Science and Religion: Natural Theology in the Contemporary Context
A special issue of Religions (ISSN 2077-1444).
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2025 | Viewed by 183
Special Issue Editor
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Traditionally, “natural theology” has been understood as the attempts to use reason alone to prove the existence of God. This kind of natural theology has been declared to be a complete failure by philosophers like Hume, Kant, and the positivists. However, in the contemporary context of the analytic philosophy of religion or dialogue between science and religion, natural theology has surprisingly been revived. In this Special Issue, I am pleased to invite you to submit academic papers on natural theology related to contemporary discussions about the relationship between science and religion. The arguments can be used to support or discredit the existence of God or other religious hypotheses like pantheism. The kinds of topics which may be discussed are reflected in the following keywords.
In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following topics:
- Kalam cosmological argument;
- The fine-tuning argument or the anthropic principle;
- Multiverse;
- Design arguments;
- Cognitive science of religion;
- Naturalistic explanations of religious experience;
- The existence of soul & neuroscience;
- Why there is something rather than nothing?
- Panpsychism or cosmopsychism;
- Cosmic axiology or teleology;
- The existence of God and artificial intelligence;
- Faith and transhumanism.
I request that, prior to submitting a manuscript, interested authors initially submit a proposed title and an abstract of 200-300 words summarizing their intended contribution. Please send it to the Guest Editor, or to the Assistant Editor of Religions. Abstracts will be reviewed by the Guest Editors for the purposes of ensuring proper fit within the scope of the Special Issue. Full manuscripts will undergo double-blind peer review.
I look forward to receiving your contributions.
Prof. Dr. Kai Man Kwan
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Religions is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- kalam cosmological argument
- the fine-tuning argument or the anthropic principle
- multiverse
- design arguments
- cognitive science of religion
- naturalistic explanations of religious experience
- the existence of soul & neuroscience
- why there is something rather than nothing
- panpsychism or cosmopsychism
- cosmic axiology or teleology
- the existence of God and artificial intelligence
- faith and transhumanism
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