Cosmic Roots: The Conflict Between Science And Religion And How It Led To The Secular Age

Book info: Cosmic Roots: The Conflict Between Science And Religion And How It Led To The Secular Age (Hardcover, 512 pages) – WSPC, 2022. Language: English.

Cosmic Roots traces the five-thousand-year conflict between science and religion -- and how it has shaped our modern secular worldview. Told with rare clarity and striking insight, this fascinating and thought-provoking book focuses on the history of cosmology and its sister science astronomy. For it was discoveries within these great disciplines which first led to the conflict between science and religion. The story begins with the cosmological beliefs of the ancients -- from the flat Earth models of the Sumerians and Hebrews to the Greek notion of the orbits of planets as divine circles. Topics progress from Aristotle and Ptolemy's integrated planetary models to the Sun-centered cosmologies of Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler, and the great Isaac Newton. Their combined scientific achievements stand as testimony to the power and imagination of the human mind.This meticulously researched narrative also traces the roots of Western religion, based on historical events and archeological evidence. It takes us on a captivating journey through Western religious history -- from ancient paganism to the ethical monotheism of the Hebrews, Christians, and Moslems. Along the way, we follow the rise and fall of civilizations, of empires, cycles of war and peace, unification and division.The book concludes with how Darwin came up with his theory of evolution and the impact of modern physics on religious beliefs. The cumulative effect of the scientific discoveries presented in Cosmic Roots has, for better or for worse, led to the separation of science and religion we see in Western culture today. Editorial Reviews Review "An absorbing reflection on humanity's eternal quest for explanations." — Kirkus Reviews

2023 NAUTILUS BOOK AWARD WINNER in Science and Cosmology About the Author Ira Mark Egdall is the award-winning author of Einstein Relativity Simple: Our Universe Explained in Everyday Language, and the e-book Unsung Heroes of the Universe. He has been a science writer for DecodedScience.com. He is a retired aerospace program manager with an undergraduate degree in physics from Northeastern University. Mark now teaches lay courses in modern physics as well as the history of the science/religion conflict at Lifelong Learning Institutes at the University of Miami, Nova Southeastern University, and Florida International University. He gives entertaining talks on modern physics and Cosmic Roots.