Intersections of Religion and Astronomy: (Routledge Science and Religion Series)

This volume examines the way in which cultural ideas about "the heavens" shape religious ideas and are shaped by them in return. Our approaches to cosmology have a profound effect on the way in which we each deal with religious questions and participate in the imaginative work of public and private world-building. Employing an interdisciplinary team of international scholars, each chapter shows how religion and cosmology interrelate and matter for real people. Historical and contemporary case studies are included to demonstrate the lived reality of a variety of faith traditions and their interactions with the cosmos. This breadth of scope allows readers to get a unique overview of how religion, science and our view of space have, and will continue to, impact our worldviews. Offering a comprehensive exploration of humanity and its relationship with cosmology, this book will be an important reference for scholars of Religion and Science, Religion and Culture, Interreligious Dialogue and Theology, as well as those interested in Science and Culture and Public Education.

Table of Contents:
Introduction; Part 1 Intersections of Astronomy and Religion: Ancient and Post-Ancient Worlds; 1 Religion and Cosmology-John T. Fitzgerald; 2 Calling Down the Spirits in the Sky: Blackfoot Astronomy and Sense of The Sacred-Eldon Yellowhorn; 3 To Reverently Bestow the Seasons: Calendrical Narratives in Early China and Rome-Rebecca Robinson; 4 Celestial Deities in the Flat-Earth Buddhist Cosmos and Astrology-Jeffrey Kotyk; 5 Early Islamic Encounters with the Rains Stars of pre-Islamic Arabian Astronomy-Danielle Adams; 6 Cosmology and Religious Culture in Jewish and Byzantine Art-Shulamit Laderman; 7 In Search of the Stars of David: Situating the Rabbinic Jewish Astronomical Tradition in World Cultural Astronomy Scholarship-Andrea D. Lobel; Part 2 The European Enlightenment and Scientific Revolution; 8 The Cosmos of a Big God: Brahe, Kepler, Bruno and the Sizes of the Stars in a Copernican Universe-Christopher M. Graney; 9 Apocalyptic Themes in Isaac Newton’s Astronomical Physics-Stephen D. Snobelen; 10 Georges Lemaître’s Dual Life in Cosmology and Theology-Simon Mitton and Rodney D. Holder; 11 Albert Einstein’s Cosmic Religion-Nicholas Campion; Part 3 The Modern World; 12 Market Predictions: Astrology in Modern India-Parna Sengupta; 13 Faster than the Speed of NASA: The Tenth Planet, Prophecy and the Universalization of a Gujarati Village Goddess-Darry Dinnell; 14 Radiance and Darkness: Japanese Buddhist Cosmographies-Melissa Anne-Marie Curley; 15 Abductions Angelic and Alien: The Changing Cosmologies of Otherworldly Journeys-James F. McGrath; 16 Astrophysics and Religion-Arnold O. Benz; 17 The Epistemology of Flat Earth Theory: Evidentialism, Suspicion, and the Ethics of Belief-Jennifer Guyver; Part 4 Future Directions; 18 Astrobiology, Astroethics, and Astrotheology in Conversation-Grace Wolf-Chase; 19 Religious Traditions and Religious Imagination in Cosmos Contexts-John Hart; 20 Wonder Brokers: Scientific Wonder as Spiritual Authority in the Cosmos Series (1980 and 2014)-Aaron Ricker; Conclusion

About the Author :
Aaron Ricker received his PhD from McGill University. His publications include Ancient Letters and the Purpose of Romans (2020). His research interests include the social-scientific analysis of religion, biblical literature, and popular culture. Christopher J. Corbally is Associate Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Arizona, a research astronomer at the Vatican Observatory, and President of the National Committee for Astronomy, Vatican City State, International Astronomical Union. His publications include The Emergence of Religion in Human Evolution, with Margaret Boone Rappaport (2019). Darry Dinnell received his Ph.D. in Religious Studies from McGill University. He has taught at McGill and at St. Thomas More College, University of Saskatchewan.