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Excellent Beauty : The Naturalness of Religion and the Unnaturalness of the World / Eric Dietrich.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: New York, NY : Columbia University Press, [2015]Copyright date: ©2015Description: 1 online resource (208 p.)Content type:
Media type:
Carrier type:
ISBN:
  • 9780231171021
  • 9780231539357
Subject(s): DDC classification:
  • 210 23
LOC classification:
  • BL183 .D54 2015
  • BL183 .D54 2015
Other classification:
  • online - DeGruyter
Online resources: Available additional physical forms:
  • Issued also in print.
Contents:
Frontmatter -- Contents -- Author's Note -- Acknowledgments -- Who's in Charge of the World's Mysteries? -- CHAPTER ONE. The Traveler to Excellent Beauty: Invited Rather Than Drafted -- PART ONE. Of Spiritual Journeys -- CHAPTER TWO. What Is a Religion? -- CHAPTER THREE. The One Billion -- CHAPTER FOUR. The Traveler's Dark Night of the Sou -- APPENDIX TO CHAPTER 4. Statistics and Probability Meet Job -- PART TWO. The Biology of Religion, the Psychology of Morality -- Introduction to Part Two -- CHAPTER FIVE. Justifying the Ways of God to Man via Evolution -- APPENDIX TO CHAPTER 5. Yes, There Really Is Such a Thing as a Coincidence -- CHAPTER SIX. Does God Want You Dead? -- CHAPTER SEVEN. Good Without Gods -- PART THREE. The Journey in Tatters -- CHAPTER EIGHT. Beyond Atheism: The Religion Illusion -- CHAPTER NINE. The Janus-Faced Hominid -- PART FOUR. The Heretic's Way: Into the Mysterious Realm -- Introduction to Part Four -- CHAPTER TEN. Some Strangeness in the Proportion -- APPENDIX TO CHAPTER 10. A Compendium of Mysteries -- CHAPTER ELEVEN. The Beauty of Seeing More Than We Can Understand -- APPENDIX TO CHAPTER 11. Welcome to the Inscrutable -- CHAPTER TWELVE. The Personal Mystery and the Impersonal God -- CHAPTER THRIRTEEN. Summa Mysteriologica -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index
Summary: Flipping convention on its head, Eric Dietrich argues that science uncovers awe-inspiring, enduring mysteries, while religion, regarded as the source for such mysteries, is a biological phenomenon. Just like spoken language, Dietrich shows that religion is an evolutionary adaptation. Science is the source of perplexing yet beautiful mysteries, however natural the search for answers may be to human existence.Excellent Beauty undoes our misconception of scientific inquiry as an executioner of beauty, making the case that science has won the battle with religion so thoroughly it can now explain why religion persists. The book also draws deep lessons for human flourishing from the very existence of scientific mysteries. It is these latter wonderful, completely public truths that constitute some strangeness in the proportion, revealing a universe worthy of awe and wonder.
Holdings
Item type Current library Call number URL Status Notes Barcode
eBook eBook Biblioteca "Angelicum" Pont. Univ. S.Tommaso d'Aquino Nuvola online online - DeGruyter (Browse shelf(Opens below)) Online access Not for loan (Accesso limitato) Accesso per gli utenti autorizzati / Access for authorized users (dgr)9780231539357

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Author's Note -- Acknowledgments -- Who's in Charge of the World's Mysteries? -- CHAPTER ONE. The Traveler to Excellent Beauty: Invited Rather Than Drafted -- PART ONE. Of Spiritual Journeys -- CHAPTER TWO. What Is a Religion? -- CHAPTER THREE. The One Billion -- CHAPTER FOUR. The Traveler's Dark Night of the Sou -- APPENDIX TO CHAPTER 4. Statistics and Probability Meet Job -- PART TWO. The Biology of Religion, the Psychology of Morality -- Introduction to Part Two -- CHAPTER FIVE. Justifying the Ways of God to Man via Evolution -- APPENDIX TO CHAPTER 5. Yes, There Really Is Such a Thing as a Coincidence -- CHAPTER SIX. Does God Want You Dead? -- CHAPTER SEVEN. Good Without Gods -- PART THREE. The Journey in Tatters -- CHAPTER EIGHT. Beyond Atheism: The Religion Illusion -- CHAPTER NINE. The Janus-Faced Hominid -- PART FOUR. The Heretic's Way: Into the Mysterious Realm -- Introduction to Part Four -- CHAPTER TEN. Some Strangeness in the Proportion -- APPENDIX TO CHAPTER 10. A Compendium of Mysteries -- CHAPTER ELEVEN. The Beauty of Seeing More Than We Can Understand -- APPENDIX TO CHAPTER 11. Welcome to the Inscrutable -- CHAPTER TWELVE. The Personal Mystery and the Impersonal God -- CHAPTER THRIRTEEN. Summa Mysteriologica -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index

restricted access online access with authorization star

http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_16ec

Flipping convention on its head, Eric Dietrich argues that science uncovers awe-inspiring, enduring mysteries, while religion, regarded as the source for such mysteries, is a biological phenomenon. Just like spoken language, Dietrich shows that religion is an evolutionary adaptation. Science is the source of perplexing yet beautiful mysteries, however natural the search for answers may be to human existence.Excellent Beauty undoes our misconception of scientific inquiry as an executioner of beauty, making the case that science has won the battle with religion so thoroughly it can now explain why religion persists. The book also draws deep lessons for human flourishing from the very existence of scientific mysteries. It is these latter wonderful, completely public truths that constitute some strangeness in the proportion, revealing a universe worthy of awe and wonder.

Issued also in print.

Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.

In English.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 02. Mrz 2022)