CfP: Our Place in the Cosmos?: Humanity, Spirituality and the Awesome Universe

CfP: Our Place in the Cosmos?: Humanity, Spirituality and the Awesome Universe

Science, Religion & Society: An Interdisciplinary Journal

One often cited premise is that the work of modern scientists like Copernicus and Darwin served to remove our home planet and humanity from their special place in the cosmos as previously upheld by religious and spiritual traditions. Nonetheless, religion and spirituality have proven to be an enduring feature of the human landscape even for many scientists, in part, because religious and spiritual expressions have themselves shifted to tolerate, accommodate, and even promote new cosmologies. Additionally, more contemporary developments in scientific theory such as: big bang cosmology, quantum field theory, ‘mitochondrial Eve’, the multiverse, the Gaia hypothesis, the singularity, or the anthropic principle have lent themselves to religious and spiritual readings. Compounding the tensions active here, many of these religious and spiritual readings lie outside the aims, scopes, and intensions of the scientists who first formulated these concepts.

The winter 2019 issue of Science, Religion, and Society: An Interdisciplinary Journalseeks to wade into these issues and provide a platform to start and deepen interdisciplinary conversations amongst scientists, social scientists, and humanity scholars concerning the roles and place of humanity within the dynamic, fascinating, and sometimes awe-inspiring cosmos that comes into view via modern and after-modern science. In light of our goal to foster such dialogue, we invite original articles addressing the special issue theme “Our Place in the Cosmos?: Humanity, Spirituality and the Awesome Universe” from academics engaging in a wide range of disciplinary perspectives, including scientists and scholars of science and religion.