Books
Nature and Scripture in the Abrahamic Religions: To 1700
Van der Meer, J. M., Mandelbrote, S. (Eds.) Nature and Scripture in the Abrahamic Religions: To 1700. Vols. 36/1 and 36/2. Leiden/Boston: Brill Academic Publishers. 2008.
The four companion volumes of Nature and Scripture in the Abrahamic Religions contribute to a contextual evaluation of the mutual influences between scriptural exegesis and hermeneutics on the one hand and practices or techniques of interpretation in natural philosophy and the natural sciences on the other. We seek to raise the low profile this theme has had both in the history of science and in the history of biblical interpretation. Furthermore, questions about the interpretation of scripture continue to be provoked by current theological reflection on scientific theories. We also seek to provide a historical context for renewed reflection on the role of the hermeneutics of scripture in the development of theological doctrines that interact with the natural sciences.
Nature and Scripture in the Abrahamic Religions: 1700-Present
Van der Meer, J. M., Mandelbrote, S. (Eds.) Nature and Scripture in the Abrahamic Religions: 1700-Present. Vols. 37/1 and 37/2. Leiden/Boston: Brill Academic Publishers. 2008.
The four companion volumes of Nature and Scripture in the Abrahamic Religions contribute to a contextual evaluation of the mutual influences between scriptural exegesis and hermeneutics on the one hand and practices or techniques of interpretation in natural philosophy and the natural sciences on the other. We seek to raise the low profile this theme has had both in the history of science and in the history of biblical interpretation. Furthermore, questions about the interpretation of scripture continue to be provoked by current theological reflection on scientific theories. We also seek to provide a historical context for renewed reflection on the role of the hermeneutics of scripture in the development of theological doctrines that interact with the natural sciences.
Science in Theistic Contexts: Cognitive Dimensions
Brooke, J.H., Osler, M.J. Van der Meer, J.M. (Eds.) Science in Theistic Contexts: Cognitive Dimensions. Osiris 16 (2001). University of Chicago Press. Chicago.
It is a widely shared assumption that science and religion are fundamentally opposed to each other. Yet, recent historiography has shown that religious belief needs to be added to the social, economic, political, and other cultural factors that went into the making of modern science. This new collection shows religious ideas not only motivated scientific effort but also shaped the actual content of major scientific theories. The fourteen studies contained in this volume concentrate on such topics as the theological facets of modern astronomy in the works of Galileo, Kepler, and Newton; the retention of teleology in the natural philosophy of Boyle; and the theistic and teleological associations of the modern theory of evolution authored by Darwin and Wallace. While the majority of the contributions focus on the Christian traditions, the collection also contains case-studies of Judaic and Islamic influences.
Reflecting the fecundity of contemporary scholarship, the current volume should be of extraordinary interest to historians of science, scientists, as well as anyone intrigued by the many ways in which relations between religion and science have been constructed.
ORDER THROUGH THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS
Facets of Faith and Science
Volume 1: Historiography and Modes of Interaction
Van der Meer, J.M. Editor (1996) Facets of Faith and Science. Volume 1: Historiography and Modes of Interaction. The Pascal Centre for Advanced Studies in Faith and Science / University Press of America. Lanham. 1996.
This first volume of "Facets of Faith and Science" explores the specific roles of metaphysical and religious beliefs in explanation and theory construction in the natural sciences. The contributors survey modes of interaction between religion and science with special attention for the sensitivities required for their historiography. Historical studies are used to construct models integrating religion and science, and reasons are offered why religion and science should or should not interact. Chapters Include: Religious Belief and the Natural Sciences: Mapping the Historical Landscape; Scientific Work and Its Theological Dimensions: Towards a Theology of Natural Science. Co-published with The Pascal Centre for Advanced Studies in Faith and Science.
Facets of Faith and Science
Volume 2: The Role of Beliefs in Mathematics and the Natural Sciences: An Augustinian Perspective
Van der Meer, J.M. Editor (1996) Facets of Faith and Science. Volume 2: The Role of Beliefs in Mathematics and the Natural Sciences: An Augustinian Perspective. The Pascal Centre for Advanced Studies in Faith and Science / University Press of America. Lanham. 1996.
This second volume of "Facets of Faith and Science" focuses on the effects religious and metaphysical beliefs have on the content of the specific roles of metaphysical and religious beliefs in explanation and theory construction in biology, mathematics and physics. Co-published with The Pascal Centre for Advanced Studies in Faith and Science.
Facets of Faith and Science
Volume 3: The Role of Beliefs in the Natural Sciences
Van der Meer, J.M. Editor (1996) Facets of Faith and Science. Volume 3: The Role of Beliefs in the Natural Sciences. The Pascal Centre for Advanced Studies in Faith and Science / University Press of America. Lanham. 1996.
This third volume of "Facets of Faith and Science" presents case studies covering astronomy, biology, cosmology, and physics. Chapters Include: The Role of Beliefs in Modern Cosmology; Rationalism, Voluntarism and Seventeeth Century Science; Newton's Rejection of the "Newtonian World View:" The Role of Divine Will in Newton's Natural Philosophy; Astronomy for the People: R.A. Proctor and the Popularization of the Victorian Universe; Physical Laws as Knowledge and Belief; On the Complexity of the Relationship between Astronomy and Religion: Jesuit Missionary-Astronomers in the Sixteenth and Seventeeth Centuries; Astral Piety, Astronomy, and Ethics in the Ancient Mediterranean; The Shroud of Turin: Resetting the Carbon-14 Clock; Newton and Christianity; Mind and Brain, Science and Religion: Comparing of the Work of Donald M. McKay and Roger W. Sperry; The Role of Theology in Current Evolutionary Reasoning; The Concept of the 'Open System': Another Machine Metaphor for the Organism?; The Concept of Hierarchy in Contemporary Systems Thinking: A Key to Overcoming Reductionism?; Control Hierarchies: A View of Life.
Facets of Faith and Science
Volume 4: Interpreting God's Action in the World
Van der Meer, J.M. Editor (1996) Facets of Faith and Science. Volume 4: Interpreting God's Action in the World. The Pascal Centre for Advanced Studies in Faith and Science / University Press of America. Lanham. 1996.
This fourth volume focuses on how to interpret God's action in nature, surveys recent thought on divine agency, proposes a new understanding of double agency, and addresses the relation of divine action and omniscience to natural causation, randomness and evolutionary theory.
Region-Specific Cell Differentiation During Early Insect Development
Experimental Morphological Aspects of Embryonic pattern formation in the Coleopteran Callosobruchus Maculatus
Van der Meer, J.M.: Region-specific cell differentiation during early insect development. Experimental morphological aspects of embryonic pattern formation in the coleopteran Callosobruchus maculatus Fabr. Ph.D. Thesis Nijmegen 1978. The Netherlands.
