Reinventing the Sacred: A New View of Science, Reason, and ReligionConsider the woven integrated complexity of a living cell after 3.8 billion years of evolution. Is it more awe-inspiring to suppose that a transcendent God fashioned the cell, or to consider that the living organism was created by the evolving biosphere? As the eminent complexity theorist Stuart Kauffman explains in this ambitious and groundbreaking new book, people who do not believe in God have largely lost their sense of the sacred and the deep human legitimacy of our inherited spirituality. For those who believe in a Creator God, no science will ever disprove that belief. In Reinventing the Sacred, Kauffman argues that the science of complexity provides a way to move beyond reductionist science to something new: a unified culture where we see God in the creativity of the universe, biosphere, and humanity. Kauffman explains that the ceaseless natural creativity of the world can be a profound source of meaning, wonder, and further grounding of our place in the universe. His theory carries with it a new ethic for an emerging civilization and a reinterpretation of the divine. He asserts that we are impelled by the imperative of life itself to live with faith and courage-and the fact that we do so is indeed sublime. Reinventing the Sacred will change the way we all think about the evolution of humanity, the universe, faith, and reason. |
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Reinventing the Sacred: A New View of Science, Reason, and Religion Stuart A. Kauffman Limited preview - 2010 |
Reinventing the Sacred: A New View of Science, Reason, and Religion Stuart A Kauffman Limited preview - 2008 |
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action adjacent possible agency algorithmic arise atoms attractors autocatalytic sets avalanches bacterium behavior biology biosphere Boolean networks boundary conditions called catalyze causal ceaseless creativity cell types chapter chemical classical co-constructing collectively autocatalytic sets complex consciousness create critical culture cycle Darwinian preadaptations decoherence deduce discuss diversity economic electron emergence equations equilibrium evolution evolved example exergonic Galilean spell genes genetic global civilization global ethic glucose happen heart human idea intelligent design invention Lego mathematical meaning mind molecular species moral reasoning natural law natural selection neural neurons occur organization of process partially lawless peptides philosopher physicist predict prestate problem propagating organization proteins quantum coherent quantum computer quantum mechanics quantum mind random reaction graph reducible to physics reductionism reductionist reinvent the sacred ribozymes Schrödinger scientific worldview self-organized self-organized critical sense space specific statements string theory swim bladders symbol strings tion understand universe values