Alone in the World?: Human Uniqueness in Science and Theology - Hardcover

In "Alone in the World?" - first given as the 2004 Gifford Lectures at the University of Edinburgh - J. Wentzel van Huyssteen develops the interdisciplinary dialogue that he set out in "The Shaping of Rationality" (1999), and he applies this methodology to the uncharted waters between theological anthropology and paleoanthropology. Van Huyssteen argues that scientific notions of human uniqueness help us to ground theological notions of human distinctiveness in flesh-and-blood, embodied experiences and protect us from unhelpful abstraction when trying to understand the image of God. Focusing on the interdisciplinary problem of human origins and distinctiveness, van Huyssteen accesses the origins of the embodied human mind through the spectacular prehistoric cave paintings of Western Europe, fifteen of which are reproduced in color in this volume. Connecting two widely separated fields through careful interdisciplinary reflection, "Alone in the World?" will encourage sustained investigation into the question of human uniqueness.

J Wentzel van Huyssteen is the James I McCord Professor of Theology and Science at Princeton Theological Seminary and the author of many books including Essays in Postfoundational Theology and The Shaping of Rationality.