Skip to main content

Being Human in a Cosmic Context

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Issues in Science and Theology: Are We Special?

Abstract

Current research in observing and understanding the structure and evolution of the universe has featured its extent in space and time, its fine-tuning in law and circumstance, its accelerated expansion and an ever-growing number of exoplanets. These four areas are reviewed in their impact on the question of what it means to be human. It is argued that they pose both challenges and opportunities for a dialogue with Christian theology. They may not in themselves raise questions that theology has not grappled with before, but they do sharpen and at times revive these questions. Indeed, Christian theology can learn much from these questions but also can contribute fruitfully in exploring what it means to be human in a cosmic context.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 89.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 119.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 119.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Bibliography

  • Abbott, B. P., et al. (2016). Observation of gravitational waves from a binary black hole merger. Physical Review Letters, 116(6), 061102.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Anglada-Escudé, G., Amado, P. J., Barnes, J., Berdiñas, Z. M., Butler, R. P., Coleman, G. A. L., de la Cueva, I., Dreizler, S., Endl, M., Giesers, B., Jeffers, S. V., Jenkins, J. S., Jones, H. R. A., Kiraga, M., Kürster, M., López-González, M. J., Marvin, C. J., Morales, N., Morin, J., Nelson, R. P., Ortiz, J. L., Ofir, A., Paardekooper, S.-J., Reiners, A., Rodríguez, E., Rodrίguez-López, C., Sarmiento, L. F., Strachan, J. P., Tsapras, Y., Tuomi, M., & Zechmeister, M. (2016). A terrestrial planet candidate in a temperate orbit around Proxima Centauri. Nature, 536(7617), 437–440.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cox, B., & Forshaw, J. (2016). Universal: A guide to the cosmos. London: Allen Lane.

    Google Scholar 

  • Craigie, P. C. (1983). Psalms 1–50, Word Biblical commentary. Waco: Word.

    Google Scholar 

  • Danielson, D. R. (2010). That Copernicanism demoted humans from the Center of the Cosmos. In R. Numbers (Ed.), Galileo goes to jail and other myths about science and religion (pp. 50–58). Harvard: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Davies, P. (2002). Eternity: Who needs it? In G. F. R. Ellis (Ed.), The far future universe: Eschatology from a cosmic perspective (pp. 41–52). Radnor: Templeton Foundation Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Davies, P. (2006). The Goldilocks Enigma: Why is the universe just right for life? London: Allen Lane.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dyson, F. (1988). Infinite in all directions. New York: Harper & Row.

    Google Scholar 

  • Foster, M. B. (1934). The Christian doctrine of creation and the rise of modern science. Mind, 43, 446–468.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Holder, R. (2013). Big Bang, big god: A universe designed for life? Oxford: Lion.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hooykaas, R. (1973). Religion and the rise of modern science. Edinburgh: Scottish Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mascall, E. L. (1956). Christian theology and modern science. London: Longmans.

    Google Scholar 

  • Milne, E. A. (1952). Modern cosmology and the Christian idea of god. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Oesch, P. A., Brammer, G., Dokkum, P. G. V., Illingworth, G. D., Bouwens, R. J., Labbé, I., Franx, M., Momcheva, I., Ashby, M. L. N., Fazio, G. G., Gonzalez, V., Holden, B., Magee, D., Skelton, R. E., Smit, R., Spitler, L. R., Trenti, M., & Willner, S. P. (2016). A remarkably luminous galaxy at z=11.1 measured with Hubble space telescope Grism spectroscopy. The Astrophysical Journal, 819, 129.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pascal, B. (1958). Pensées. New York: E. P. Dutton & Co., Inc..

    Google Scholar 

  • Peacocke, A. (2000). The challenge and stimulus of the epic of evolution to theology. In S. J. Dick (Ed.), Many worlds: The new universe, extraterrestrial life and the theological implications (pp. 89–118). Radnor: Templeton Foundation Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Perlmutter, S., et al. (1999). Measurements of omega and lambda from 42 high-redshift supernovae. Astrophysical Journal, 517, 565.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Perlmutter, S. (2003, April). Supernovae, dark energy, and the accelerating universe, Physics Today, 53–60.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rees, M. (2000). Just six numbers: The deep forces that shape the universe. London: Weidenfeld and Nicholson.

    Google Scholar 

  • Riess, A., et al. (1998). Observational evidence from supernovae for an accelerating universe and a cosmological constant. The Astronomical Journal, 116, 1009.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Russell, C. (1985). Cross currents: Interactions between science and faith. Leicester: IVP.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tipler, F. J. (1994). The physics of immortality. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weinberg, S. (1977). The first three minutes. New York: Basic Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilkinson, D. (2010). Christian Eschatology and the physical universe. London: T&T Clark.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilkinson, D. (2013). Science, religion and the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. Oxford: OUP.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Wilkinson, D. (2015). Proofs of the divine power? Temple Chevallier and the design argument in the 19th century. Scottish Journal of Theology, 68, 34–42.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wilkinson, D. (2016). Searching for another earth: The recent history of the discovery of exoplanets. Zygon, 51, 414–430.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to David Wilkinson .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2017 Springer International Publishing AG

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Wilkinson, D. (2017). Being Human in a Cosmic Context. In: Fuller, M., Evers, D., Runehov, A., Sæther, KW. (eds) Issues in Science and Theology: Are We Special?. Issues in Science and Religion: Publications of the European Society for the Study of Science and Theology, vol 4. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-62124-1_1

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics