Scientific Theory and Religion
The World Described by Science and its Spiritual Interpretation

The lectures were originally published in 1933 and sought to bring Christian doctrines together with the possibility of life on other planets.

Ernest William Barnes (Author)

9780521730228, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 26 June 2008

712 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 4 cm, 1.03 kg

Ernest Barnes was invited to Aberdeen as Gifford Lecturer (1927–1929) to deliver lectures under the title of 'Scientific Theory and Religion'. The lectures were originally published in 1933 and sought to bring Christian doctrines together with the possibility of life on other planets. The magnitude of the universe, accompanied with some basic observations on biological development within it, makes speculation about the possibility of intelligent life in distant galaxies reasonable. Barnes believed that the Creation was made precisely for the higher forms of' consciousness. The scope of the background to scientific theory and religious ideas of creation presented here is extensive and covers topics including Jewish cosmology as the basis for later Christian thought to early quantum mechanics and evolutionary biology. However, as Barnes himself noted of this scope in his lectures, 'Wide as is their range, they have an inner coherence. I trust that they express the attitude of the modern man of science who, as he hopefully makes theories, is aware of the limitations of his knowledge and also, in part because of his loyalty to truth, bears in mind the reality and the claims of the spiritual world.'

1. Introduction
2. Matter
3. Space
4. Riemann's General Theory of Space
5. Space-Time: The Special Theory of Relativity
6. General Relativity
7. The Electrical Theory of Matter
8. Heat and Light
9. The Quantum Theory and Röntgen Rays
10. The Solar System
11. The Galactic Universe and the Great Nebulae
12. The Origin of Life and the Geological Record
13. The Evolution of Plants and Sex
14. the Evolution of Animals and Mendelism
15. The Machinery of Evolution
16. Man's Origin and Past
17. Scientific Theory and the 'Real' World
18. God and Our Belief in His Existence
19. Religious Experience
20. Immortality
Conclusion.

Subject Areas: Literary studies: general [DSB]