Intelligent Evolution

Intelligent Evolution

Author: Michael A. Flannery

Publisher: Erasmus Press

Published: 2020-08-12

Total Pages: 243

ISBN-13: 1645427056

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Alfred Russel Wallace (1823–1913), co-discoverer of natural selection, was second only to Charles Darwin as the 19th century’s most noted English naturalist. Yet his belief in spiritualism caused him to be ridiculed and dismissed by many, leaving him a comparatively obscure and misunderstood figure. In this volume Wallace is finally allowed to speak in his own defense through his grand evolutionary synthesis The World of Life published over a century ago in 1910. More than just a reprinting of a near-forgotten work, Michael A. Flannery places Wallace in historical context and includes the very latest historiography relating to both Darwin and Wallace in his detailed introduction. Flannery exposes Charles Darwin’s now-famous theory of evolution as little more than a naturalistic cover for an extreme philosophical materialism borrowed as a youth from Edinburgh radicals. This is juxtaposed by his sympathetic account of what he calls Wallace’s intelligent evolution, a thoroughly teleological alternative to Darwin’s stochastic processes. Though based upon very different formulations of natural selection, the Wallace/Darwin dispute as presented by Flannery shows a metaphysical clash of worldviews coextensive with modern evolutionary theory itself—design and purpose versus randomness and chance. This book is for anyone seeking to understand the historical and philosophical roots of a controversy that still rages today. This book contains an abridgement of Alfred Russel Wallace's The World of Life and Reverend John Magens Mello's essay, “The Mystery of Life and Mind.” Michael A. Flannery is Professor Emeritus, UAB Libraries, University of Alabama at Birmingham. Professor Flannery has published extensively in medical history and bioethics, winning the prestigious Edward Kremers Award in 2001 for distinguished writing by an American from the American Institute of the History of Pharmacy, the Murray Gottlieb Prize in history by the Medical Library Association in 2002, and the 2006 Publishers Award of the Archivists and Librarians in the History of Health Sciences. This is his tenth book.


The Quran and the Secular Mind

The Quran and the Secular Mind

Author: Shabbir Akhtar

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2007-10-31

Total Pages: 411

ISBN-13: 1134072562

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This book is concerned with the rationality and plausibility of the Muslim faith and the Qur'an, and in particular how they can be interrogated and understood through Western analytical philosophy. It also explores how Islam can successfully engage with the challenges posed by secular thinking. The Quran and the Secular Mind will be of interest to students and scholars of Islamic philosophy, philosophy of religion, Middle East studies, and political Islam.


Science and Religion: A Very Short Introduction

Science and Religion: A Very Short Introduction

Author: Thomas Dixon

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2008-07-24

Total Pages: 169

ISBN-13: 0199295514

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The debate between science and religion is never out of the news: emotions run high, fuelled by polemical bestsellers like The God Delusion and, at the other end of the spectrum, high-profile campaigns to teach "Intelligent Design" in schools. Yet there is much more to the debate than the clash of these extremes. As Thomas Dixon shows in this balanced and thought-provoking introduction, a whole range of views, subtle arguments, and fascinating perspectives can be found on this complex and centuries-old subject. He explores the key philosophical questions that underlie the debate, but also highlights the social, political, and ethical contexts that have made the tensions between science and religion such a fraught and interesting topic in the modern world. Dixon emphasizes how the modern conflict between evolution and creationism is quintessentially an American phenomenon, arising from the culture and history of the United States, as exemplified through the ongoing debates about how to interpret the First-Amendment's separation of church and state. Along the way, he examines landmark historical episodes such as the Galileo affair, Charles Darwin's own religious and scientific odyssey, the Scopes "Monkey Trial" in Tennessee in 1925, and the Dover Area School Board case of 2005, and includes perspectives from non-Christian religions and examples from across the physical, biological, and social sciences. About the Series: Combining authority with wit, accessibility, and style, Very Short Introductions offer an introduction to some of life's most interesting topics. Written by experts for the newcomer, they demonstrate the finest contemporary thinking about the central problems and issues in hundreds of key topics, from philosophy to Freud, quantum theory to Islam.


Claiming Abraham

Claiming Abraham

Author: Michael Lodahl

Publisher: Brazos Press

Published: 2010-04

Total Pages: 240

ISBN-13: 1587432390

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Explores how Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and other biblical characters are presented in the Qur'an to help Christians better understand Islam.


God is Beautiful

God is Beautiful

Author: Navid Kermani

Publisher: Polity

Published: 2015-02-16

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9780745651675

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The melodious recitation of the Quran is a fundamental aesthetic experience for Muslims, and the start of a compelling journey of ideas. In this important new book, the prominent German writer and Islamic scholar Navid Kermani considers the manner in which the Quran has been perceived, apprehended and experienced by its recipients from the time of the Prophet to the present day. Drawing on a wide range of Muslim sources, from historians, theologians and philosophers to mystics and literary scholars, Kermani provides a close reading of the nature of this powerful text. He proceeds to analyze ancient and modern testimonies about the impact of Quranic language from a variety of angles. Although people have always reflected on the reception of texts, images and sounds that they find beautiful or moving, Kermani explains that Islam provides a particularly striking example of the close correlation, grounded in a common origin, between art and religion, revelation and poetry, and religious and aesthetic experience. This major new book will enhance the dialogue between Islam and the West and will appeal to students and scholars of Islam and comparative religion, as well as to a wider readership interested in Islam and the Quran.


Trauma and the Rehabilitation of Trafficked Women

Trauma and the Rehabilitation of Trafficked Women

Author: S. Behnaz Hosseini

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2020-07-16

Total Pages: 176

ISBN-13: 1000078698

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Based on research in camps in Iraqi Kurdistan and among refugees in Germany, this book addresses the challenges, strategies and support systems that exist for the rehabilitation and reintegration of Yazidi women recovering from human trafficking. Through in-depth interviews, focus group discussions and case studies, it gives women trafficked by ISIS their own voice to express their experiences during captivity, whilst offering an overview of the forms of support and protection available and necessary for survivors. An examination of the experiences and needs of refugee women who have undergone traumatizing experiences, Trauma and the Rehabilitation of Trafficked Women will appeal to scholars and policy makers with interests in gender studies, feminist thought, sexual violence during war, human trafficking and trauma recovery.


The Throne of Adulis

The Throne of Adulis

Author: G.W. Bowersock

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2013-07-25

Total Pages: 204

ISBN-13: 0199739323

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Leading historian G.W. Bowersock provides a narrative account of a fascinating but overlooked chapter in pre-Islamic Arabian history — the holy war between Christian Ethiopians and Jewish Arabs in the sixth century AD.


Islamic Philosophy of Religion

Islamic Philosophy of Religion

Author: Mohammad Saleh Zarepour

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2023-12-05

Total Pages: 318

ISBN-13: 1003812368

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This volume focuses on Islamic philosophy of religion with a range of contributions from analytic perspectives. It opens with methodological discussions on the relationship between the history of Islamic philosophy and contemporary analytic philosophy. The book then offers a philosophical examination of some specific Islamic beliefs as well as some approaches to general beliefs that Islam shares with other religions. The chapters address a variety of topics from the existence and attributes of God through to debates on science and religion. The authors are predominantly scholars from Muslim backgrounds who tackle philosophical issues concerning Islam as their own living religion, representing internal perspectives that have never been vocal in analytic philosophy of religion so far. This is valuable reading for scholars and students of philosophy, theology, and religious studies.