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by Denis Alexander (Author)
Atheists assert that the natural world has no meaning or purpose. Dr Denis Alexander, Emeritus Director of The Faraday Institute for Science and Religion at St. Edmunds College, Cambridge, draws a different conclusion.
Not only do recent evolutionary biological data appear inconsistent with the claim that the world is purposeless, but the Christian doctrine of creation has provided and continues to provide both context and stimulus for the study of the natural world. Christians started biology!
However, is a belief in an omnipotent, benign Creator consistent with a world of pain and suffering? From a lifetime's study in the biological sciences, Denis Alexander believes that whilst the cost of existence is extremely high, it can nonetheless be squared with the idea of a God of love whose ultimate purposes for humankind render that cost more comprehensible.
Back Jacket
Atheists assert that the natural world has no meaning or purpose, but in this thought-provoking book Denis Alexander offers a different perspective. He argues that evolutionary biological data are inconsistent with a necessarily purposeless world, and that Christian creation doctrine provides context and stimulus for the study of the natural world. The author goes on to question whether a belief in an omnipotent, loving Creator is consistent with a world of pain and suffering. From a lifetime's study of the biological sciences, he suggests that while the cost of existence is extremely high, perhaps carbon-based life is the only way in which intelligent beings can exist who can freely respond to God's love. This book is a fascinating, nuanced study that will challenge your preconceptions as it explores whether there is any ultimate purpose to be found in the world of biology.
Author Biography
Denis Alexander ===============
Denis Alexander is the Emeritus Director of the Faraday Institute for Science and Religion, St Edmund's College, Cambridge, where he is a Fellow.Dr Alexander was previously Chairman of the Molecular Immunology Programme and Head of the Laboratory of Lymphocyte Signalling and Development at The Babraham Institute, Cambridge. Prior to that he was at the Imperial Cancer Research Laboratories in London (now Cancer Research UK), andspent 15 years developing university departments and laboratories overseas, latterly as Associate Professor of Biochemistry in the Medical Faculty of the American University of Beirut, Lebanon. There he helped to establish the National Unit of Human Genetics.
He was initially an Open Scholar at Oxford reading Biochemistry, before obtaining a PhD in Neurochemistry at the Institute of Psychiatry in London. Dr Alexander writes, lectures and broadcasts widely in the field of science and religion. His Monarch titles include: Creation or Evolution and Is There Purpose inBiology?.
