The Journal of Interdisciplinary History articles from September 1999

The Journal of Interdisciplinary History archives from September 1999

THE RETURN OF THE GOD HYPOTHESIS.
September 1, 1999... THE RISE AND FALL OF THEISTIC ARGUMENTS In 1799, the physicist Pierre Laplace presented copies of his Treatise on Celestial Mechanics to the new French Emperor, Napoleon Bonaparte. In it, Laplace sought to explain the origin of the solar...

HILARY PUTNAM AS A RELIGIOUS THINKER.
September 1, 1999... PUTNAM AS CRITIC OF A "GOD'S-EYE-VIEW" Hilary Putnam, professor of mathematical logic at Harvard University, is one of the most interesting and influential (post-) analytic philosophers. Insofar as philosophizing aims at broad, systematic...

SINN UND BEDEUTUNG DER PHILOSOPHISCHEN GOTTESBEWEISE.(text in German)
September 1, 1999... PERSONALITAT UND INTELLEKTUALITAT In seinem Buch, Die Schwelle der Hoffnung uberschreiten, gibt Papst Johannes Paul II. auf die Frage, ob die philosophische Argumentation in bezug auf die Existenz und das Wesen Gottes fur den heutigen...

PROVIDENCE AND THE CHRISTIAN SCHOLAR.
September 1, 1999... HISTORY AND PROVIDENCE Professionalization in the academy has instilled in many Christian scholars a fear of naive integrations of faith and learning. The methodologies of most academic disciplines are inherently reductionist, imposing...

CAUSALITY WITHIN COMPLEXITY.
September 1, 1999... SCIENTIFIC EXPLANATIONS According to Aristotle, philosophy was born when man discovered awe and asked questions about the world around him. In his Metaphysics, Aristotle writes: "For it is owing to their wonder that men both now begin and...

PHILOSOPHY AS CREATIVE DISCOVERY: SCIENCE, ETHICS AND FAITH.(Critical Essay)
September 1, 1999... SCIENCE-RELIGION DIALOGUE The thesis of this essay is that philosophy is at an important crossroads at the dawn of the Third Millennium in its classic, traditional role as paideia - philosophy educating humanity. An unprecedented challenge...

SCIENCE, FAITH AND DESIGN.(Critical Essay)
September 1, 1999... METASCIENTIFIC UNDERPINNINGS OF SCIENCE Science, faith, and design form an interlocked set of issues at the center of current interest in science and religion. Fred Heeren explores the degree to which science can function as a surrogate for...

Show Me God: What the Message From Space Is Telling Us About God.(Review)
September 1, 1999... By Fred Heeren. Rev. ed. Wheeling, IL: Day Star, 1997. Cloth. 405 p. $19.99. METASCIENTIFIC UNDERPINNINGS OF SCIENCE Science, faith, and design form an interlocked set of issues at the center of current interest in science and...

The Soul of Science: Christian Faith and Natural Philosophy.(Review)
September 1, 1999... By Nancy R. Pearcey & Charles B. Thaxton. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 1994. Paper. 298 p. $10.99. METASCIENTIFIC UNDERPINNINGS OF SCIENCE Science, faith, and design form an interlocked set of issues at the center of current interest in...

Hobbes and Christianity: Reassessing the Bible in Leviathan.(Review)
September 1, 1999... By Paul D. Cooke. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 1996. Paper. 282 p. $25.95. Paul Cooke's Hobbes and Christianity addresses the controversy: Is Hobbes a genuine theist, if not a sincere Christian, or a dissembling, albeit humanitarian,...

God, Reason and Theistic Proofs.(Review)
September 1, 1999... By Stephen T. Davis. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1997. Paper. 204 p. $26. Intended primarily as a textbook for courses in philosophy of religion, Stephen Davis" God, Reason and Theistic Proofs serves this aim admirably. Its lucid coverage...

The Fire in the Equations: Science, Religion and the Search for God.(Review)
September 1, 1999... By Kitty Ferguson. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1994. Cloth. 308 p. $24.99. The Fire in the Equations, by Kitty Ferguson, a former professional musician with a life-long interest in science, reads almost like a musical composition. Good...

Roman Catholics and Evangelicals: Agreements and Differences.(Review)
September 1, 1999... By Norman Geisler & Ralph E. MacKenzie. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1995. Paper. 538 p. This is a book written by evangelicals for evangelicals, no doubt occasioned by the document, "Evangelicals and Catholics Together: The Christian Mission...

The Six Great Themes of Western Metaphysics and the End of the Middle Ages.(Review)
September 1, 1999... By Heinz Heimsoeth. Trans. Ramon J. Betanzos. Detroit, MI: Wayne State University Press, 1994. Paper. 272 p. $19.95. In his 1922 German classic, Heinz Heimsoeth separates the modern period of philosophy as a new image of the heavens that...

Dogmatic Wisdom: How the Culture Wars Divert Education and Distract America.(Review)
September 1, 1999... By Russell Jacoby. New York: Doubleday, 1994. Cloth. 235 p. $22.99. Russel Jacoby's Dogmatic Wisdom is meant to sharpen the author's focus and intentions as revealed in the subtitle. Jacoby's lengthy Preface is a fair overview of succeeding...

The Holy War Idea in Western and Islamic Traditions.(Review)
September 1, 1999... By James T. Johnson. University Park, PA: Penn State University Press, 1997. Paper. 185 p. $16.95. James Johnson's The Holy War Idea in Western and Islamic Traditions is an invitation to dialogue. The book addresses five substantive...

Religion, The Missing Dimension of Statecraft.(Review)
September 1, 1999... Eds. Douglas Johnston, Jr. & Cynthia Sampson. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994. Cloth. 350 p. $24.95. This extraordinary book is the fruit of a long collaborative process culminating in a conference attended by some 600 persons from...

Herman Melville's Religious Journey.(Review)
September 1, 1999... By Walter Donald Kring. Raleigh, NC: Pentland Press, 1997. Cloth. 154 p. $18.95. Walter Donald Kring, Minister Emeritus of All Souls Unitarian Church, New York City, and noted potter, dedicates his study to all those "numberless souls"...

The Faces of Violence.(Review)
September 1, 1999... By George B. Palermo, M.D. Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas Publisher, 1994. Cloth. 280 p. $68.95. George Palermo's The Faces of Violence is the testimony of a professional psychiatrist dealing for many years with criminal behavior,...

Monad to Man: The Concept of Progress in Evolutionary Biology.(Review)
September 1, 1999... By Michael Ruse. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1996. Cloth. 539 p. $49.95. Evolutionary theory remains controversial, Michael Ruse argues, because it was shaped by the controversial idea of cultural progress. In support he...

Malcolm Muggeridge: A Biography.(Review)
September 1, 1999... By Gregory Wolfe. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1997. Cloth. 462 p. $35. Journal editor and essayist Gregory Wolfe has written a fine biography of perhaps the twentieth century's most engaging iconoclast and lay Christian philosopher. More...

NEWMAN, THEOLOGY AND THE CRISIS IN LIBERAL EDUCATION.(John Henry Cardinal Newman)(Critical Essay)
September 1, 1999... THE AIM OF EDUCATION John Henry Cardinal Newman stands as one of the great educators, whose The Idea of a University (1852) is frequently invoked in defense of liberal arts education.(1) According to Frank Turner: "The issues that Newman...

THE SEVENTH VOYAGE OF PHILOSOPHY.(Critical Essay)
September 1, 1999... THE SIX GREAT CRISES OF WESTERN PHILOSOPHY This essay defends three theses: (1) There have been six great crises in the history of Western philosophy, of which the sixth is the most serious; (2) Each of the great crises and attempts to...

The Design Inference: Eliminating Chance Through Small Probabilities.(Review)
September 1, 1999... By William A. Dembski. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998. Cloth. 243 p. $54.95. METASCIENTIFIC UNDERPINNINGS OF SCIENCE Science, faith, and design form an interlocked set of issues at the center of current interest in science...