Renewing the Process of Creation
A Jewish Integration of Science and Spirit
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- $26.99
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- $26.99
Publisher Description
Discoveries in contemporary psychology and neuroscience are causing people of all faiths to re-examine religion, spiritual experience and belief in God. This is a ground-breaking, accessible look at the implications of cognitive science for religion and theology, intended for laypeople. Avoiding neurological jargon and respectful to all faiths, it examines: what religious experience is as it plays out in our brains; How modern science challenges historic ideas about free will and undermines the religious concept of the soul as a metaphysical entity separable from the body; What cognitive science reveals about our need for community; The benefits of loyalty to one faith if, in fact, all major religious traditions deal effectively with universal human needs; Current theory on how our brains construct our world in order to guide us safely through life, creating and appreciating meaning as we go.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This volume, the first of a planned trilogy (on the themes of creation, revelation, and redemption), further articulates Jewish Process Theology, which Artson introduced in God of Becoming and Relationship. Here, he further explores the nature of creation, and touches on, among other things, the natures of God and the universe, free will, and the meaning of human obligation. Artson's coherent metaphysics integrates a contemporary scientific view of the universe, which he lays out lucidly for the layperson, with a Jewish ethical worldview, encompassing both the rational and the miraculous and dissolving the physical/spiritual divide. For him, humankind is creation's natural and emergent flowering into self-awareness we are not beyond, above, or outside of nature. Artson argues that this makes us unique, but rather than dividing us from the rest of God's creation, our self-awareness gives us a special obligation to engage our inquisitive nature and to understand our actions as integral to the ongoing creation of cosmos. Accessible and clear, this book should be of interest to Jews and non-Jews, both those who are established in their faith/practice and those who are seeking, as well as anyone looking for ways to integrate a scientific worldview and religion.
