Mladen Turk – författare

Since the dawn of science, ideas about the relation between science and religion have always depended on what else is going on in a society. During the twentieth century, daily life changed dramatically. Technology revolutionized transportation, agriculture, communications, and housework. People came to rely on scientific predictability in their technology. Many wondered whether God''s supposed actions were consistent with scientific knowledge. The twenty-first century is bringing new scientific research capabilities. They are revealing that scientific results are not totally predictable after all. Certain types of interaction lead to outcomes that are unpredictable, in principle. These in turn may lead to a whole new range of potential interactions. They do not rule out the reality of a dynamic God who can act in the world without breaking the known principles of science. God may in fact work with "the way things really are." Human experience of God may accurately reflect this reality. Interactive World, Interactive God illustrates such new understandings in religion and science by describing recent developments in a wide range of sciences, and providing theological commentary. The book is written for intelligent readers who may not be specialized in science but who are looking for ways to understand divine action in today''s world.

What makes us religious? What is religion? This book presents relevant research and theoretical proposals for evolutionary theories of religion and socially and ecologically adaptive theories of religion. Most attempts to study religious behaviors through evolutionary biology and related disciplines are still very fragmentary. Mladen Turk brings those theoretical approaches in dialogue with religious studies and theology through interpretation and critique that centers on revealing hidden theological assumptions and interpreting theoretical leaps of those approaches to religion. In Being Religious Turk expounds understanding of religion as a complex interplay of various capacities arising from and influencing our biological and cultural makeup. Our religious behaviors can influence our relationship towards each other and towards our environment in significant ways. He shows how some aspects of complex religious behaviors can be understood better in light of human cognition and evolutionary biology. At the same time he interprets this knowledge as being preliminary and at times inadequate in its claims of completeness and exhaustiveness because religious behaviors are niched within other religious behaviors and dependent on factors that various mono-causal theoretical approaches cannot fully conceptualize.