A special issue of Open Theology vol. 1 iss. 1 (Nov 2015) edited by Fraser Watts and Shiva Khalili has been published on the theme of 'Science and/or Religion', it includes papers arising from the International Society for Science and Religion conference with the Sigmund Freud University on the same theme, held in Vienna in August 2015. The opening editorial article is available here, it is followed by the other themed articles in the issue.
Snezana Lawrence and Mark McCartney (eds). 2015. Mathematicians and their Gods: Interactions between Mathematics and Religious Beliefs, Oxford University Press. A collection of essays on the relationship between mathematics and religious beliefs. Contributors include Owen Gingerich, Professor Emeritus of Astronomy and History of Science at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, on 'Kepler and his Trinitarian Cosmology', and Rob Iliffe, Professor of Intellectual History and the History of Science in the Department of History at the University of Sussex, on 'Newton, God, and the Mathematics of the Two Books'. See the publisher's website for information.
A supplement issue to Journal of Religion & Society presents a wide-ranging set of articles on topics in science and religion. The issue is divided into four sections: 'Relationship between Religion and the Sciences', 'Religion and the Social Sciences', 'Religion and the Natural Sciences', and 'Religion, Science, and the Environment'. See Journal of Religion & Society Supplement 11 (2015).
Keith Ward. 2015. Christ and the Cosmos: A Reformulation of Trinitarian Doctrine, Cambridge University Press. Keith Ward, Professorial Research Fellow at Heythrop College, University of London, and Fellow of the British Academy, formerly Regius Professor of Divinity and a Canon of Christ Church at the University of Oxford, examines and challenges the concept of the social Trinity. The book examines theistic belief and the Trinity in scientific context. See the publisher's website for information.
Simon Conway Morris. 2015. The Runes of Evolution: How the Universe Became Self-Aware, Templeton Press. A new book by Simon Conway Morris, Professor of Evolutionary Palaeobiology at the University of Cambridge, examines evolutionary convergence. The Runes of Evolution: How the Universe Became Self-Aware, illustrates how the ubiquity of convergence hints at an underlying framework whereby many outcomes, not least brains and intelligence, are virtually guaranteed on any Earth-like planet. See the publisher's website for information.
A special issue of Zygon, Journal of Religion and Science, reflects on the fiftieth anniversary of the creation of the Institute on Religion in an Age of Science (IRAS) and its first conference in 1954, and presents several plenary papers from the anniversary conference in 2014. Papers include Karl Peters on 'The "Ghosts" of IRAS Past and the Changing Cultural Context of Religion and Science', Michael Ruse on 'Why I Am an Accommodationist and Proud of It', and Nancy Ellen Abrams on 'A God That Could Be Real in the New Scientific Universe'. See Zygon vol. 20 iss. 2 (June 2015).
An article by David R. Johnson, Christopher P. Scheitle, and Elaine Howard Ecklund in Sociological Science examines individual religiosity and orientation towards science. The research finds that religiosity has no significant association with interest in or knowledge of science, but does have a significant negative association with confidence in science. See Sociological Science vol 2 (March 2015).
Dirk Evers, Michael Fuller, Antje Jackelén, Knut-Willy Sæther (eds.) 2015. Issues in Science and Theology: What is Life?, Springer. A new publication in the 'Issues in Science and Religion' series of the European Society for the Study of Science and Theology, What is Life? offers a wide-ranging study of the concept of Life taking in viewpoints from physics to biology, and the perspectives of philosophy, theology, and ethics. See the publisher's website for more information.
John Traphagan. 2015. Extraterrestrial Intelligence and Human Imagination: SETI at the Intersection of Science, Religion, and Culture, Springer. John Traphagan, Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Texas at Austin, examines the significance of the search for extraterrestrial life (SETI) for questions of human meaning and religion. Focuses on the relationship between science and religion as it is expressed within SETI research context, the underlying assumptions that have shaped the ways in which SETI researchers have conceptualized the nature of their endeavour, and thinking about the social impact of contact with alien intelligence from religious and cultural perspectives. See the publisher's website for more information.
Agustín Udías. 2015. Jesuit Contribution to Science: A History, Springer. Agustín Udías, a priest in the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) and Professor Emeritus at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, presents an account of the contributions of Jesuits to scientific endeavour throughout the Society's existence. Discusses Jesuit contributions to mathematics, astronomy, physics and cartography before suppression of the order in 1773, and work in astronomical observation, the study of hurricanes, earthquakes and terrestrial magnetism after its restoration in 1814. See the publisher's website for more information.