Table of Content

 

COSMOS AND REVELATION

Reimaging God's Creation in the Age of Science

Introduction

An Autobiographical Note

How the Book Came to Be Written

Obstacles Ahead

Content and Structure

The Audience

The Challenge for the Churches

Affirmations, Limits, Advocacy

 

 

1. The Nature of Revelation

The Dimension of Mystery

A Brief Theology of Revelation

Revelation – the Cosmic Context

Revelation in History

Personal and Public Revelation

The Problem of God’s Hiddenness

Revelation or Science?

Science as Revelation?

Conclusion

 

2. The Biblical Account of Creation

Text and Revelation

Approaching the Text

Inspiration

Names for God

Composition of the Text

Issues of Interpretation

All About Meaning

Conclusion

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3. The New Cosmic Story – A Narration

The Birth of the Universe

The Travail of Galaxies

The Significance of Stars

The Birth of a Planet

Light from the Past

Cosmic Breakthrough – Living Forms

Living Cells – A Wonderland

Embedded Wisdom?

Conclusion

 

4. Understanding Our Place in the Universe

Discovering Cosmic Perspectives

Theory of Knowledge (a brief introduction)

Ancient Cosmologies

Cosmologies of Classical Antiquity

The Ptolemaic Cosmos

Newton’s Mechanical Universe

The New Cosmology: Fundamental Wholeness

Cosmic Fine-Tuning, Size Scales, Calendar

Conclusion

 

5. Humanity: An Evolving Phenomenon

Background

Footprints in Tanzania

Homo erectus and his Relatives

The Earliest Cosmopolitan Homo and his Successors

The Rise of Homo sapiens

Learning Skills in Human Infancy

The Awakening of an Interior Horizon

Why We Cannot Ignore the Past

Conclusion

 

6. The Rise of Human Consciousness

Towards a Biology of the Human Spirit

The Consciousness of Place and Power

The Human Brain – Complexity and Mystery

The Spirituality of Children

The Mystical Mind

Consciousness as Inside Story of the Universe

Conclusion

 

7. The Inside Story Solidifies: Religious Symbols

On the Way to Revelation – Symbol Recognition

Perception of Symbols in Religious Experiences

The Nature of Religious Experiences

On the Structure of Religious Symbols

Ancient Symbols of Divinity

The Quest to Render Life Secure

The Rise of Monotheism

The Biblical Trajectory

Jesus and the Rise of Abba Consciousness

Christ: The Revelation of God's Love

The Depth of the Inside Story

Conclusion 

 

8. Desire, Sacrifice, and Revelation

Desire as the Basis for Human Agency

How We Became Human

On Sacrifice, Scapegoats and Victims

The Mimetic Constitution of the Human Person

The Crisis of God as Abba

The Revelation of the Forgiving Victim

Conclusion

 

9. Toward an Expanded Theology

Of Seashells and Pebbles

Wholeness

Subjectivity

Inwardness

Christian Inertia

Abba Incarnate

Trinity

World Without End? – A Concluding Reflection

 

Acknowledgements

 

Bibliography

 

Index