FROM BIG BANG
TO BIG MYSTERY
Human Origins in the Light of Creation and Evolution
Brendan Purcell
Human Origins
in the Light of Creation and Evolution
A study of human origins combining science and philosophy.
PAPERBACK; 365 PAGES; 2012
ISBN: 978-1-56548-433-7
SALE PRICE: $34.95
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About this Book
Everyone knows about the ‘mystery’ of the Big Bang – what
started it? This book is about the other ‘creation mystery’ –
where did human beings, in particular, come from? It traces the material part
of our origins from the Big Bang through evolution, including the almost 7
million year hominid sequence up to the first humans in Africa over 150,000
years ago. That data doesn’t seem to explain what paleontologists and
archaeologists call ‘the Big Bang of Human Consciousness.’ In
his fascinating, accessible and thorough study, renowned priest and academic
Brendan Purcell shows the complementarity that scientists, theologians, and
philosophers bring to a deeper understanding of the mystery of human existence
and human consciousness.
Some Reviews:
Brendan Purcell has given us a study of human origins that is comprehensive,
wise, and of startling philosophical clarity. He combines the latest discoveries
in paleoanthropology, genetics, neuroscience, linguistics, and other sciences
with the insights of thinkers from Xenophanes and Aristotle to Eric Voegelin
and Bernard Lonergan to produce a deeply impressive and convincing synthesis.
Stephen M. Barr
Professor of Theoretical Physics, University of Delaware and author of Modern
Physics and Ancient Faith
Purcell moves
easily from the best scientific data on evolutionary genetics to mystical
affirmations of God without skipping a beat. This is an astonishing, learned,
and profoundly moving book.
David Walsh
Professor of Politics, The Catholic University of America
This is a profound,
challenging and erudite book, offering a fresh and constructive approach to
issues and debates that affect us all. Highly recommended!
Conor Cunningham
Assistant Director, Centre of Theology and Philosophy, University of Nottingham;
Author of Darwin’s Pious Idea
Purcell has achieved
a remarkable synthesis: he has brought together Bernard Lonergan’s philosophical
concept of “emergent probability” and Eric Voegelin’s philosophy
of participatory (and not just perceptual) consciousness with an immense and
ever-growing literature dealing with the hominid sequence. This book is must-reading
for philosophers and theologians and especially for paleoscientists. Their
sciences will never be the same.
Barry Cooper
Professor of Political Philosophy, University of Calgary
Of the many books
that continue to be written on human evolution, very few deal with the philosophy
of human origins. But now we have a very welcome study by Fr. Brendan Purcell
that addresses this very topic. Purcell paints an enormous canvas, ranging
from the Big Bang to human consciousness.
Drawing on a wide range of authoritative sources to compose a gracefully written
scholarly synthesis, the book is full of valuable insights. For example …
[Purcell] explains ‘the fallacy of answering the unasked question’
– when science or religion undertake to answer questions that don’t
arise within their methodologies. Given that this fallacy is avoided, the
author proposes that a sensible relation of complementarity should exist between
science, religion and philosophy rather than a confrontational interaction
where one discipline tries to refute and supplant the explanations of the
others.
William Reville
Associate Professor in Biochemistry, University College Cork, andScience Today
columnist in The Irish Times
Like G.K. Chesterton’s
opening lines to his The Napoleon of Notting Hill, the book is addressed to
‘The human race to which so many of my readers belong.’ So I’d
recommend it to anyone who’s a member of that same human race with an
interest in the wonderful mystery of how we came into existence and why.
Cardinal George Pell
Archbishop of Sydney
This is a great
book with a powerful message of the distinctiveness of human beings in the
evolutionary story about life. The work stands at the crossroads of scientific,
anthropological, philosophical and theological interests. Purcell’s
work asks all the relevant questions at this intersection, with the information
and clarity of thought to address them – there is no ‘blinking.’
A fine book for believers and unbelievers alike.
Rev. Dr. Stephen Ames
Lecturer in ‘God and the Natural Sciences,’ University of Melbourne
About the author
Brendan Purcell
Brendan Purcell is Adjunct Professor in the School of Philosophy at Notre
Dame University, Sydney. Having studied philosophy at University College Dublin,
theology at the Pontifical Lateran University Rome, and Psychology at the
University of Leuven, he lectured in Philosophical Anthropology and Psychology
at University College Dublin, retiring as Senior Lecturer in the School of
Philosophy in 2008.
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