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This book explores ways in which Western literature has engaged with themes found within the field of science and religion, both historically and in the present day. It focuses on works of the imagination as important locations at which human arguments, hopes and fears may be played out. The chapters examine a variety of instances where scientific and religious ideas are engaged by novelists, poets and dramatists, casting new light upon those ideas and suggesting constructive ways in which science and religion may interact. The contributors cover a rich variety of authors, including Mary Shelley, Aldous Huxley, R. S. Thomas, Philip Pullman and Margaret Atwood. Together they form a fascinating set of reflections on some of the significant issues encountered within the discourse of science and religion, indicating ways in which the insights of creative artists can make a valuable and important contribution to that discourse.
List of contents
Introduction
Michael Fuller
1 Science and Religion Themes in Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials and The Book of Dust: Sin and Evolution, Panpsychism, and the Dangers of 'Single Vision'
Victoria Lorrimar
2 Weird Tales: The Shifting Role of Science and Religion in Literature's Search for Truth
Alison Jack
3 'Heretical ... Dangerous and Potentially Subversive': The Problem of Science and Religion in Aldous Huxley's Brave New World
Mark Harris
4 Radical Plurality: Science and Religion in the Writings of Karel Capek
Michael Fuller
5 The Spirit of Nature in Natural Philosophy and Literature from the Cambridge Platonists to Coleridge
Alison Milbank
6 The Wound of Knowledge: R. S. Thomas' Cruciform Poetics of Science and Religion
Wilson C. K. Poon
7 Cosmic Consciousness: Henry James, William James, and the Society for Psychical Research
Mark Eaton
8 Marie Corelli's Electric Creed: Science, Religion, and Popular Fiction at the end of the Nineteenth Century
David Jasper
9 Left Behind? Religion as a Vestige in 'The Rapture of the Nerds' and Other AI Singularity Literature
Beth Singler
10 Can Religion Save the Planet? Looking for Hope within the Eco-Religions of Climate Fiction
Jaime Wright
Afterword
Christopher Southgate
About the author
Michael Fuller is a Lecturer in Science and Religion at the University of Edinburgh, UK.
Summary
This book explores ways in which Western literature has engaged with themes found within the field of science and religion, both historically and in the present day.
