Pub Date : 2023-09-01DOI: 10.56315/pscf9-23mcleish
Tom McLeish
THE POETRY AND MUSIC OF SCIENCE: Comparing Creativity in Science and Art by Tom McLeish. New York: Oxford University Press, 2022. 414 pages. Paperback; $16.95. ISBN: 9780192845375. *In this tour-de-force book, British physicist Tom McLeish finally comprehensively argues, in one dense volume, what so many scientists have been claiming piecemeal for centuries: that doing science often looks and feels like doing art. That is a broad, amorphous statement, of course, and scientists have not done a very good job of fully understanding this idea or selling it to the rest of the world. This carefully crafted volume must be the most exhaustive work in this area, treating the notion that the creative work of scientists and artists is extraordinarily similar, in that they both fundamentally involve an intimate passion for describing and representing the world around us. *This is not a book about beauty or wonder in science, but rather it examines how scientific ideas and theories come to a scientist's mind and find fruition as publishable science. The entire book juxtaposes literature and art with science and mathematics to help understand the creative process. One important impetus for writing the book, according to McLeish, was recent evidence that smart, capable high schoolers in England were choosing not to go into science because they believed it would not be nearly as fulfilling, creatively, when compared to work in the arts or humanities. McLeish, a Christian, succeeds in this book in showing that not only is creative thinking and experimenting necessary and "part of the chase" in science, but that it is also a natural fulfillment of our creative mandate as human beings made in the image of God. McLeish is also careful to give examples of "more-regular" science, rather than relying solely on the popular accounts of the creativity of exceptional geniuses; he trys to show that all scientists participate in this artistic-like creativity no matter what they are studying. *The first two chapters introduce the concepts of creativity and inspiration in science. McLeish begins an interaction with several important works that he draws on throughout the book: William Beveridge's The Art of Scientific Investigation from 1950, Henry James's The Art of the Novel, and Howard Gardner's 1993 work Creating Minds (one of many surveys of particularly creative individuals). Chapter 3, "Seeing the Unseen," is about visual imagination and its role in theory creation, artistic design, and general problem solving. Visual imagination is seeing things in the mind's eye, but it is obviously linked to actual sight and seeing the world, too. Surveying the history of thought in this area, McLeish ranges from Plato to Gregory of Nyssa, to the thirteenth-century polymath Robert Grosseteste, to the Italian painter Giotto, to Einstein, who said his theory creation and problem solving started with visual images in his mind, which often led to his famous gedanken experiments. Grossetes
{"title":"The Poetry and Music of Science: Comparing Creativity in Science and Art","authors":"Tom McLeish","doi":"10.56315/pscf9-23mcleish","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.56315/pscf9-23mcleish","url":null,"abstract":"THE POETRY AND MUSIC OF SCIENCE: Comparing Creativity in Science and Art by Tom McLeish. New York: Oxford University Press, 2022. 414 pages. Paperback; $16.95. ISBN: 9780192845375. *In this tour-de-force book, British physicist Tom McLeish finally comprehensively argues, in one dense volume, what so many scientists have been claiming piecemeal for centuries: that doing science often looks and feels like doing art. That is a broad, amorphous statement, of course, and scientists have not done a very good job of fully understanding this idea or selling it to the rest of the world. This carefully crafted volume must be the most exhaustive work in this area, treating the notion that the creative work of scientists and artists is extraordinarily similar, in that they both fundamentally involve an intimate passion for describing and representing the world around us. *This is not a book about beauty or wonder in science, but rather it examines how scientific ideas and theories come to a scientist's mind and find fruition as publishable science. The entire book juxtaposes literature and art with science and mathematics to help understand the creative process. One important impetus for writing the book, according to McLeish, was recent evidence that smart, capable high schoolers in England were choosing not to go into science because they believed it would not be nearly as fulfilling, creatively, when compared to work in the arts or humanities. McLeish, a Christian, succeeds in this book in showing that not only is creative thinking and experimenting necessary and \"part of the chase\" in science, but that it is also a natural fulfillment of our creative mandate as human beings made in the image of God. McLeish is also careful to give examples of \"more-regular\" science, rather than relying solely on the popular accounts of the creativity of exceptional geniuses; he trys to show that all scientists participate in this artistic-like creativity no matter what they are studying. *The first two chapters introduce the concepts of creativity and inspiration in science. McLeish begins an interaction with several important works that he draws on throughout the book: William Beveridge's The Art of Scientific Investigation from 1950, Henry James's The Art of the Novel, and Howard Gardner's 1993 work Creating Minds (one of many surveys of particularly creative individuals). Chapter 3, \"Seeing the Unseen,\" is about visual imagination and its role in theory creation, artistic design, and general problem solving. Visual imagination is seeing things in the mind's eye, but it is obviously linked to actual sight and seeing the world, too. Surveying the history of thought in this area, McLeish ranges from Plato to Gregory of Nyssa, to the thirteenth-century polymath Robert Grosseteste, to the Italian painter Giotto, to Einstein, who said his theory creation and problem solving started with visual images in his mind, which often led to his famous gedanken experiments. Grossetes","PeriodicalId":53927,"journal":{"name":"Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith","volume":"17 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135894991","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-09-01DOI: 10.56315/pscf9-23peterson2
James C. Peterson
Every breath counts, as does every article that has appeared in the 75 years of PSCF. Each article has convinced the author, peer reviewers, and editor that it is clear, well informed, new, and important. Reading them consistently has been like breathing. One does not necessarily remember every specific breath, but each one adds to sustaining and forming and empowering life and service. *We do sometimes remember, though, a particular breath that was bracing and exhilarating such as salt air when arriving at an ocean beach, fresh-baked bread in the winter, the first mown grass in the spring, or a waft of honeysuckle in the summer. As individuals in different disciplines, living in different contexts, different articles have meant the most to each of us. I have asked each of the ASA Fellows and editors to remember one such article that struck them at the time, and if it still speaks to them vividly now. *No doubt, different contexts over the coming years might bring to mind other articles, but the following is a snapshot of what today they remember as particularly noteworthy in their own walk. It should be noted that Fellows, who all have marked accomplishments to be named Fellows, will of course tend to be well into their years of service. Many articles they cite as most influential were often read in their most formative decades. We do not know which articles now being read by current members in their 20s, 30s, and 40s will be cited as most important to them when they reach the life achievement level of Fellows. *The articles that follow are listed in chronological order--from sixty years ago, right up to 2022. *As editor, I am partial to every piece that has been published in PSCF. But what follows is an opportunity for ASA Fellows and editors to celebrate particular essays that have piqued their interest, even changed their lives, and no doubt the lives of other readers too. *
{"title":"Twenty-Five ASA Fellows and Editors Tell of PSCF Articles That Changed Their Lives","authors":"James C. Peterson","doi":"10.56315/pscf9-23peterson2","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.56315/pscf9-23peterson2","url":null,"abstract":"Every breath counts, as does every article that has appeared in the 75 years of PSCF. Each article has convinced the author, peer reviewers, and editor that it is clear, well informed, new, and important. Reading them consistently has been like breathing. One does not necessarily remember every specific breath, but each one adds to sustaining and forming and empowering life and service. *We do sometimes remember, though, a particular breath that was bracing and exhilarating such as salt air when arriving at an ocean beach, fresh-baked bread in the winter, the first mown grass in the spring, or a waft of honeysuckle in the summer. As individuals in different disciplines, living in different contexts, different articles have meant the most to each of us. I have asked each of the ASA Fellows and editors to remember one such article that struck them at the time, and if it still speaks to them vividly now. *No doubt, different contexts over the coming years might bring to mind other articles, but the following is a snapshot of what today they remember as particularly noteworthy in their own walk. It should be noted that Fellows, who all have marked accomplishments to be named Fellows, will of course tend to be well into their years of service. Many articles they cite as most influential were often read in their most formative decades. We do not know which articles now being read by current members in their 20s, 30s, and 40s will be cited as most important to them when they reach the life achievement level of Fellows. *The articles that follow are listed in chronological order--from sixty years ago, right up to 2022. *As editor, I am partial to every piece that has been published in PSCF. But what follows is an opportunity for ASA Fellows and editors to celebrate particular essays that have piqued their interest, even changed their lives, and no doubt the lives of other readers too. *","PeriodicalId":53927,"journal":{"name":"Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith","volume":"15 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135686677","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"On V. Elving Anderson, \"Christian Commitment and the Scientist\" (JASA 16, no. 1 [1964]: 8–9); and Richard H. Bube, \"The Philosophy and Practice of Science\" (JASA 28, no. 3 [1976]: 127–32)","authors":"Mark Strand","doi":"10.56315/pscf9-23strand","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.56315/pscf9-23strand","url":null,"abstract":"<jats:p />","PeriodicalId":53927,"journal":{"name":"Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith","volume":"24 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135686687","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"On Owen Gingerich, \"Do the Heavens Declare the Glory of God?\" (PSCF 66, no. 2 [2014]: 113–17)","authors":"Robert Kaita","doi":"10.56315/pscf9-23kaita","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.56315/pscf9-23kaita","url":null,"abstract":"<jats:p />","PeriodicalId":53927,"journal":{"name":"Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith","volume":"58 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135686688","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"On Conrad Hyers, \"Dinosaur Religion: On Interpreting and Misinterpreting the Creation Texts\" (JASA 36, no. 3 [1984]: 142–48), and Conrad Hyers, \"The Narrative Form of Genesis 1: Cosmogenic, Yes; Scientific, No\" (JASA 36, no. 4 [1984]: 208–15)","authors":"Edward B. Davis","doi":"10.56315/pscf9-23davis","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.56315/pscf9-23davis","url":null,"abstract":"<jats:p />","PeriodicalId":53927,"journal":{"name":"Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith","volume":"30 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135686695","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
THE GOD OF CHANCE AND PURPOSE: Divine Involvement in a Secular Evolutionary World by Bradford McCall. Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2022. 156 pages. Paperback; $24.00. ISBN: 9781725283831. *Bradford McCall is a young but prolific scholar, having completed his PhD in 2022 at the Claremont School of Theology, yet having published five books and about fifty articles. In this slim volume of six chapters, McCall proposes the elements of a complementary relationship between science, particularly evolutionary biology, and Christian faith. His proposal is rooted in a panentheistic theology of God that I will consider further below. On a first reading, I confess that I often lost the thread of McCall's argument amid his dense prose and fascinating tangents. On my rereading of the book, I distilled from the concluding chapter an outline of McCall's argument, so as to maintain a sense of direction throughout chapters 1-5. *The relation between science and theology is broadly considered in chapter 1, using the typology of Mikael Stenmark. McCall then proposes that science and theology overlap in terms of both social practice and subject matter. A metaphysical monist, he does not distinguish between mental and physical processes. This connects with the assertion (via Arthur Peacocke) that there is no "causal joint" to look for, either in solving the mind-body problem or in a theory of divine action. McCall is influenced by process philosophy and proposes panexperientialism--the idea that everything, from people to fundamental particles, has experience, a "subjective interiority." This is not to say that electrons think, nor does McCall tend toward anthropomorphism, but his is not the disenchanted universe of Jacques Monod. His theology of God is "intermediate between the omnipotent God of classical theism and the absentee god of deism" (p. 9). God, in this view, is "persuasive, not coercive" toward the creation. McCall views complex phenomena as emergent, invoking John Haught's notion of "layered explanations" that operate simultaneously without conflict. *The second chapter offers a consideration of evolutionary thought and the philosophy of biology--common ancestry, selectionism, adaptationism, and units of selection. Subtle controversies are investigated, such as the falsifiability of adaptationism, pluralism as an alternative, and the concept of spandrels introduced by Stephen Jay Gould and Richard Lewontin. This was deep and informative reading. In some ways, it was my favorite chapter; yet it seems disconnected from the thread of McCall's overall argument. *McCall's third chapter is entitled "The God of Chance," but oddly contains no discussion of God. Rather, he investigates how scientific thought has developed the idea of chance. As a twenty-first-century scientist, I take statistical reasoning for granted. It had never occurred to me that biologists in Darwin's time would lack this category of reasoning. Let me digress for a moment to make a connecti
{"title":"The God of Chance and Purpose: Divine Involvement in a Secular Evolutionary World","authors":"Bradford McCall","doi":"10.56315/pscf9-23mccall","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.56315/pscf9-23mccall","url":null,"abstract":"THE GOD OF CHANCE AND PURPOSE: Divine Involvement in a Secular Evolutionary World by Bradford McCall. Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2022. 156 pages. Paperback; $24.00. ISBN: 9781725283831. *Bradford McCall is a young but prolific scholar, having completed his PhD in 2022 at the Claremont School of Theology, yet having published five books and about fifty articles. In this slim volume of six chapters, McCall proposes the elements of a complementary relationship between science, particularly evolutionary biology, and Christian faith. His proposal is rooted in a panentheistic theology of God that I will consider further below. On a first reading, I confess that I often lost the thread of McCall's argument amid his dense prose and fascinating tangents. On my rereading of the book, I distilled from the concluding chapter an outline of McCall's argument, so as to maintain a sense of direction throughout chapters 1-5. *The relation between science and theology is broadly considered in chapter 1, using the typology of Mikael Stenmark. McCall then proposes that science and theology overlap in terms of both social practice and subject matter. A metaphysical monist, he does not distinguish between mental and physical processes. This connects with the assertion (via Arthur Peacocke) that there is no \"causal joint\" to look for, either in solving the mind-body problem or in a theory of divine action. McCall is influenced by process philosophy and proposes panexperientialism--the idea that everything, from people to fundamental particles, has experience, a \"subjective interiority.\" This is not to say that electrons think, nor does McCall tend toward anthropomorphism, but his is not the disenchanted universe of Jacques Monod. His theology of God is \"intermediate between the omnipotent God of classical theism and the absentee god of deism\" (p. 9). God, in this view, is \"persuasive, not coercive\" toward the creation. McCall views complex phenomena as emergent, invoking John Haught's notion of \"layered explanations\" that operate simultaneously without conflict. *The second chapter offers a consideration of evolutionary thought and the philosophy of biology--common ancestry, selectionism, adaptationism, and units of selection. Subtle controversies are investigated, such as the falsifiability of adaptationism, pluralism as an alternative, and the concept of spandrels introduced by Stephen Jay Gould and Richard Lewontin. This was deep and informative reading. In some ways, it was my favorite chapter; yet it seems disconnected from the thread of McCall's overall argument. *McCall's third chapter is entitled \"The God of Chance,\" but oddly contains no discussion of God. Rather, he investigates how scientific thought has developed the idea of chance. As a twenty-first-century scientist, I take statistical reasoning for granted. It had never occurred to me that biologists in Darwin's time would lack this category of reasoning. Let me digress for a moment to make a connecti","PeriodicalId":53927,"journal":{"name":"Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith","volume":"3 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135686718","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
DIVINE AND HUMAN PROVIDENCE: Philosophical, Psychological and Theological Approaches by Ignacio Silva and Simon Maria Kopf, eds. New York: Routledge, 2022. 156 pages. Paperback; $52.95. ISBN: 9780367632267. *This volume of nine essays seeks to clarify the meaning of divine providence by employing the analogy of human providence, understood here as the prudent execution of deliberation and planning. Although the contributors cover fields as diverse as philosophy, natural and social sciences, and theology, this review covers only the chapters that engage with contemporary scientific research. *In the fourth chapter, Ignacio Silva is concerned with the ways in which contingent events provide a challenge to our conceptions of divine providence. He develops the thought of Aquinas in contrast to those who locate God's providential acts in the causal gaps in our current scientific understanding of creation (e.g., in quantum mechanics and evolutionary theory). The latter view is taken by those who subscribe to an approach called NIODA (non-interventionist objective divine action). An example of the NIODA approach to divine providence is Thomas Tracy's view that God acts through the structures of nature "non-miraculously," a view which Silva thinks effectively renders God as one cause among countless other causes. Another example of the NIODA approach is Robert Russell's view that at the quantum level God may be seen to act as a cause of both general features and specific events alongside purely natural causes. Silva's primary critique here is that it compromises God's transcendence by making God's causal activity ontologically indistinguishable from natural causation. *To draw out what he thinks are the implications of Aquinas's view of contingent events for our understanding of divine providence, Silva first clarifies Aquinas's understanding of contingency. Indeterminism exists because of the hylomorphic composition of being--that is, matter establishes the range of possibilities for how it will be integrated by the organizing principle called "form," even though the intelligibility of form is irreducible to the material it integrates. Silva provides a brief but helpful analogy from human providence, showing how contemporary military strategy accommodates contingencies by building the occurrence of both foreseen and unforeseen events (the "material") into the overall battle plan (the "form"). He also finds that Aquinas's understanding of indeterminism is congenial to our new understanding of physical reality. Noting how Heisenberg himself used Aristotle's concepts of potency and act, Silva explains that differently actuated potency explains the existence of indeterminism without the need for complementary (i.e., divine) causation. The indeterminism that permeates the created order is part and parcel of the secondary causes through which God, the primary cause, achieves his intended effect. *In the fifth chapter, Connie Svob examines current findings in
简而言之，Svob的章节充满了富有成效的见解，关于精神生活如何与自然对象相关联，为以上帝为超自然对象的精神生活提供了充足的类比。*在第六章中，Emily Burdett从发展心理学的角度来看待神的天意，指出尽管几千年来关于神的天意的著作很少有人关注个人是如何发展他们对神的行动和天意的理解的。伯德特的方法是研究儿童如何发展他们对上帝参与世界的理解，发现儿童从很小的时候就认为上帝以积极、回应和(可能)仁慈的方式参与世界。伯德特认为，这项研究表明，在人类中存在着一种直觉的神性观念，即上帝应该仁慈地在世界上行事。通过测量婴儿看不同的有生命的和无生命的物体的时间，心理学家已经能够证实婴儿能够区分能动者和非能动者，并且能够掌握动机动机的存在。当孩子3-5岁时，他们可以区分普通的主体(如父母)和特殊的主体(如上帝)。然后，伯德特通过一系列关于儿童和祈祷的有趣研究，展示了儿童是如何区分人类和超自然力量的。这些研究发现，随着儿童年龄的增长，他们倾向于对可接受或可回应的祈祷类型施加更大的限制。进一步的研究证实，儿童在相对较小的年龄就能分辨出人类和超自然的力量，包括伯德特自己的研究，儿童相信上帝可以完成他们认为人类不可能完成的事情。Burdett随后描述了研究如何显示婴儿和儿童被善良的演员所吸引，而对恶毒的演员反感，这导致Burdett假设儿童可能会认为超自然的行为者是仁慈的。Burdett总结了一些有趣的进一步研究建议，概述了测试上述假设的潜在方法。*就像在包含各种学科方法的卷中经常出现的情况一样，编辑们承诺的一个有凝聚力的论点——在这种情况下，人类的天意是神的天意的有效类比——没有完全实现。然而，这并不是这本书的一个重要弱点，因为许多文章本身对理解神的旨意有帮助。对于这个评论家来说，最突出的是，无论从哪个学科的角度来看，托马斯·阿奎那的思想和类比理解的方法都是丰富的资源，可以用来挖掘我们对天意、人类和神的理解的发展。* Scott Halse评论，蒙特利尔Vanier学院哲学和人文学科讲师，QC H4L 3X9。
{"title":"Divine and Human Providence: Philosophical, Psychological and Theological Approaches","authors":"Ignacio Alberto Silva, Simon Kopf","doi":"10.56315/pscf9-23silva","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.56315/pscf9-23silva","url":null,"abstract":"DIVINE AND HUMAN PROVIDENCE: Philosophical, Psychological and Theological Approaches by Ignacio Silva and Simon Maria Kopf, eds. New York: Routledge, 2022. 156 pages. Paperback; $52.95. ISBN: 9780367632267. *This volume of nine essays seeks to clarify the meaning of divine providence by employing the analogy of human providence, understood here as the prudent execution of deliberation and planning. Although the contributors cover fields as diverse as philosophy, natural and social sciences, and theology, this review covers only the chapters that engage with contemporary scientific research. *In the fourth chapter, Ignacio Silva is concerned with the ways in which contingent events provide a challenge to our conceptions of divine providence. He develops the thought of Aquinas in contrast to those who locate God's providential acts in the causal gaps in our current scientific understanding of creation (e.g., in quantum mechanics and evolutionary theory). The latter view is taken by those who subscribe to an approach called NIODA (non-interventionist objective divine action). An example of the NIODA approach to divine providence is Thomas Tracy's view that God acts through the structures of nature \"non-miraculously,\" a view which Silva thinks effectively renders God as one cause among countless other causes. Another example of the NIODA approach is Robert Russell's view that at the quantum level God may be seen to act as a cause of both general features and specific events alongside purely natural causes. Silva's primary critique here is that it compromises God's transcendence by making God's causal activity ontologically indistinguishable from natural causation. *To draw out what he thinks are the implications of Aquinas's view of contingent events for our understanding of divine providence, Silva first clarifies Aquinas's understanding of contingency. Indeterminism exists because of the hylomorphic composition of being--that is, matter establishes the range of possibilities for how it will be integrated by the organizing principle called \"form,\" even though the intelligibility of form is irreducible to the material it integrates. Silva provides a brief but helpful analogy from human providence, showing how contemporary military strategy accommodates contingencies by building the occurrence of both foreseen and unforeseen events (the \"material\") into the overall battle plan (the \"form\"). He also finds that Aquinas's understanding of indeterminism is congenial to our new understanding of physical reality. Noting how Heisenberg himself used Aristotle's concepts of potency and act, Silva explains that differently actuated potency explains the existence of indeterminism without the need for complementary (i.e., divine) causation. The indeterminism that permeates the created order is part and parcel of the secondary causes through which God, the primary cause, achieves his intended effect. *In the fifth chapter, Connie Svob examines current findings in ","PeriodicalId":53927,"journal":{"name":"Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith","volume":"64 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135894815","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"On Keith Miller, \"'And God Saw That It Was Good\": Death and Pain in the Created Order\" (PSCF 63, no. 2 [2011]: 85–94)","authors":"Ryan Bebej","doi":"10.56315/pscf9-23bebej","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.56315/pscf9-23bebej","url":null,"abstract":"<jats:p />","PeriodicalId":53927,"journal":{"name":"Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith","volume":"15 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135686676","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"On Colin J. Humphreys and W. Graeme Waddington, \"The Date of the Crucifixion\" (JASA 37, no. 1 [1985]: 2–10)","authors":"Robert Mann","doi":"10.56315/pscf9-23mann","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.56315/pscf9-23mann","url":null,"abstract":"<jats:p />","PeriodicalId":53927,"journal":{"name":"Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith","volume":"15 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135686702","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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