Abraham's Dice
Chance and Providence in the Monotheistic Traditions
Edited by Karl W. Giberson
Author Information
Edited by Karl W. Giberson, Professor of Writing, Science & Religion, Stonehill College
Karl Giberson is Professor of Writing, Science & Religion in the Cornerstone General Education Program at Stonehill College.
Contributors:
John Barrow, FRS, is Professor of Mathematical Sciences in the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of Clare Hall college. He has also held the positions of Professor of Geometry and Professor of Astronomy at Gresham College, London and was Director of the Astronomy Centre at the University of Sussex. Barrow directs Cambridge University's Millennium Mathematics Project, which focuses on increasing the teaching, learning and appreciation of mathematics and its applications amongst students of all ages and the general public. He holds a DPhil in astrophysics from the University of Oxford and five honorary doctorates.
Reinhold Bernhardt is professor of systematic theology at the University of Basel in Switzerland, holding the chair formerly occupied by Karl Barth. From 2006 to 2008 he served as dean of the Faculty of Theology. He is co-editor of the quarterly journal Theologische Zeitschrift, an interdisciplinary and multi-lingual publication promoting cross-disciplinary theological dialogue. Bernhardt earned his Ph.D. from the University of Heidelberg in 1990 with a dissertation titled "Der Absolutheitsanspruch des Christentums: Von der Aufklärung bis zur Pluralistischen Religionstheologie" (The Absoluteness of Christianity: From the Enlightenment to the pluralistic theology of religions").
James Bradley taught mathematics and computer science at Calvin College from 1986 to 2005 and served as Calvin's director of assessment and institutional research from 2005 to 2007. His work explores the relationship between randomness and probability, challenging the common perception that there is no purpose in the world because biology and physics show that reality is random.
John Hedley Brooke is an Emeritus Fellow of Oxford's Harris Manchester College and a Distinguished Foundation Fellow at the University of Durham's Institute of Advanced Study. From 1999 to 2006, Brooke held the Andreas Idreos Professorship of Science & Religion and Directorship of the Ian Ramsey Centre at Oxford University. He has served as editor for The British Journal for the History of Science, as president of the British Society for the History of Science, and as president of the Historical Section of the British Association for the Advancement of Science. With Geoffrey Cantor, he delivered the 1995 Gifford Lectures at Glasgow University. He is currently Visiting Professor at the University of Leeds.
Oliver Crisp is professor of systemic theology at Fuller Theological Seminary. He is the author of eight books, and the editor or co-editor of another nine volumes. His most recent monograph is Deviant Calvinism: Broadening Reformed Theology (2014).
Karl Giberson is Scholar-in-Residence at Stonehill College, where he also directs the Center for Science & Religion. He holds a PhD in Physics from Rice University. He has written or co-authored ten books, including Oracles of Science: Celebrity Scientists Versus God and Religion that was translated into Italian, Spanish, and Romanian and Saving Darwin: How to Be a Christian and Believe in Evolution that the Washington Post called "One of the Best Books of 2008." His latest book is Saving the Original Sinner: How Christians Have Used the Bible's First Man to Oppress, Inspire, and Make Sense of the World. Giberson has published hundreds of reviews and essays in outlets that include NY Times, CNN.com, the Guardian, USA Today, LA Times, Salon.com, Discover, Weekly Standard, Quarterly Review of Biology, Perspectives on Science & Faith, and Books & Culture.
Byung Soo (Paul) Han is an assistant professor of Systematic Theology at Asia Center for Theological Studies and Mission and the director of The Institute for Reformed Theology in South Korea. He is also teaching in Central Reformed Theological Seminar during summer and winter breaks. He holds a Ph.D. in Historical Theology focused on Reformation and Post-Reformation Reformed theology from Calvin Theological Seminary.
Peter Harrison is an Australian Laureate Fellow and Director of the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities at the University of Queensland, Australia. Previously, Harrison was the Andreas Idreos Professor of Science and Religion and Director of the Ian Ramsey Centre at the University of Oxford. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Queensland and a D.Litt from Oxford, and he is a senior research fellow at Oxford's Ian Ramsey Centre.
Jennifer Hecht is a poet, philosopher, historian and commentator. She is the author of many books including the bestseller Doubt: A History, Stay: A History of Suicide and the Philosophies Against It, The Happiness Myth, The End of the Soul: Scientific Modernity, Atheism, and Anthropology in France, and The End of the Soul: Scientific Modernity, Atheism, and Anthropology, which won Phi Beta Kappa's 2004 Ralph Waldo Emerson Award "For scholarly studies that contribute significantly to interpretations of the intellectual and cultural condition of humanity."
Shaun Henson researches and teaches in Oxford University's Faculty of Theology and Religion. His interests are at the intersections of science, philosophy, and religion, teaching in areas like science and religion and Christian doctrine. Henson has recently collaborated on an international research project based at the London School of Economics investigating God's Order, Man's Order, and the Order of Nature. A Church of England priest, he serves as Chaplain to St. Hugh's College, Oxford. His recent book is God and Natural Order: Physics, Philosophy, and Theology (2014).
Alister McGrath holds the Andreas Idreos Chair of Science & Religion at Oxford University. He is the author of dozens popular-level books, including The Twilight of Atheism, The Dawkins Delusion?, and Why God Won't Go Away. He recently published C.S. Lewis: A Life, a biography and collection of essays marking the 50th anniversary of Lewis's death. Like Lewis, McGrath began his academic career as an atheist before becoming a Christian apologist; McGrath earned a doctorate in molecular biophysics from Oxford in 1978 and a doctorate in divinity from Oxford in 2001.
Richard Miller is Associate Professor and Director of the M.A. in Theology program at Creighton University. His research interests include reconciling the Christian doctrine of providence with evil and human suffering, God as Mystery, the implications of the doctrine of the Trinity for ontology, the thought of Karl Rahner and Thomas Aquinas as resources for contemporary theology, the moral implications of human induced climate change, and the mission of Catholic Universities in light of the climate crisis.
Sarah Ruden is a journalist, poet, translator, and writer on religion and culture. She was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2010 to translate Aeschylus's Oresteia, and she has also published translations of the Homeric Hymns, Virgil's Aeneid, and Aristophanes' Lysistrata and Apuleius' Golden Ass. She is currently working on a translation of Augustine's Confessions. In addition to translating, Ruden writes about religion: her book Paul Among the People: The Apostle Reinterpreted and Re-imagined in His Own Time, contrasts Paul's egalitarian vision with contemporaneous Greek and Roman literature; and she is completing The Voice, the Harp, the Book: A Translator on Beauty and Meaning in the Bible. In 1996, she received South Africa's then-leading book prize, the Central News Agency Literary Award, for her collection of poems entitled Other Places.
Mustafa Ruzgar is an Associate Professor of Religion at California State University, Northridge. Born in Turkey, he completed his B.A. in Islamic Studies at Uludag University in Bursa, Turkey. He received his Ph.D. in Philosophy of Religion and Theology at Claremont Graduate University in 2008. Ruzgar's research interests and publications include themes in Islamic thought, contemporary philosophy of religion and theology, process philosophy and theology, religious pluralism, and interfaith dialogue.
Michael Ruse is the Lucyle T. Werkmeister Professor of Philosophy and the Director of the History and Philosophy of Science Program at the University of Florida. Ruse has written numerous books including: The Darwinian Revolution: Science Red in Tooth and Claw; Monad to Man: The Concept of Progress in Evolutionary Biology; and Can a Darwinian be a Christian? The Relationship between Science and Religion. Ruse specializes in the relationship between science and religion emphasizing the creation vs. evolution controversy and the problem of defining the boundaries of science. He frequently writes for widely read publications such as The Guardian and The Huffington Post. Ruse describes himself as an agnostic, claiming that both "new atheism" and "humanism" fail to represent his views.
Ignacio Silva is a Research Fellow at the Ian Ramsey Centre for Science and Religion and Harris Manchester College at the University of Oxford. He received his D.Phil. from Oxford for his work on divine action. Silva is a co-director of "Science, Philosophy and Theology in Latin America," a three-year research project at the Ian Ramsey Centre that aims to promote and document inquiry on science-and-religion in that region. Silva has written two books: Saint Thomas Aquinas: On the Unity of the Intellect Against Averroists and Indeterminism in Nature and Quantum Mechanics: Werner Heisenberg and Thomas Aquinas. Silva is also co-editor of the series "International Perspectives on Science, Culture and Society" at Pickering and Chatto Publishers.
