The future of creation order 1

Repository | Series | Book

Springer, Dordrecht

2017

347 Pages

ISBN 978-3-319-70880-5

New Approaches to the Scientific Study of Religion
vol. 3

The future of creation order 1

philosophical, scientific, and religious perspectives on order and emergence

Edited by

Gerrit Glas, Jeroen de Ridder

This work provides an overview of attempts to assess the current condition of the concept of creation order within reformational philosophy compared to other perspectives. Focusing on the natural and life sciences, and theology, this first volume of two examines the arguments for and against the beauty, coherence and order shown in the natural world being related to the will or nature of a Creator. It examines the decay of a Deist universe, and the idea of the pre-givenness ofnorms, laws and structures as challenged by evolutionary theory and social philosophy. It describes the different responses to the collapse of order: that given by Christian philosophy scholars who still argue for the idea of a pre-given world order, and that of other scholars who see this idea of stable creation order and/or natural law as redundant and in need of a thorough rethinking. It studies the particular role that reformational philosophy has played in the discussion. It shows how, ever since its inception, almost a century ago, the concepts of order and law (principle, structure) have been at the heart of this philosophy, and that one way to characterise this tradition is as a philosophy of creation order. Reformational philosophers have maintained the notion of law as ‘holding’ for reality. This book discusses the questions that have arisen about the nature of such law: is it a religious or philosophical concept; does law just mean ‘orderliness’? How does it relate to laws of nature? Have they always existed or do they ‘emerge’ during the process of evolution?

Publication details

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-70881-2

Full citation:

Glas, G. , de Ridder, J. (eds) (2017). The future of creation order 1: philosophical, scientific, and religious perspectives on order and emergence, Springer, Dordrecht.

Table of Contents

Erratum

E1-E1

Introduction to the philosophy of creation order, with special emphasis on the philosophy of Herman Dooyeweerd

Glas Gerrit; de Ridder Jeroen

1-30