Dawkins' God : genes, memes, and the meaning of life
- Responsibility
- Alister McGrath.
- Imprint
- Malden, MA : Blackwell Pub., 2005.
- Physical description
- vi,202 p. : ill. ; 23 cm.
Description
Creators/Contributors
- Author/Creator
- McGrath, Alister E., 1953-
Contents/Summary
- Bibliography
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 182-193) and index.
- Contents
-
- Encountering Dawkins: A Personal Account
- .1. The Selfish Gene: A Darwinian View of the World.Introducing Dawkins.The new approach: Charles Darwin.The mechanics of inheritance: Mendel and genetics.The discovery of the gene.The role of DNA in genetics.Dawkins' approach: the selfish gene.River out of Eden: Exploring a Darwinian world
- .2. The Blind Watchmaker: Evolution and the Elimination of God?.Natural science leads to neither atheism nor Christianity.God as an explanatory hypothesis.The case of William Paley.The religious views of Charles Darwin.The Christian reaction to Darwin
- .3. Proof and Faith: The Place of Evidence in Science and Religion.Faith as blind trust?.Is atheism itself a faith?.Christian faith as irrational?.The problem of radical theory change in science.The rhetorical amplification of the case for atheism
- .4. Cultural Darwinism? The Curious "Science" of Memetics.The origins of the meme.Is cultural development Darwinian?.Do memes actually exist?.The flawed analogy between meme and gene.The redundancy of the meme.God as a virus?
- .5. Science and Religion: Dialogue or Intellectual Appeasement?.The "warfare" of science and religion.The poky little medieval universe of religion.The concept of awe.The mind of God.Mystery, insanity and nonsense.Conclusion.Acknowledgements.Notes.Works Consulted.Index.
- (source: Nielsen Book Data)
- Publisher's summary
-
Alister E. McGrath is one of the world's leading theologians, with a doctorate in the sciences. Richard Dawkins is one of the bestselling popular science writers, with outspoken and controversial views on religion. This fascinating and provoking work is the first book-length response to Dawkins' ideas, and offers an ideal introduction to the topical issues of science and religion.This book addresses fundamental questions about Dawkins' approach to science and religion: Is the gene actually selfish? Is the blind watchmaker a suitable analogy? Are there other ways of looking at things? This book tackles Dawkins' hostile and controversial views on religion, and examines the religious implications of his scientific ideas, making for a fascinating and provoking debate. It is written in a very engaging and accessible style, ideal to those approaching scientific and religious issues for the first time Alister McGrath is uniquely qualified to write this book. He is one of the world's best known and most respected theologians, with a strong research background in molecular biophysics. This is a superb book by one of the world's leading theologians, which will attract wide interest in the growing popular science market, similar to Susan Blackmore's "The Meme Machine" (1999).
(source: Nielsen Book Data)
Subjects
- Subjects
- Dawkins, Richard, 1941-
- Apologetics.
Bibliographic information
- Publication date
- 2005
- ISBN
- 140512539X (hardcover : alk. paper)
- 1405125381 (pbk. : alk. paper)
- 9781405125390 (hardcover : alk. paper)
- 9781405125383 (pbk. : alk. paper)
- 9781118724903 (electronic bk.)
- 1118724909 (electronic bk.)
- 9781118724910 (electronic bk.)
- 1118724917 (electronic bk.)
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