On the Moral Nature of the Universe: Theology Cosmology and Ethics (Theology and the Sciences)

What is the ethical import of contemporary scientific cosmology? How does our understanding of the universe relate to our most pressing social concerns? How do the disparate fields of theology ethics and the sciences relate to each other? Murphy and Ellis offer a coherent construction of these relations and show how a particular moral vision-a kenotic ethic-is supported from below by the social sciences and from above by theology. The theological import of contemporary cosmology they argue points ultimately to an ethic that centers on self-sacrifice and nonviolence. In ambition rigor and scale in its search for an integrated and coherent worldview at a time of unprecedented complexity and uncertainty readers will find this volume daring and important.