edited by Giuseppe Tanzella-Nitti, Philip Larrey and Alberto Strumìa



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Interdisciplinary Encyclopaedia of Religion and Science

This Interdisciplinary Encyclopaedia is intended to provide new scholarly articles in the rapidly-growing international field of Religion and Science. These articles were written primarily by European authors and are available here for the first time in English translation. They offer a unique window into the approaches and perspectives of the European community towards what has become a field of immense cultural significance throughout the world. Each article provides a very readable and comprehensive summary of what is currently being discussed in religion and science on a specific topic as well as how these topics were discussed historically.

To refer to the content of the Interdisciplinary Encyclopaedia of Religion and Science, quote one of the following URL addresses http://www.disf.org/en; http://www.ctns.org/encyclopaedia.html

	Agnosticism
	Analogy
	Anthropic Principle
	Atheism
	Autonomy
	Bethlehem, Star of
	Beauty
	Bioethics
	Cinema
	Cosmology
	Creation
	Culture
	Death

	Determinism/ Indeterminism
	Dialogue, Science and Theology
	Ecology
	Epistemology
	Evolution
	Experience
	Extraterrestrial life
	Fideism
	Geology
	God
	Gospels

	Human embryo
	Idealism
	Infinity
	Information
	Intelligence, artificial
	Jesus Christ, Incarnation and doctrine of Logos
	Laws of Nature
	Magisterium of Catholic Church
	Man, origin and nature
	Matter
	Mechanics

	Medicine
	Mind-Body Relationship
	Miracle
	Mystery
	Myth
	Nature
	Natural sciences, in the work of theologians
	New Age
	Pantheism
	Pontifical Academy of Sciences
	Positivism

	Progress
	Quantum Mechanics
	Reductionism
	Resurrection
	Sacred Scripture
	Sky
	Shroud of Turin
	Soul
	Technology
	Unity of Knowledge
	Universe

Agnosticism

by Gaspare Mura, Faculty of Philosophy, Pontifical Urbanian University, Rome

The word «agnosticism» comes from the Greek agnostos, which means «unknowable», which is also the root of the corresponding terms used in modern languages (fr. agnosticisme, ger. Agnosticismus, it. agnosticismo)...

Analogy

by Alberto Strumia, Department of Mathematics, University of Bari, Italy

The term «analogy» (gr. analoghia) means a relation of likeness or resemblance existing among some elements which constitute two facts or two objects, so that we can infer a relationship of similarity between the facts or the objects themselves...

Anthropic Principle

by Giuseppe Tanzella-Nitti, Faculty of Theology, Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, Rome

One of the most important aspects of the transition from the Middle Ages to the Modern Age was the progressive withdrawal of the human person from the center of the physical cosmos, losing at the same time the philosophical privileges traditionally linked to that position...

Atheism

by Gaspare Mura, Faculty of Philosophy, Pontifical Urbanian University, Rome

In the ancient and modern languages, the word «atheism» comes from the Greek a-theotes, which means the negation of theos, that is, the negation of God...

Autonomy

by Giuseppe Tanzella-Nitti, Faculty of Theology, Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, Rome

From a philosophical and a theological point of view, the notion of «autonomy» (gr. autos nomos, i.e. to be a rule to itself, or to govern itself) refers to the consistency that the world has with respect to God, to the value of its laws and properties...

Beauty

by Wil Derkse, University of Nijmega, Holland

The notion of «beauty», including its different meanings, crosses the entire history of thought. The concept involves the fields of natural sciences, of ethics, aesthetics and religion...

Bethlehem, Star of

by Michele Crudele, University Campus Bio-medico of Rome

In the traditional artistic representations of the Nativity of Jesus of Nazareth, there is a reference to an astronomical event, commonly known as “the Star of Bethlehem”. The background is the Biblical text of the Gospel according to Matthew (Matthew 2:1-11)...

Bioethics

by Antonio Spagnolo, Institute of Bioethics, Catholic University of the Sacro Cuore, Rome

All the activity related to the terrain of human health, in every epoch and culture has been endowed with a moral and religious dimension, since the power to cure the illness was considered a kind of gift received from the sphere of the divine...

Cinema

by Claudio Siniscalchi, Faculty of Social Communication, Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, Rome

The world of movies is one of the most important places where cultural and social trends, and contemporary ways of thinking meet together. This world is not extraneous to science nor to religion...

Cosmology

by William R. Stoeger, Vatican Observatory, Tucson, Arizona

The word «cosmology» has become more and more frequent in scientific literature. It designates the area of physics and astronomy which investigates the observable universe as a single object of study...

Creation

by Giuseppe Tanzella-Nitti, Faculty of Theology, Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, Rome

The notion of «creation» is theological in character. It belongs primarily to the language of biblical Revelation. When discussed within the broader contexts of religion, philosophy, or even science, such theological specificity is pointed out specifying that it is creation ex nihilo, i.e. out of nothing...

Culture

by Gualberto Gismondi, Faculty of Theology, Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome

Our present concern in this essay is not to undertake a generic discussion about culture, but rather to explain the meaning of “scientific culture” in the context of the relationship between science and religion...

Death

by Michele Peláez, Department of Anthropology, University “Campus bio-medico” of Rome

Besides the traditional perspectives that theology or philosophy have had on the meaning of death, a number of new epistemological problems brought on by the development of science also converge on this theme today...

Last modified: 2005-02-02

Interdisciplinary Encyclopaedia of Religion and Science - Interdisciplinary Encyclopedia of Religion and Science