A 21st Century Debate on Science and Religion

The twelve contributions in this volume come from a Congress held in Vienna in 2015 within a framework of the search for truth from different perspectives in a world of religious pluralism. The contributors are all distinguished in their fields are working within overlapping areas characterised at least by common questions if not by common assumptions - fundamental disagreements often arise from these different assumptions, also within religion at the liberal and conservative ends. One of the interesting themes emerging is that of religious or sacred naturalism, discussed in an excellent contribution by Mikael Stenmark, who stakes out its limits with its impersonal approach. This is taken up in the following chapter which also characterises this position as post-supernatural. This is a culturally significant term as many scholars working at the science/religion interface have little or no knowledge of parapsychology or even mysticism with the emphasis on the epistemological and ontological significance of experience. This raises the question of whether science in its current naturalistic form should constitute the underlying metanarrative for the field. The authors offer a thoughtful and constructive engagement with these questions and the nature of human personhood.