Index
Index
abduction, 10–11, 96
Acton, Lord, 83–84
Acts, Book of, 6, 50
Adams, John Couch, 17
Adorno, Theodor, 88
African American spirituals, 112
agency, 105, 111–12
Air Force, U.S., 89
alpha-particles, 67
Alpher, Ralph, 25
Andromeda, 24, 102
The Anthropic Cosmological Principle (Barrow and Tipler), 61–62
anthropic principle, 61–62, 70–71
anthropology, 34–35
antigravity, 64
apartheid, 86
Ariadne’s thread, 1–2
Aristippus of Cyrene, 15
Aristotle, 17, 62
Army, U.S., 88–89
Arnold, Matthew, 30, 95, 114
astronomy, 11, 16–17, 24–26, 58–61, 67–68, 101–2. See also universe
astrophysics, 65
Athanasius, 55
atheism. See New Atheism
Atkins, Peter, 85
atom bombs, 86, 88, 89. See also nuclear weapons
atoms, 63–64
Augustine of Hippo, 54, 99, 107, 111
Ayala, Francisco, 77
Barrow, John, 61–62
Bauman, Zygmunt, 9
Baumeister, Roy, 104–5
beauty, 99–100, 115
Bell Laboratories, 25
Bennett, Max, 43
Berlin, Isaiah, 13
beryllium, 67
beryllium bottleneck, 67
best explanation of nature, 10–11, 19, 23, 26–27, 47–48, 71
Bible. See specific books of the Bible
big bang theory of the universe, 25–26, 44, 58, 62–63
biofriendliness, 71–72
bioinorganic chemistry, 69
biology, 42, 43, 65, 68–70, 74–81, 102
black holes, 64
Bowlby, John, 108
Breaking the Spell (Dennett), 45
Brown, Donald, 35
Buber, Martin, 106
“The Buried Life” (Arnold), 114
Cambridge University, 78
carbon, 66–67, 69
Carter, Brandon, 61
causal explanation in science, 23–26
cave parable, 99
cell biology, 102
Chamberlain, Neville, 34
chemistry, 32, 41, 43, 52, 66, 69, 88–89
on culture and history, 86–90
Eagleton on, 8, 50
economy of salvation and, 54–55
evolution and, 76, 80–81
faith and, 5–6, 8–9, 13–14, 20, 112, 113–14
fine-tuning of the universe and, 70–73
God-of-the-Gaps approach and, 51–52
grace and, 111, 112
on human nature, 20–21, 83, 86–87, 98–99, 111
intra-systemic elegance and extra-
systemic fecundity of, 50–51
Lewis on, 48–51, 96, 98, 104
meaning and, 48–57, 103–4, 112, 114–15
nature as seen by, 51–57
providence and, 80–81
and purpose of life, 110
redemption and, 90
revelation and, 104
salvation and, 50, 54–55
sense-making of the world by, 48–57
soul and, 107
transformative power of the gospel and, 50
Trinity and, 53, 70
See also God; religion
Collins, Barry, 61
comprehensibility and intelligibility of nature, 41–42, 55–57
Confessions (Augustine of Hippo), 107
Conway Morris, Simon, 78–80
Copernicus, Nicolaus, 11
Corinthians, First Letter to, 13
Corinthians, Second Letter to, 50, 115
cosmic repulsion, 64
cosmology, 59–60, 64–65, 70. See also astronomy; universe
Coulson, Charles A., 41, 52
Craig, William Lane, 25–26
creation, 25–26, 44, 47, 53, 70–71
creationism, 34
crime fiction. See detective fiction
criminal justice system, 11
culture, 85–90
Cyprian of Carthage, 100
dark energy, 64
dark matter, 64
Darwin, Charles
Huxley on, 38, 75–76, 104
and Jenkin’s concerns about blending
inheritance, 118n6
on natural selection and evolution, 17–19, 26, 27, 62, 74–76
New Atheism on Darwinism as metanarrative, 34, 74–75
Origin of Species by, 17–19, 75, 104
on proof in science, 18–19, 27, 113
on survival of the fittest, 105
See also evolution
Darwin’s Dangerous Idea (Dennett), 75
Davies, Paul, 60
Dawkins, Richard
on Darwinism as meta-narrative, 34, 74–76, 81
on empirical world, 94–95
on faith, 113, 114
Frazer’s theory of religion and, 34–35
on genes, 35–37, 45
on God, 35, 42, 44–45, 47, 76, 94
The God Delusion by, 35, 42, 45, 75, 94
on meaning, 95
on memes, 44–47, 94
New Atheism and generally, 30, 32
on religion, 82–83
on science and ethics, 5, 41
on science and meaning of life, 4, 5
on science as faith-free zone, 39
The Selfish Gene by, 31, 35–36, 45
on warfare model of science versus religion, 33–34, 42, 47
death of God movement, 31
deep structure of universe, 58–65
Defoe, Daniel, 15
deism, 62
democracy versus fascism, 20–21
Dennett, Daniel, 30, 33–35, 45, 46, 74–76, 81
Descartes, René, 28, 70
design argument, 62, 74–77, 80–81
desire. See heart’s desire
detective fiction, 1–2, 6, 10
“The Discreet Charm of Nihilism” (Milosz), 93
DNA, 69
Drummond, Henry, 52
Durham Cathedral, 84
Dyson, Freeman, 64 Eagleton, Terry, 8, 50, 85, 86, 87, 97
Easter Island, 79
economy of salvation, 54–55
Eden, 55, 83
Edmonds, Bruce, 46
Einstein, Albert, 28, 41–42, 56
electricity, 27–28
empirical adequacy, 26
empirical fit, 10–11, 57, 71
Enlightenment, 83, 85–86, 105
eschatology, 54
ethics. See morality and science
evil
coexistence of good and, 55
Paul on, 86, 127n16
power and, 83–84
reason for, 55
evolution
assumptions about, 65
atheistic interpretations of, 74, 109
capacity to encode information and, 69
carbon and, 59, 69
Christians’ rejection of, 76
Conway Morris on convergence in, 78–80
Darwinism and, 17–19, 26, 27, 34, 74–76, 105
and Darwinism as meta-narrative, 34, 74–76, 81
Darwin’s compass and, 80
Dawkins on biological versus cultural
evolution, 45
design argument versus, 62, 74–77, 80–81
directionality within, 77–78
fine-tuning and, 69
Gould on contingency in, 77–78, 79
Huxley on Darwinism, 38, 75–76, 104
open-ended nature of, 77–80
survival of the fittest and, 105
teleology and, 75–77, 80
teleonomy and, 76
explanatory unification in science, 23, 27–29
faith
Christianity and, 5–6, 8–9, 13–14, 20, 112, 113–14
Darwin on scientific theories and, 18
Dawkins on, 113, 114
in goodness of human nature, 20–21
Huxley on, 38–39
James on working hypotheses as, 19
Kristeva on, 113
Lewis on, 49
New Atheism and, 20–21, 33–37, 86, 113, 114
Paul on, 113–14
See also Christianity
“Faith and Reason” (John Paul II), 92
fall of creation, 54
Farewell to Arms (Hemingway), 30
Feuerbach, Ludwig, 92
Fieser, Louis Frederick, 88–89
Fieser, Mary Peters, 88
fine-tuning, 59–66, 69–73
Fowler, William, 67, 68
Frankl, Viktor, 13
Frazer, Sir James, 34–35
Freud, Sigmund, 93
Fromm, Erich, 114–15
Galatians, Letter to, 108
galaxies, 24
Galle, Johann Gottfried, 17
garden of Eden, 55, 83
genes, 31, 35–37, 45
Genesis, Book of, 55
German Romanticism, 95
global warming, 24
gnosticism, 54
God
as agent of creation, 25–26, 44, 47, 53, 70–71
as chief end of human existence, 110
as companion and healer, 6–7
as cosmic fine-tuner, 60
Dawkins on, 35, 42, 44–45, 47, 76, 94
death of God movement, 31
as divine watchmaker, 53
economy of salvation and, 54–55
faith and, 6
faith in existence of, 8, 20, 41, 49
Feuerbach on, 92
Freud on, 93
grace of, 111, 112
heart’s desire and, 92–93, 110
Hodge on, 125n1
humanity in image of, 54, 55–56, 86–87
Lewis on, 49, 94, 95
love of, for human beings, 108–9, 112
Marx on, 92–93
meaning and, 104, 115
personal identity through relationship
with, 107
proofs of existence of, 51–52, 65
as rock or secure base, 108–9
sense-making and belief in, 49–50, 115
as shepherd, 6
transcendent God, 72
Trinity and, 53, 70
The God Delusion (Dawkins), 35, 42, 45, 75, 94
God-of-the Gaps approach, 52–53
Golden Bough (Frazer), 34–35
Golding, William, 84
good
coexistence of evil and, 55
faith in goodness of human nature by New Atheism, 20–21, 82–83
original goodness of world, 54–55
Paul on, 86, 127n16
Goodenough, Ursula, 102
Gould, Stephen Jay, 42, 77–78
grace, 111, 112
grand unified theory, 28
gravity, 22, 63, 64
“The Great Relearning” (Wolfe), 31
Guinevere (Tennyson), 83
Hacker, Peter, 43
Harris, Sam, 30, 33
Harvard University, 88–89, 105
Hawking, Steven, 61
Hazlitt, William, 82, 84–85, 91
heart’s desire, 91–100, 110
heliocentric model, 11
helium, 67, 68
Hemingway, Ernest, 30
Herbert, George, 109
Herman, Robert, 25
Herschel, William, 16
Hezekiah, King, 3–4
Hiroshima atom bomb, 86, 89
history, 85–90, 105
History of the Warfare of Science with Theology (White), 42
Hitchens, Christopher, 8, 30, 33, 82, 85–86
Hitler, Adolf, 34
Hodge, Charles, 125n1
Holocaust denial, 34. See also Nazism
Hoyle, Fred, 24, 67–68
Hubble, Edwin, 24
human nature
Augustine of Hippo on, 111
chief end of human existence, 110
Christian view of, 20–21, 83, 86–87, 98–99, 111
Enlightenment on, 83
identity and, 106–7
in image of God, 54, 55–56, 86–87
longing for significance and, 91–100
New Atheism on, 20–21, 82–83, 85
origins of human life, 65–73
Paul on, 86, 111, 127n16
power and, 83–84
progress and, 85, 87–90
as sinful, 55, 83, 86–87, 111
Tolkien on, 87–88
transcendence and, 99
Huxley, Thomas H., 38–39, 75–77, 104
hydrogen, 68
identity, 104, 106–7
immunology, 5
inference to the best explanation, 10–11, 19, 23, 26–27, 47–48, 71
intelligibility and comprehensibility of
nature, 41–42, 55–57
Irenaeus of Lyons, 54
Isaiah, Book of, 3, 125n10
“Is Theology Poetry?” (Lewis), 98
James, William, 8, 19, 39
Jenkin, Fleeming, 118n6
Jesus Christ, 50, 108–11, 115. See also Christianity
Job, Book of, 12
John Paul II, Pope, 92
Journal of Memetics, 46
journey imagery, 55, 110
joy, 96, 100
Julian of Norwich, 109
justice, 105, 113
kingdom of God, 95
Klee, Robert, 62
Kristeva, Julia, 113
laws of nature, 41–42, 56–58, 62–63
League of Militant Atheists (Soviet Union), 85
legal theories, 11
Lennox, John, 43
Leslie, John, 60
Le Verrier, Urbain, 17
Lewis, C. S., 23, 48–51, 91, 94–96, 98–100, 103, 104
liberalism, Western, 85
liberty versus oppression, 20–21
Life’s Solution (Conway Morris), 78–79
lithium, 67, 68
Lonergan, Bernard, 29
Lord of the Flies (Golding), 84
Lord of the Rings (Tolkien), 87, 88, 91, 97
love
of God, 108–9, 112
of Jesus Christ, 109
magnetism, 27–28
Manhattan Project, 89
Mark, Gospel of, 6
Marx, Karl, 92–93
Marxism, 31, 74, 92–93
mathematics, 17–18, 52
Matthew, Gospel of, 55, 109
Maxwell, James Clerk, 27–28
Mayr, Ernst, 77, 80
McEwan, Ian, 30–31
meaning
agency and, 105, 111–12
Baumeister’s questions on, 104–5
Christian viewpoint of, 48–57, 103–4, 112, 114–15
fine-tuning of universe and, 58–66, 69–73
Fromm on, 114–15
heart’s desire and longing for significance, 91–100, 110
history, culture, faith, and, 82–90
identity and, 104, 106–7
information versus, 3
limits of science and, 4–5, 39–44
longing to make sense of things, 8–14
looking for the big picture, 1–7
origins of human life and, 65–73
Pascal on, 101
patterns and, 12–13, 15–22, 103
purpose and, 105, 109–10
sense-making and, 22–29
surprised by, 101–12
traumatic situations and, 13
value and, 104, 108–9
See also Christianity; evolution; New Atheism; science
Medawar, Sir Peter, 4–5
memeplex, 45
memes, 44–47, 94
memetics, 45–46
Mere Christianity (Lewis), 96
metaphysics, 35–37
Middle Ages, 11, 55
Milky Way, 24, 101
Millay, Edna St. Vincent, 3, 103
Milosz, Czeslaw, 93
modernity, 93
Monod, Jacques, 76
morality and science, 5, 41
Moses, 6
multiverse hypothesis, 71–72
Murdoch, Iris, 51, 103
Murray, Paul, 7
music, 44, 97, 103
myth, 97–98
“Mythopoeia” (Tolkien), 91–92
Nagasaki atom bomb, 89
napalm, 88–89
natural sciences. See science; and specific
scientific disciplines and scientists
natural selection, 17–19, 26, 27, 62, 75. See also evolution
natural theology, 70–71
Natural Theology (Paley), 62
nature
best explanation of, 10–11, 19, 23, 26–27, 47–48, 71
Christian view of, 51–57
comprehensibility and intelligibility of, 41–42, 55–57
laws of, 41–42, 56–58, 62–63
See also science Nazism, 13, 20, 34, 83, 86, 87, 93
Neptune, 17
neuroscience, 43
New Atheism
Darwinism as meta-narrative and, 34, 74–75
Eagleton on, 8, 85, 86
faith and, 20–21, 33–37, 86, 113, 114
on human nature, 20–21, 82–83, 85
on meaning, 95
on progressive improvement of human
condition, 85
rationalist accounts of reality by, 105
on religion, 82–83, 85–86, 94
science and, 29–37, 39, 42–45
surface of reality and, 103
See also Dawkins, Richard; Dennett, Daniel; and other atheists
new Jerusalem, 55, 99, 110
New Testament. See specific books of New Testament
Newton, Sir Isaac, 17, 22, 28, 115
“nice laws” of nature, 62–63
Nietzsche, Friedrich, 13
nitrogen, 66–67
Nobel Peace Prize, 89
Nobel Prize for Literature, 93
Noble, Denis, 36–37, 120n15
nuclear weapons, 20, 83, 89. See also atom bombs
nucleosynthesis, 68
Old Testament. See specific books of Old Testament
Origin of Species (Darwin), 17–19, 75, 104
origins
of human life, 65–73
of the universe, 24–25, 58
Orion, 24
Ortega y Gasset, José, 39–40
Oxford University, 32, 36, 43, 52, 69
oxygen, 66–67
Paavola, Sami, 118n7
paintings, 44
Paley, William, 62, 76
paradise, 100
Pascal, Blaise, 95–96, 101
patterns, 12–13, 15–22, 103
Paul
on creation as basis of knowledge of God, 54
on faith, 113–14
on human nature, 86, 111, 127n16
on love of Jesus Christ, 108
on seeing dimly in mirror, 13
on transformative power of the gospel, 50
Peirce, Charles Sanders, 10–11, 96
Penzias, Arno, 25
physics, 27–28, 43, 56, 60, 69, 72
Pitt, William, 84
planets, 16–17, 58, 60
Plato, 99
Polanyi, Michael, 12, 22, 23, 39
Polkinghorne, John, 56
Polynesians, 79
Pope, Alexander, 83
positivism, 42–43
postmodernism, 9–10
power, 83–84
progress, 85, 87–90
Pruss, Alexander, 119n9
Psalms, Book of, 6, 108
psychology, 43
Ptolemaic model, 11
purpose, 105, 109–10
quantum theory, 27, 28, 119n9
Quarles, Francis, 100
radiation, 25
rationalism, 105–6
redemption, 90
Rees, Sir Martin, 63–64
relativity theory, 28
religion
Frazer on, 34–35
Freud on, 93
Marxist view of, 31, 92–93
Milosz on, 93
New Atheism on, 82–83, 85–86, 94
resurgence of, in twenty-first century, 30–31
at Soviet Union’s collapse, 93
universals of classification and, 35
warfare model of science versus, 33–35, 42–43, 47
See also Christianity
Renaissance, 100
revelation, 104
RNA, 69
Robinson Crusoe (Defoe), 15
Romans, Letter to, 50, 54, 111, 127n16
Rotblat, Sir Joseph, 89
Royal Society of London, 63
Ruskin, John, 51
Russell, Bertrand, 5
salvation, 50, 54–55
Sandel, Michael J., 105
Sayers, Dorothy L., 1–2
science
Aristotelian science, 62
atheism and, 31–32
causal explanation in, 23–26
comprehensibility of natural world, 41–42, 55–56
different levels of explanation in, 43–44
empirical adequacy and, 26
empirical fit and, 10–11, 57, 71
explanatory unification in, 23, 27–29
fine-tuning and, 59–66, 69–73
Huxley on, 38–39
inference to the best explanation in, 10–11, 19, 23, 26–27, 47–48, 71
laws of nature and, 41–42, 56–58, 62–63
limits of, 4–5, 39–44
meaning of life and, 4–5
morality and, 5, 41
as neutral, 47
New Atheism and, 29–37, 39, 42–45
Ortega y Gasset on, 39–40)
positivism and, 42–43
predictive power of, 17
preserving the phenomena and, 17
progress in, 88–89
proof of scientific theories, 18–20, 27, 113
questions raised by, 28–29, 37
sense-making and, 22–29
theory of everything in, 28, 43
warfare model of religion versus, 33–35, 42–43, 47
See also nature; universe; and specific scientific disciplines and scientists
scientism, 33
The Selfish Gene (Dawkins), 31, 35–36, 45
sense-making
belief in God and, 49–50
Christianity and, 48–57
longing for, 8–14
science and, 22–29
See also meaning
“The Sentiment of Rationality” (James), 19
Shorter Westminster Catechism, 110
significance, longing for, 91–100
sin, 55, 83, 86–87, 111
slavery, 113
Smolin, Lee, 59
social psychology, 104
solar system. See astronomy
soul, 100, 107
Soviet Union, 85, 93
Stalinism, 83, 87, 93
stars, 58–61, 66–68
steady state theory of the universe, 24, 25
Stoicism, 102
string theory, 64
suffering, 55
suicide, 114–15
surprised by meaning, 101–12
survival of the fittest, 105
Susskind, Leonard, 72
Swinburne, Richard, 41
teleology, 65, 75–77, 80
teleonomy, 76
telescope, 101–2, 103
Tennyson, Alfred Lord, 83
theory of everything, 28, 43
Thessalonians, Letter to, 113–14
thought-spectacles, 13
Tipler, Frank, 61–62
Tokyo bombing, 89
Tolkien, J. R. R., 87–88, 91–92, 97–98
transcendence, 99
traumatic situations, 13
Trinity, 53, 70
unification. See explanatory unification
United States presidents, 71
universals of classification, 35
universals of content, 35
universe
amount of matter in, 64
big bang theory of, 25–26, 44, 58, 62–63
biofriendliness of, 71–72
comprehensibility and intelligibility of, 41–42, 55–57
deep structure of, 58–65
fine-tuning of, 59–66, 69–73
life-bearing properties of, 58–60
multiverse hypothesis, 71–72
origins and development of, 24–25, 58
and origins of human life, 65–73
Rees on, 63–64
spatial dimensions of, 64
steady state theory of, 24, 25
See also astronomy
Uranus, 16–17
value, 104, 108–9
viator (wayfarer/traveller), 55
Vitamin K, 88
warfare model of science versus religion, 33–34, 42, 47
Weil, Simone, 9
Weinberg, Steven, 72, 102
Western liberalism, 85
Westminster Catechism, 110
Whewell, William, 2, 117n3
White, Andrew Dickson, 42
Wilberforce, William, 113
Williams, R. J. P., 69
Wilson, Robert, 25
wisdom
Book of Job and, 12
knowledge versus, 3
search for, 12
underlying patterns and, 12–13, 103
Wolfe, Tom, 31
working hypotheses, 19, 39
World War I, 114–15
World War II, 88–89