"This small book (118 pages) contains the proceedings of the fifth annual Goshen (Ind.) Conference on Religion and Science in 2005, with three lectures by theologian and physicist Robert John Russell, founder and director of the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences in Berkeley, Cal. He spoke about the interaction of science and theology, the dilemma of suffering in nature, and the resurrection as "an act of God which transforms the regular structure of nature into a new paradigm." — Dora Dueck in the Mennonite Brethren Herald

Cosmology, Evolution, and Resurrection Hope is a collection of lectures presented by theologian and physicist Robert John Russell at the fifth annual Goshen Conference on Religion and Science, and Russell’s discussions of related topics with conference participants. In his lectures Russell develops three themes at the cutting edge of theology and science. In the first lecture he explores an often overlooked the creative role of theology in the rise of contemporary natural science as evidenced in the construction of Big Bang and steady state cosmologies and the resulting debates over them. In the second lecture he turns to the problem of “natural evil” – suffering, disease, death and extinction in nature – arguing that the most compelling response to evil is a theology of redemption that embraces all of nature. In the third lecture he explores redemption through the cross and resurrection of Jesus, opening the greatest challenge to Christian theology the conflict between Christian eschatology and the future of the universe according to science. By placing eschatology and cosmology into a relation of creative mutual interaction, Russell believes that eschatology can begin to address this
challenge and in turn it can raise potentially fruitful questions that might lead to new directions in scientific research. What we find here will penetrate our thoughts when we believe we can rest comfortably with our present view of “religion and science.”

Robert John Russell is founder and Director of the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences (CTNS) and the Ian G. Barbour Professor of Theology and Science in Residence at the Graduate Theological Union (GTU).