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When Judaism Meets Science
Archive for the ‘Physical Sciences’ Category
Five More Jewish Nobel Laureates: What Does it Mean?
This past week the Royal Swedish Academy of Science announced the award of Nobel Prizes for 2011 in, among other fields, physics, chemistry and medicine. Seven individuals were honored. Apparently five are Jewish. What, if anything, does that mean? read more
No More NOMA (Part II)
In previous posts (August 10 and 19, 2011), we have considered Stephen Jay Gould’s promotion of NOMA, the proposition that science and religion occupy two equally important but non-overlapping magisteria, or domains of authority. We have also considered how scientists have acted with respect to Gould’s promotion of NOMA. Yet if Gould and NOMA have some trouble on the science side of Gould’s aisle, it is nothing compared to what has been said or done on the other. read more
No More NOMA (Part I)
In a previous post (August 10, 2011), I discussed Stephen Jay Gould’s book Rocks of Ages and his support for the proposition that science and religion occupy (or should occupy) two non-overlapping spheres, or magisterial, of authority (“NOMA”). In the decade since Rocks of Ages was published, Gould’s approach to science and religion has been both praised and reviled, both followed and rejected. Some of the reaction is attributable to the form of his argument, some to the substance. read more
GOULD IN THE FULLNESS OF LIFE
Stephen Jay Gould was both a solid and a popular American scientist in the late twentieth century (CE). His essays in the magazine Natural History over a quarter century on arcane aspects of biology, paleontology and evolution were models of elegant and engaging writing, proving that the pen, if not necessarily mightier than the sword, is still quite powerful. read more
The Greenberg Hurdle
Irving (“Yitz”) Greenberg is an American orthodox rabbi, known for critical thinking and reaching across denominational lines. In 1977, writing about the Holocaust, Greenberg argued that in the future, “no statement, theological or otherwise, should be made that would not be credible in the presence of burning children.” A few years later, Greenberg repeated that proposition in a seminal essay entitled “The Third Great Cycle in Jewish History.”
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The Science Challenge
Judaism does not deal well with science. To be sure, there are many Jews who are scientists and many scientists who are Jews. Some Jewish scientists even win Nobel prizes for their work. Indeed, the numbers and percentages of winners are astonishing. See, http://www.jinfo.org/Nobel_Prizes. Still, as a community, and a supposedly smart one at that, Jews do not deal well with science.
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