Dimensions of Faith

Steve Donaldson, PhD, is Professor and Computer Science Program Director at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama. He also codirects the Computational Biology program, teaches in the Science and Religion and University Fellows Honors programs, and is one of the cofounders of the Samford Center for Science and Religion.

"In Dimensions of Faith, Donaldson offers a very readable argument that whether a person is religious or not, all of us are imbued with faith as a fundamental component of what it means to be human. Many authors have delved into faith from either a religious or scientific perspective; few have succeeded in integrating faith and reason in such a seamless fashion. Dimensions of Faith is a must-read for anyone interested in the interface of science and religion."Thomas W. Woolley, PhD, Professor of Statistics, Samford University"Dimensions of Faith is a brilliant, engaging, and accessible meditation on its subject. [It] is a robust defence of human freedom and an encouragement against fear of openness to experience. You may not like all the answers offered here, but your assumptions about faith will not remain untouched (if you're open to examining them). This is a book to think with and meditate upon."Brian Steele, Associate Professor of History, The University of Alabama at BirminghamIt should be of interest to anyone concerned with the nature and role of faith, whether they would consider themselves to be religious or not. it is insightful, winsome, thought-provoking and entertaining; a serious attempt to deal with an important topic and one which reveals that the question of faith may not be as cut and dried as those on different sides of the debate might have supposed.Paul Roberts, Science & Christian Belief, Vol 32, No. 1, 2020

• Acknowledgments Introduction: What Qualifies One to Build a Cairn? Part I - The Nature of Faith 1. Saving the Assumptions 2. Who Believes What? - The Range of Human Beliefs 3. Misconceptions About Faith: What Faith Is Not 4. What Faith Is: Making Faith Concrete 5. Faith and Brains Part II - Faith and Reason 6. The End of Knowledge: A Challenge for Faith 7. Crafting Rational Faith 8. Explorers and Mechanics: Creative Approaches to Faith Part III - Religious Faith 9. The Nature of Religious Belief 10. What is Religion, Anyway? 11. How Clear Is God? 12. Is This Really What Religious People Mean by Faith? Part IV - Conclusion 13. No End in Sight References Subject Index Scripture Index