E-Book Overview
The Faith of Scientists is an anthology of writings by twenty-one legendary scientists, from the dawn of the Scientific Revolution to the frontiers of science today, about their faith, their views about God, and the place religion holds--or doesn't--in their lives in light of their commitment to science. This is the first book to bring together so many world-renowned figures of Western science and present them in their own words, offering an intimate window into their private and public reflections on science and faith. Leading religion scholar Nancy Frankenberry draws from diaries, personal letters, speeches, essays, and interviews, and reveals that the faith of scientists can take many different forms, whether religious or secular, supernatural or naturalistic, conventional or unorthodox. These eloquent writings reflect a spectrum of views from diverse areas of scientific inquiry. Represented here are some of the most influential and colossal personalities in the history of science, from the founders of science such as Galileo, Johannes Kepler, Francis Bacon, Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, and Albert Einstein, to modern-day scientists like Carl Sagan, Stephen Jay Gould, Jane Goodall, Freeman Dyson, Stephen Hawking, Edward O. Wilson, and Ursula Goodenough. Frankenberry provides a general introduction as well as concise introductions to each chapter that place these writings in context and suggest further reading from the latest scholarship. As surprising as it is illuminating and inspiring, The Faith of Scientists is indispensable for students, scholars, and anyone seeking to immerse themselves in important questions about God, the universe, and science.
E-Book Content
The Faith of Scientists ∂
The Faith of Scientists IN
THEIR
OWN
EDITED, WITH COMMENTARY, BY
Nancy K. Frankenberry ∂
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS PRINCETON AND OXFORD
WORDS
Copyright © 2008 Princeton University Press Published by Princeton University Press, 41 William Street, Princeton, New Jersey 08540 In the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press, 3 Market Place, Woodstock, Oxfordshire OX20 1SY All Rights Reserved CIP will be requested, including: ISBN–13: 978–0–691–13487–1 British Library Cataloging–in–Publication Data is available Publication of this book has been aided by This book has been composed in TO COME Printed on acid–free paper. ' press.princeton.edu Printed in the United States of America 1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
Contents
∂
Introduction vii Acknowledgments
xvii
PART ONE: Founders of Modern Science
1
Chapter 1
Galileo Galilei (1564–1642)
Chapter 2
Johannes Kepler (1571–1630)
34
Chapter 3
Francis Bacon (1561–1626)
59
Chapter 4
Blaise Pascal (1623–1662)
79
Chapter 5
Isaac Newton (1643–1727)
102
Chapter 6
Charles Darwin (1809–1882)
122
Chapter 7
Albert Einstein (1879–1955)
143
Chapter 8
Alfred North Whitehead (1861–1947)
177
3
PART TWO: Scientists of Our Time Chapter 9
Rachel Carson (1907–1964)
197
Chapter 10
Carl Sagan (1934–1996)
222
Chapter 11
Stephen Jay Gould (1941–2002)
249
Chapter 12
Richard Dawkins (1941–)
268
Chapter 13
Jane Goodall (1934–)
296
vi -
CONTENTS
Chapter 14
Steven Weinberg (1933–)
317
Chapter 15
John Polkinghorne (1930–)
340
Chapter 16
Freeman Dyson (1923–)
365
Chapter 17
Stephen Hawking (1942–)
392
Chapter 18
Paul Davies (1946–)