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EDELMANN

21

9 780199 641543

ISBN 978-0-19-964154-3

ALS O P UBL IS HE D B YO X FO RD UNIV ERSITY PRESS

The Oxford Handbook of Religion and ScienceEdited by Philip Clayton and Zachary Simpson

Turning Images in Philosophy, Science,and ReligionA New Book of Nature

Edited by Charles Taliaferro and Jil Evans

AWARDEDTHE 2011 JOHN TEMPLETON FOUNDATIONAWARD FOR THEOLOGICAL PROMISE

Jonathan B. Edelmann achieves what many talk about and few accomplish - theopening of an Indian and Hindu perspective on a topic of contemporary academicrelevance, shedding new light on the old debates about Darwin and religion.

Francis X. Clooney, SJ, Harvard University

Edelmanns calm, careful, and thoughtful work opens up and nuances the debate,philosophically, theologically, and culturally... it offers a proper cross-cultural andconstructive theological account of areas of natural science.

Chakravarthi Ramprasad, University of Lancaster, UK

A fascinating and rewarding exploration of contrasting cultures that, throughout thebook, meet in suggestive and surprising ways.

John Hedley Brooke, Oxford University

Western intellectual history has benefited f rom a rich and sophisticated conversation betweentheology and science, leaving us with centuries of scientific and theological liter ature on

the subjects. Yet the Hindu traditions are virtually unused in responding to the challengingquestions raised in the science and religion dialogue. This book replies to the sc iences bydrawing from an important Hindu text called the Bhgavata Purna.

One of the greatest challenges facing Hindu traditions since the nineteenth century is their

own self-understanding in light of science and technology. Hoping to establish the conceptualfoundations for a mutually beneficial dialogue between the Hindu Theologies and theWestern Sciences, Jonathan B. Edelmann faces that challenge directly. Since so much of theHinduism-science discussion is tangled in misunderstanding. Edelmann clarifies fundamentalissues in each tradition, for example the definition of consciousness, the means of generating

knowledge, and the goal of knowledge itself. He argues that although Darwinian theoryseems to entail a materialistic view of consciousness, the Bhgavatas views provide analternative framework for thinking about Darwinian theory. Furthermore, Edelmann arguesthat objectivity is a hallmark of modern science, and this is an intellectual virtue shared bythe Bhgavata. Lastly, he critiques the view that science and religion have different objects

of knowledge (that is, the natural world vs. God), arguing that many Western scientists andtheologians have found science helpful in thinking about God in ways similar to that ofthe Bhgavata.

Jacket illustration: iStockphoto

HinduTheolo

gyandBiology

O X F O R D T H E O L O G I C A L M O N O G R A P H S

Hindu Theology

and BiologyThe Bhgavata Purna and Contemporary Theory

Jonathan B. Edelmannis Assistant Professor ofReligion at Mississippi State University.

OXFORD THEOLOGICAL MONOGRAPHS

TITLES IN THE SERIES INCLUDE:

Out-of-Body and Near-Death ExperiencesBrain-State Phenomena or Glimpses of Immortality?Michael N. Marsh (2010)

Evangelical Free WillPhillip Melanchthons Doctrinal Journey on the

Origins of Free WillGregory Graybill (2010)

Isaiah After ExileThe Author of Third Isaiah as Reader and

Redactor of the BookJacob Stromberg (2010)

Contrasting Images of the Book of Revelationin Late Medieval and Early Modern ArtA Case Study in Visual ExegesisNatasha F. H. OHear (2010)

Kierkegaards Critique ofChristian NationalismStephen Backhouse (2011)

Gender Issues in Ancient and ReformationTranslations of Genesis 14Helen Kraus (2011)

Blakes Jerusalem as Visionary TheatreEntering the Divine BodySuzanne Sklar (2011)

Paul Tillich and the Possibility of Revelationthrough FilmJonathan Brant (2011)

Jonathan B. Edelmann

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