RELIGION AND THE THEORIES OF SCIENCE - A RESPONSE TO BARBOUR

This paper offers a detailed response to ''Religion and the Theories o f Science'' in Barbour's Gifford Lectures I. Topics include: complemen tarity, indeterminacy, parts and wholes, and Bell's theorem in quantum theory; metaphysical issues raised by relativity theory and thermodyn amics, principally the problem of temporality and ''top-down'' versus ''bottom-up'' causality; design arguments and the origins of the unive rse in astronomy and creation; and God's action in the context of evol ution and continuing creation. Areas of agreement and disagreement bet ween Barbour and myself over philosophical and theological implication s are presented, and endnotes indicate further areas of conversation.