Issues in Science & Theology

Issues in Science & Theology (IST) appears roughly every two years and can be purchased by anyone from the publisher. Since 2015, it has appeared as a Springer series of its own (listed as Issues in Science & Religion). Each volume reflects the theme of a recent ESSSAT conference, and contains a collection of scholarly essays exploring current scholarly thinking on the interaction between science & theology. Additionally, from time to time we honour distinguished members with a Festschrift. ESSSAT members are entitled to free copies of the conference volumes which appeared during their membership and can request them from the treasurer (shipping fees might apply).

Before 2015, volumes were published by T&T Clark.

IST Volume 6

How Do We Know? Understanding in Science and Theology, Dirk Evers, Antje Jackelén, Taede A. Smedes (eds.), London: T&T Clark, 2010, ISBN: 9780567132659 (paperback). The book contains fourteen essays, with a preface by Dirk Evers:
Peter Gärdenfors, The role of understanding in human nature·
Lewis Wolpert, The Origins of Science and Religion
Mikael Stenmark, From Positivist to Postmodern Conceptions of Knowledge
Håkan Snellmann, The Scientific Project: knowledge without meaning?
Rebekka Klein, How do we know about the Self: Theoretical, Experimental, and· Neural?
Noreen Herzfeld, ‘The End of Faith’? Theology as Process
Antje Jackelén, Faith, Science and Postmodernity
Eva-Lotta Grantén The role of scientific knowledge for theological change – a case study from original sin
Richard Bowen, Self, Knowledge and Faith: An approach to constructive dialogue in science and religion
Willem B. Drees, The Multiplicity of Purposes of ‘Religion and Science’
Peter Kirschenmann, Towards Understanding ‘Understanding’ in Science and Theology
David Goodin, On First Principles: Arthur Schopenhauer and Bridging the Science/ Religion Divide
Marie Vejrup Nielsen, Knowing through narratives? Narrative understanding and the separation between the narrative and non-narrative
John Teske, ‘Let Me Tell You a Story’: Narrative and Meaning in Science and Religion

IST Volume 5

Creation’s Diversity. Voices from Theology and Science, Willem B. Drees, Hubert Meisinger, Taede A. Smedes (eds.), London: T&T Clark, 2008, ISBN: 9780567033284 (hardback) and 9780567033291 (paperback). The book contains fourteen essays, with a preface by Willem B. Drees:

Willem B. Drees, Creation’s diversity: Voices from theology and science
Daniel Ciobotea, Rationality and mystery in the Universe
Anna Primavesi, Geohistory, Gaia science and an ecological theology·
Regina Kather, Humans as part of nature: The concept of life and the temporal implications of actions·
David K. Goodin, The noble Leviathan and the twisted serpent: An Eastern Orthodox perspective on the ecological message of Genesis, Job, and Isaiah
Christopher C.B. Southgate, The Creatures’ Yes and No to their creator: A proposal in evolutionary theology, kenotic trinitarianism, and environmental ethics
Alfred Kracher, The diversity of environments: Nature and technology as competing myths
Tony Watling, New cosmologies and sacred stories: Re-imagining the human-environment relationship via religio-scientific metaphor and myth
R.J. Berry, Sustaining diversity or developing sustainably
Jan J. Boersema, How green is progress?
Chris Wiltsher, Is sustaining diversity theologically virtuous?
Peter P. Kirschenmann, Sustaining diversity: From science and morality to religion – or just economy?
Zbigniew Liana, Objectivity, truth and diversity in science and religion
Dirk Evers, Sustaining diversity: Religious pluralism and the challenge for theology

IST Volume 4

Wisdom or Knowledge? Science, Theology and Cultural Dynamics, Hubert Meisinger, Willem B. Drees, Zbigniew Liana (eds.), London: T&T Clark, 2006, ISBN: 0567030887 (hardback) and 0567031004 (paperback). The book contains ten essays, with an introduction by Hubert Meisinger:

Hubert Meisinger, Introduction – Mapping the Issues
Dirk Evers, Progress in Science and Theology
Mariano Artigas, The Reliability of Science and its Cultural Impact
Chris Wiltsher, ‘Don’t drink from that dirty stream!’ The Decline of Science and Theology as Source of Wisdom in Europe
Peter Harrison, Disjoining Wisdom and Knowledge: Science, Theology and the Making of Western Modernity
Alexei V. Nesteruk, Wisdom through Communion and Personhood: From Patristic Theology to Contemporary Science
Lucio Florio, Walking on Hermeneutic Territory. The Horizons of Sense for a Pilgrim
Celia Deane-Drummond, Where Streams Meet? Ecology, Wisdom and Beauty in Bulgakov, Von Balthasar and Aquinas
Michael Fuller, Biotechnology and Ethics: A Locus for the Reintegration of Science and Wisdom?
Antje Jackelén, Food Safety and Food Justice: Impacts of Scientific and Religious Cultures
Walther Ch. Zimmerli, To Know is to Make: Knowledge, Ignorance and Belief in a Technological Society

IST Volume 3

Creative Creatures. Values and Ethical Issues in Theology, Science and Technology, eds. Ulf Görman, Willem B. Drees and Hubert Meisinger, London & New York: Continuum/T&T Clark, 2005, xiii + 191 pp. ISBN 0-567-03089-X. The book contains thirteen essays, with an introduction by Willem B. Drees:

René P.H. Munnik, ICT and the character of finitude
Zbigniew Liana, Technology and the Changing Notion of Nature
Noreen Herzfeld, Co-creator or co-creator: The Problem with Artificial Intelligence
Otto Kroesen, From Thou to IT: Information Technology from the Perspective of the Language Philosophy of Rosenzweig and Rosenstock-Huessy
Taede Smedes, Being Cyborgs: On Creating Humanity in a Created World of Technology
Frans B.M. de Waal, The Perennial Debate about Human Goodness: The Primate Evidence
Nancey Murphy, Theological Reflections on the Moral Nature of Nature
Lluís Oviedo, Is it suitable to translate Christian anthropological topics into genetic and cognitive categories? The case of original sin
Margaret A. Boden, Ethical Issues of AI and Biotechnology
Ulf Görman, Co-creation or Hubris? Responses to Biotechnology in Christianity, Judaism, and Islam
Jan-Olav Henriksen, The Human Being a Co-Creator? Theological Reflections on Reproductive Cloning of Human Individuals
Christopher J. Corbally, SJ, When Astronomers and Environmentalists Clash Over a Sky Island
Angela Roothaan, The Crisis of Ideologies and the Need for a New Anthropology: Values Education in a Technological and Pragmatic Age

IST Volume 2

Design and Disorder: Perspectives from Science and Theology, eds. Niels Henrik Gregersen, Ulf Görman. Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 2002. xv + 232 pp. ISBN 0567088685. Eight essays deal with various aspects of design, order and disorder from scientific and theological perspectives, with an introduction by Ulf Görman:

John D. Barrow, How Chaos Coexists with Order
John Hedley Brooke, Revisiting Darwin on Order and Design
Niels Henrik Gregersen, Beyond the Balance: Theology in a Self-Organizing World
John C. Puddefoot, Landscapes of Human Discourse
Isabelle Stengers, Science and Religion: Beyond Complementarity?
Christoph Theobald, SJ, On Finality in Creation Theology: Epistemological and Theological Considerations
Alexei Nesteruk, Design in the Universe and the Logos of Creation: Patristic Synthesis and Modern Cosmology
Willem B. Drees, Disorder and the Ambitions of ‘Science and Theology’

IST Volume 1

The Human Person in Science and Theology, eds Niels Henrik Gregersen, Willem B Drees and Ulf Görman, Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 2000. 211 p, ISBN 0 567 08692 5. The nine essays deals with the bio-cultural paradigm of personhood, supervenience, mind and culture:

Niels Henrik Gregersen: Varieties of personhood: mapping the issues.
Mary Midgley: Consciousness, fatalism and science.
Fraser Watts: The multifaceted nature of human personhood: psychological and theological perspectives.
Hugo Lagercrantz: The child´s brain — on neurogenetic determinism and free will.
Philip Hefner: Imago Dei: the possibility and necessity of the human person.
Michael Welker: Is the autonomous person of European modernity a sustainable model of human personhood?
Dennis Bielfeldt: The peril and promise of supervenience for the science-thology discussion.
Niels Henrik Gregersen: God´s public traffic: holist versus physicalist supervenience.
John A Teske: the social construction of the human spirit.