Brain Science
The Future of Religion
02 May 2009 | 04:10 PM
by Jon Cleland-HostOne of the many empowering realizations that an evolutionary worldview gives us is that we can make some reasonable guesses about the future based on long term trends of the past. We can enter the future with trust and with our eyes open, poised for some likely scenarios, instead of being blindly buffeted by inscrutable Fates. In chapters 16 and 17 of Thank God for Evolution, Michael Dowd shows that if the 14 billion year history of the universe were compressed into a single century, then the next minute on the cosmic century timeline would represent 250 years. Surely, we should be able to make a few accurate assumptions about the next minute if we know the past 100 years of history!
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The Gospel of Big Integrity
01 May 2009 | 05:48 PM
by Michael DowdThe gospel according to science—the saving good news from an evolutionary perspective—is this:
A deep-time worldview makes coming into integrity, or "getting right with God", individually and collectively, a no-brainer.
This is really good news because integrity is everything; it's the only thing that truly matters. At this time in history, focusing on anything other than right relationship at and with all nested levels, from the personal to the planetary, is a distraction.
Religion has always recognized the centrality of integrity. In the language of my own tradition, what is 'conversion' other than coming home to Integrity? What is 'abiding in Christ' other than living in Integrity? What is 'the fruit of the Spirit' other than evidence of Integrity?
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The Debate Over God's Existence
01 May 2009 | 04:33 PM
by Michael DowdFew things are more antiquated than the debate over the existence of God. Prior to an evolutionary worldview, such debates made sense. In an evolutionary context, however—in light of what Ursula Goodenough and Terry Deacon call "The Sacred Emergence of Nature"—such arguments are outdated at best. (I discuss this at length in chapters 4-7 of my book, Thank God for Evolution, the section titled "Reality is Speaking".) Here's how I begin Chapter 7, titled "What Do We Mean by the Word 'God'"?
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The Evolutionary Epic
01 May 2009 | 04:30 PM
by Cheryl GenetAs Manager of the Collins Foundation Press, I am pleased, along with my co-editors Russ Genet, Brian Swimme, Linda Palmer, and Linda Gibler, to announce the release of The Evolutionary Epic: Science’s Story and Humanity’s Response, a 406 page, hardbound book, with a foreword by David Christian, author of Maps of Time, and the acclaimed The Teaching Company course Big History.
As an update on the “epic of evolution” and its impact on human thought, the essays in The Evolutionary Epic begin with the story of humanity’s evolution from primeval stardust to planetary stardom. They take you from the struggles of our primitive ancestors on the savannahs of Africa to a theologian’s evolutionary epiphany on the snow-capped heights of a stratovolcano. Thirty-four chapters and forty-seven authors lead you to explore the mysteries of the quantum world and the vast reaches of the universe. They consider the evolutionary epic as education and Big History as enrichment of our imaginative and spiritual dimensions.
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Dowd Discovered
12 February 2009 | 09:49 AM
by Paul WestThe next time you’re passing by your local newsstand, make sure and pick up a copy of the March 2009 issue of Discover magazine that asks the question, “Are we still evolving?” and refers to the role of America’s Evolutionary Evangelist, Michael Dowd.
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Connie's Corner: WHAT’S NEW on The Great Story website
03 February 2009 | 09:58 AM
by Connie BarlowLeading up to Darwin’s 200th birthday, I have posted a number of new pages on TheGreatStory.org.
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