Religion-and-Science as Spiritual Quest for Meaning, by Philip Hefner
2008. 127 pp. ISBN: 9781894710848
In the Proceedings of the Sixth Goshen Conference on Religion and Science, Hefner uses the two ends of the telescope image that Teilhard de Chardin invoked. While neither view is incorrect, he emphasizes that we should consider that end which brings human nature, consciousness, morality, and ethics into focus. His concern is that the path from origins, in terms of particles and the laws of physics, is too long and is possibly beyond our present and perhaps even eventual understanding.
"The book contains three lectures and a Coda delivered by Philip Hefner, a homily by Frank Scardiglia, and a discussion that took place at a conference in Goshen, Indiana, in March of 2006. In his lectures, Hefner proposes a concept of religion-and-science to address the human ability to fuse elements of their religious faith and the scientific understanding of the world in the process of the search for meaning. That concept seems to have helped Hefner to fuse his own Christian faith with his understanding of cosmology and genetics. Hefner’s goal is to offer other American Christians a concept that would allow them to accept science without rejecting their faith and keep their faith without rejecting the scientific interpretations of natural reality. Hefner shapes that concept using his own Lutheran religious tradition and his knowledge of modern science. Through his lectures and the discussion he clarifies the fundamental concepts employed in his presentation, such as religion, religiosity, theology, spirituality, knowledge, science, and technology." - Barbara Ann Strassberg in Zygon