Sigrid Peterson, Ph.D. » Religion & Science 102

Religion & Science 102

Introduction

What is creation, that we take thought on it, picture it, attribute it?

Is it from God?

Creation by God

Or is it (always) from within the consciousness of humans? Does consciousness rest in the human mind? Do science’s explorations of the cosmos contradict claims of religion?

Brain (reversed) in black and white

How does consciousness connect us to the universe? Is creative activity a universal? This is a Hubble 2009 image of Eta Carinae, at the following URI:imgsrc.hubblesite.org/hu/db/images/hs-2009-25-aw-full_jpg.jpg

Hubble 2009 Image of Nebula Eta Carinae

This is a Hubble 2009 image of Eta Carinae, at the following URI:imgsrc.hubblesite.org/hu/db/images/hs-2009-25-aw-full_jpg.jpg

See this link, which contains the link to my cv.

"I do believe that religion is, among other things, an intellectual activity -- and to play upon Paul Ricoeur's well-known phrase, it is the perception of incongruity that gives rise to thought." -- Jonathan Z. Smith (Map, 1978: 293-4) Jonathan Z. Smith's well-known description of religion, and of the academic study of religion, combines the well-known phrase "perception of incongruity" as developed by the anthropologist of mind, Jerome Bruner, and the similarly well-known phrase from Paul Ricoeur, "the symbol gives rise to thought." Did Smith mean that the perception of incongruity necessarily led to the invention of religion, or to the examination of religion?