Sharing God S Planet

Many scientists look at the universe and conclude we are here by chance. The astronomer and historian Owen Gingerich looks at the same evidence—and the fact that the universe is comprehensible to our minds—and sees it as proof for the intentions of a Creator-God. The more rigorous science becomes, the more clearly God’s handiwork can be understood.

This report explores the causes and consequences of human damage to the environment and suggests how Christians can respond.

The earth is ailing and human beings are responsible. This report explores the causes and consequences of human damage to the environment and suggests how Christians can respond. It argues that to perceive the earth as alien and inert matter to be exploited is fundamentally wrong. Human beings are part of God's one whole creation in which they have a unique role, as does every other bit of creation. Sharing God's Planet outlines: The development of thinking that permitted environmental disfigurement The levels and effect of human activity in the atmospshere, the water systems of the earth, the soil and the world of living organisms Biblical and theological perspectives to underpin a Christian ecological theology. This book contributed to the Synod debate on climate change in February 2005. It includes practical exercises, discussion points and activities for individuals and churches. 'A great little book to set you thinking.' David Bellamy

An “eminent scholar . . . shows how religious perspectives have played significant roles in major scientific discoveries and frameworks. . . . fascinating.” (Choice) Today, science and religion are the two major cultural entities on our planet that seek a coherent explanation for the structure, origins, and fate of the universe, and of humanity’s place within it, though their interpretation of evidence differs dramatically. Many scientists look at the known universe and conclude we are here by chance. The renowned astronomer and historian of science Owen Gingerich looks at the same evidence?along with the fact that the universe is comprehensible to our minds?and sees it as proof for the planning and intentions of a Creator-God. God’s Planet exposes the fallacy in thinking that science and religion can be kept apart. Gingerich frames his argument around three questions: Was Copernicus right, in dethroning Earth from its place at the center of the universe? Was Darwin right, in placing humans securely in an evolving animal kingdom? And was Hoyle right, in identifying physical constants in nature that seem singularly tuned to allow the existence of intelligent life on planet Earth? Using these episodes from the history of science, Gingerich demonstrates that cultural attitudes, including religious or antireligious beliefs, play a significant role in what passes as scientific understanding. The more rigorous science becomes over time, the more clearly God’s handiwork can be comprehended. “Owen Gingerich provides new facts and deeper understanding of [Copernicus, Darwin, Hoyle].” —Freeman Dyson, author of The Scientist as Rebel “[A] short, punchy, accessible, and thought-provoking book.” —Christian Century “A rich volume you’ll want to keep in your library.” —Forbes.com

The Other Journal is a space for Christian interdisciplinary theological refection that tackles the cultural crises of our time with verve and peculiar slant, advancing a progressive, provocative, and charitable response in sync with the peacefully contrarian Christ. In this issue, we consider the theme of authority from the vantage point of pews and hospital rooms, of jail cells, low-lit dining rooms, and ancient coin collections. We learn to hear the cries of those who have suffered abuse from the powerful, to resist with the Apostle Paul, and to consent to grace from the source of love beyond all earthly powers. Our authority issue features prose by Andrew DeCort, Lyle Enright, Steven Félix-Jäger, Richard C. Goode, Elizabeth Jarrett Andrew, Vincent Lloyd, Mary McCampbell, Mary Lane Potter, Gavin Richardson, Hilary Jerome Scarsella, Rebecca Shirley, Heidi Turner, and Brandon Wrencher; poetry by Jill Bergkamp, Susan Carlson, Barbara Crooker, and Katie Manning; an exhibition by Douglas Coupland, mixed media by Sedrick Huckaby, and multimedia by Brent Everett Dickinson; and an interview with Devin Singh by Zachary Thomas Settle.

Observations of the sun, moon, planets, and stars played a central role in ancient Maya lifeways, as they do today among contemporary Maya who maintain the traditional ways. This pathfinding book reconstructs ancient Maya astronomy and cosmology through the astronomical information encoded in Precolumbian Maya art and confirmed by the current practices of living Maya peoples. Susan Milbrath opens the book with a discussion of modern Maya beliefs about astronomy, along with essential information on naked-eye observation. She devotes subsequent chapters to Precolumbian astronomical imagery, which she traces back through time, starting from the Colonial and Postclassic eras. She delves into many aspects of the Maya astronomical images, including the major astronomical gods and their associated glyphs, astronomical almanacs in the Maya codices [painted books], and changes in the imagery of the heavens over time. This investigation yields new data and a new synthesis of information about the specific astronomical events and cycles recorded in Maya art and architecture. Indeed, it constitutes the first major study of the relationship between art and astronomy in ancient Maya culture.

3,500 A.D. Thanks to the revolutionary gravity wings technology, mankind was finally able to leave the confines of the Earths solar system and seek out earth type planets capable of supporting human life. Professor Peter Blackwood, a former soldier, planetary explorer and teacher is a citizen of a powerful interstellar Confederation. Deciding to retire from decades of working in space and confronting hostile alien environments, he seeks a well-deserved retirement on an exotic planet of New Caledonia, where he plans to settle down and start a family. But on the way to his new home a mysterious energy cloud snatches him from his hyperspace tunnel, takes control of his ship and throws him into another part of the galaxy where he is forced to land on an alien planet many light years away from home. The alien planet to Blackwoods surprise does contain life, an intelligent human life. Saved from native predators by an enigmatic young female with godlike powers, he learns that humans on planet Enigma are all descendants of the original crews of starships forced to land on this planet by the red cloud centuries ago. And on Enigma human beings are divided into commoners and powerful overlords, humans with immense powers of creation and destruction. Blackwoods arrival was foretold by an ancient prophecy. Forced into a dangerous sociopolitical game by a powerful alien intelligence, Blackwood has no choice but to transform himself from a scientist into a revolutionary. With millions of innocent lives at stake failure is not an option.

Taking Johannes Kepler as his guide, Gingerich argues that an individual can be both a creative scientist and a believer in divine design--that indeed the very motivation for scientific research can derive from a desire to trace God's handiwork.