Matter & What Matters : Some Science For The Religious & Some Religion For Scientists

Description

Lionel Sharman is a scientist and practising Christian. He faces the apparent conflict between science and religion, not by compromising the science or arguing exceptions, but by examining how scientific knowledge is established and what really matters in Christianity –– and by inference other religions.

This is extremely important to us all, as religion is the base for our society and relationships, even for those who do not accept much that religion teaches. Lionel relates science to our everyday life, thought and actions, our understanding of free will and our consciousness. From the elaborate religious beliefs that have accumulated from ancient times, he teases out what he believes really matters. This lets him suggest a way in which a 21st-century person, aware of the way science works, accepting the technology that science affords, and receiving the knowledge of our world that science presents, can honestly worship God and practise a religious faith.

Rather than write an objective and formal thesis, Lionel uses everyday language and sets that off with poems that confront the issues of faith and science with emotional engagement.

Author description

Lionel Sharman, MSc (chemistry), worked as a forensic scientist from 1965 to 1997 in the DSIR and ESRk government organisations that provided forensic science services for the NZ Police.