The Constant Fire Beyond the Science vs. Religion Debate [Paperback]

Eloquent, urgent, and inspiring,The Constant Firetackles the acrimonious debate between science and religion, taking us beyond its stagnant parameters into the wider domain of human spiritual experience. From a Neolithic archaeological site in Ireland to modern theories of star formation, Adam Frank traverses a wide terrain, broadening our sights and allowing us to imagine an alternative perspective. Drawing from his experience as a practicing astrophysicist and from the writings of the great scholars of religion, philosophy, and mythology, Frank locates the connective tissue linking science and religiontheir commonality as sacred pursuitsand finds their shared aspiration in pursuit of the True and the Real. Taking us from the burning of Giordano Bruno in 1600 to Einstein and on to today's pressing issues of global warming and resource depletion,The Constant Fireshows us how to move beyond this stale debate into a more profound experience of the world as sacreda world that embraces science without renouncing human spirituality.

Adam Frankis Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Rochester and a regular contributor toDiscoverandAstronomymagazines. He has also written forScientific Americanand many other publications. He was a Hubble Fellow and is the recipient of an American Astronomical Society Prize for his scientific writing.

Acknowledgments
Prologue: House of the Rising Sun

PART I. THE MAP: REIMAGINING SCIENCE, MYTH, AND THE SACRED
Chapter 1. The Roots of Conflict: Science and Religion before Divorce
Chapter 2. The Conflict We Know: Religion, Science, and the Modern World
Chapter 3. Science and the Sacred: Telescopes, Microscopes, and Hierophanies
Chapter 4. Not the God You Pray To: The Varieties of Scientists' Religious Experience
Chapter 5. Science, Myth, and Sacred Narratives: The Universe as Story

PART II. THE TERRAIN: SACRED NARl£¼