind and calls to the soul. It seemed, to me, to awaken hope for the future of our species.