No God, No Science: Theology, Cosmology, Biology

Are creation and evolution mutually exclusive terms? Or is there instead a deep relationship between science, metaphysics, and theology that can help shed light into mankind’s quest for the ultimate truth? No God, No Science: Theology, Cosmology, Biology presents a comprehensive work of philosophical theology whose overarching aim is to retrieve the Christian doctrine of creation ex nihilo from the distortions imposed upon it by positivist science and the Darwinian tradition of evolutionary biology. Noted scholar Michael Hanby cogently argues that the Christian doctrine of creation is actually essential to the intelligibility of the world and that the universe itself is a fundamentally metaphysical and theological concept. Metaphysics and theology, he reasons, are not options in the realm of science, and the intractable problems of Darwinian biology are actually the result of its faulty metaphysical and theological foundations. Putting forth a new understanding of the relationship between theology and science and an original and thought–provoking critical reassessment of  Darwinian  biology, No God, No Science changes the terms of the debate between Darwinism and theology and offers startling new insights into the potential for science and religion to coexist and flourish in the modern world.

Preface viii Acknowledgments xi Abbreviations xii Primary Sources and Translations xvi Introduction 1 Part I In the Beginning 7 1 Discourse on Method 9 2 A Brief History of the Cosmos 49 Part II The Eclipse of the Universe 105 3 The Scientific and Theological Revolution 107 4 Unnatural “Theology” 150 5 Darwin the Theologian 186 6 The Mystery of the Missing Organism 250 Part III Creation Without Creationism 297 7 Deus Creator Omnium 299 8 What the World Is 334 9 Saving the Appearances 375 Epilogue: Evolution of the Last Men 416 Index 422

Michael Hanby is Associate Professor of Religion and Philosophy of Science at the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Marriage and Family Studies at the Catholic University of America.  His previous published works include Augustine and Modernity and numerous journal articles.  He has taught previously at Baylor University and Villanova University.

“Summing Up: Recommended.  Upper–level undergraduates through researchers/faculty.”  ( Choice , 1 December 2013)