Has science displaced the soul? - Kevin J Sharpe

Can science explain powerful human emotions such as love and happiness? Or, are these emotions something more than the action of biochemicals and electrical impulses? Science is constantly uncovering the mysteries of our nature, but we are uneasy about submitting our most intimate feelings to its scrutiny. Religion tells us that God is love but neuroscience counters with love as a well-timed trickle of transmitters and hormones. In the 21st century, is it necessary to discard our traditional beliefs of a loving God in favor of dopamine? With doctorates in both mathematics and theology, Kevin Sharpe explores these notions and asks the question, Has Science Displaced the Soul?
Unflinching in facing these issues, Sharpe provides a clear and current summary of the discoveries of science and what our spiritual traditions still have to offer in the ongoing effort to understand our deepest urges. He confronts serious unanswered questions. How can the Divine direct a random process like evolution? How can we reconcile the big bang with creation out of nothing? Does it make sense to claim that the non-biological Divine shares in human purposes and desires? Sharpe's solution is controversial since it requires that we demolish and reconstruct some of our most trusted conceptions. By examining the ways in which scientific and religious claims can be harmonized, he offers a radical and powerful interpretation of love and happiness in the divine context.

Kevin Sharpe is a professor in the Graduate College of Union Institute and University in Cincinnati, Ohio. He is a member of the Harris Manchester College, Oxford University, and co-directs the Oxford Institute for Science and Spirit. Originally from New Zealand, he now splits his time between Harrington Park, New Jersey, and Oxford, England.

Kevin Sharpe's new book, Has Science Displaced the Soul? is a stimulating look at some of the most important issues that lie between science and religion. He approaches these issues with the strength of a scientist and with the conviction of a Christian, having things to say of much value about the natural process and about the physical and spiritual nature of human beings-their hopes and their futures. There is much for us all to learn from this work.
Michael Ruse, Lucyle T. Werkmeister Professor of Philosophy, Florida State University

Has Science Displaced the Soul? Debating Love & Happiness is a fascinating and very readable description of how love and happiness can be viewed from both the scientific and religious perspectives. By comparing these two approaches, Kevin Sharpe has illustrated the important differences and similarities between science and religion. This book provides a new and exciting synthesis to the issues of love and happiness and lays a foundation for future studies of love and happiness from both the scientific as well as the religious perspective.
Andrew Newberg M.D., author of How God Changes Your Brain; Professor of Emergency Medicine and Radiology and Director of Research, Myrna Brind Center of Integrative Medicine, Thomas Jefferson University and Hospital

Amid all the triumphal talk in science these days, increasing numbers of individuals have come to believe we are merely the sum total of our genes and DNA. This book is a bold attempt to reconcile clashes such as this that have erupted between science and spiritual thought. Sharpe contends we need contributions from both science and spirituality to understand our place in the cosmos. Highly provocative, there is something herein to challenge everyone.
Larry Dossey, MD, Author of Healing Beyond the Body, Reinventing Medicine, and Healing Words

It is a reflection of and a tribute to Sharpe's scholarship that he challenges our contemporary and obsolete manner of conceiving the subject. I look forward to Sharpe and Bryant's future elaboration of the Divine and the dialog that they envision between science, values, and spirituality.
The European Legacy - Toward New Paradigms