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Epic Of Evolution
In social, cultural, and religious studies in the United States, the "epic of evolution" is a narrative that blends religious and scientific views of cosmic, biological, and sociocultural evolution in a mythological manner. According to ''The Encyclopedia of Religion and Nature'', an "epic of evolution" encompasses History "Epic of evolution" seems to have originated from the sociobiologist Edward O. Wilson's use of the phrase "evolutionary epic" in 1978. Wilson was not the first to use the phrase, but, due to his prominence, the modified phrase 'epic of evolution,' became widespread. In later years, he, too, used the modified phrase. Naturalistic and liberal religious writers have used the phrase in a number of texts. They have also used related phrases: ''Universe Story'' ( Brian Swimme, John F. Haught), ''Great Story'' (Connie Barlow, Michael Dowd), ''Everybody's Story'' ( Loyal Rue), ''New Story'' (Thomas Berry, Al Gore, Brian Swimme) and ''Cosmic Evolution'' ( Eric Ch ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sociology
Sociology is the scientific study of human society that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. The term sociology was coined in the late 18th century to describe the scientific study of society. Regarded as a part of both the social sciences and humanities, sociology uses various methods of Empirical research, empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about social order and social change. Sociological subject matter ranges from Microsociology, micro-level analyses of individual interaction and agency (sociology), agency to Macrosociology, macro-level analyses of social systems and social structure. Applied sociological research may be applied directly to social policy and welfare, whereas Theory, theoretical approaches may focus on the understanding of social processes and phenomenology (sociology), phenomenologic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Evolution
Evolution is the change in the heritable Phenotypic trait, characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. It occurs when evolutionary processes such as natural selection and genetic drift act on genetic variation, resulting in certain characteristics becoming more or less common within a population over successive generations. The process of evolution has given rise to biodiversity at every level of biological organisation. The scientific theory of evolution by natural selection was conceived independently by two British naturalists, Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace, in the mid-19th century as an explanation for why organisms are adapted to their physical and biological environments. The theory was first set out in detail in Darwin's book ''On the Origin of Species''. Evolution by natural selection is established by observable facts about living organisms: (1) more offspring are often produced than can possibly survive; (2) phenotypic variatio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mesozoic
The Mesozoic Era is the Era (geology), era of Earth's Geologic time scale, geological history, lasting from about , comprising the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous Period (geology), Periods. It is characterized by the dominance of archosaurian reptiles such as the dinosaurs, and of Gymnosperm, gymnosperms such as cycads, ginkgoaceae and Araucariaceae, araucarian conifers; a hot Greenhouse and icehouse earth, greenhouse climate; and the tectonic break-up of Pangaea. The Mesozoic is the middle of the three eras since Cambrian explosion, complex life evolved: the Paleozoic, the Mesozoic, and the Cenozoic. The era began in the wake of the Permian–Triassic extinction event, the largest mass extinction in Earth's history, and ended with the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, another mass extinction whose victims included the non-avian dinosaurs, Pterosaur, pterosaurs, Mosasaur, mosasaurs, and Plesiosaur, plesiosaurs. The Mesozoic was a time of significant tectonic, climatic, an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paleozoic
The Paleozoic ( , , ; or Palaeozoic) Era is the first of three Era (geology), geological eras of the Phanerozoic Eon. Beginning 538.8 million years ago (Ma), it succeeds the Neoproterozoic (the last era of the Proterozoic Eon) and ends 251.9 Ma at the start of the Mesozoic Era. The Paleozoic is subdivided into six period (geology), geologic periods (from oldest to youngest), Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian, Carboniferous and Permian. Some geological timescales divide the Paleozoic informally into early and late sub-eras: the Early Paleozoic consisting of the Cambrian, Ordovician and Silurian; the Late Paleozoic consisting of the Devonian, Carboniferous and Permian. The name ''Paleozoic'' was first used by Adam Sedgwick (1785–1873) in 1838 to describe the Cambrian and Ordovician periods. It was redefined by John Phillips (geologist), John Phillips (1800–1874) in 1840 to cover the Cambrian to Permian periods. It is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek ''palaiós'' (π� ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Proterozoic
The Proterozoic ( ) is the third of the four geologic eons of Earth's history, spanning the time interval from 2500 to 538.8 Mya, and is the longest eon of Earth's geologic time scale. It is preceded by the Archean and followed by the Phanerozoic, and is the most recent part of the Precambrian "supereon". The Proterozoic is subdivided into three geologic eras (from oldest to youngest): the Paleoproterozoic, Mesoproterozoic and Neoproterozoic. It covers the time from the appearance of free oxygen in Earth's atmosphere to just before the proliferation of complex life on the Earth during the Cambrian Explosion. The name ''Proterozoic'' combines two words of Greek origin: meaning "former, earlier", and , meaning "of life". Well-identified events of this eon were the transition to an oxygenated atmosphere during the Paleoproterozoic; the evolution of eukaryotes via symbiogenesis; several global glaciations, which produced the 300 million years-long Huronian glaciation ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Archean
The Archean ( , also spelled Archaean or Archæan), in older sources sometimes called the Archaeozoic, is the second of the four geologic eons of Earth's history of Earth, history, preceded by the Hadean Eon and followed by the Proterozoic and the Phanerozoic. The Archean represents the time period from (million years ago). The Late Heavy Bombardment is hypothesized to overlap with the beginning of the Archean. The Huronian glaciation occurred at the end of the eon. The Earth during the Archean was mostly a ocean world, water world: there was continental crust, but much of it was under an ocean deeper than today's oceans. Except for some rare Relict (geology), relict crystals, today's oldest continental crust dates back to the Archean. Much of the geological detail of the Archean has been destroyed by subsequent activity. The Earth's atmosphere was also vastly different in atmospheric chemistry, composition from today's: the prebiotic atmosphere was a reducing atmosphere rich in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hadean
The Hadean ( ) is the first and oldest of the four geologic eons of Earth's history, starting with the planet's formation about 4.6 billion years ago (estimated 4567.30 ± 0.16 million years ago set by the age of the oldest solid material in the Solar System—protoplanetary disk dust particles—found as chondrules and calcium–aluminium-rich inclusions in some meteorites about 4.567 billion years old), and ended 4.031 billion years ago, the age of the oldest known intact rock formations on Earth as recognized by the International Commission on Stratigraphy. The interplanetary collision that created the Moon occurred early in this eon. The Hadean eon was succeeded by the Archean eon, with the Late Heavy Bombardment hypothesized to have occurred at the Hadean-Archean boundary. Hadean rocks are very rare, largely consisting of granular zircons from one locality ( Jack Hills) in Western Australia. Hadean geophysical models remain controversial among geologis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Big Bang
The Big Bang is a physical theory that describes how the universe expanded from an initial state of high density and temperature. Various cosmological models based on the Big Bang concept explain a broad range of phenomena, including the abundance of light elements, the cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation, and large-scale structure. The uniformity of the universe, known as the horizon and flatness problems, is explained through cosmic inflation: a phase of accelerated expansion during the earliest stages. A wide range of empirical evidence strongly favors the Big Bang event, which is now essentially universally accepted.: "At the same time that observations tipped the balance definitely in favor of the relativistic big-bang theory, ..." Detailed measurements of the expansion rate of the universe place the Big Bang singularity at an estimated billion years ago, which is considered the age of the universe. Extrapolating this cosmic expansion backward in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ursula Goodenough
Ursula W. Goodenough (born March 16, 1943) is a retired Professor of Biology Emerita at Washington University in St. Louis, where she researched on eukaryotic algae. She authored the textbook ''Genetics'' and the best-selling book ''The Sacred Depths of Nature'' and speaks regularly about religious naturalist orientation and evolution. She contributed to the NPR blog ''13.7: Cosmos & Culture'' from 2009 to 2011. She currently serves as president of the Religious Naturalist Association. In 2023, she was elected to the National Academy of Sciences. Background and Education Goodenough, daughter of Erwin Ramsdell Goodenough and Evelyn Goodenough Pitcher, was born on March 16, 1943, in New York City. She earned a B.A. in zoology from Barnard College in 1963, an M.A. in zoology at Columbia University in 1965, and a Ph.D. in biology at Harvard University in 1969. From 1963 to 1964, she was a Eugene Higgins Fellow at Columbia University and later became an National Institutes of Hea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Philip Hefner
Philip Hefner (December 10, 1932 – April 27, 2024) was an American theologian. He was professor emeritus of systematic theology at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago. Life and career His research career has focused on the interaction of religion and science, for which he is most well known. Hefner has held several dozen visiting teaching and lecturing appointments at seminaries, colleges, and universities in the United States, Europe, Africa, and Asia. He is an ordained minister of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, and has taught in numerous Lutheran seminaries in America. In 1988, Hefner was instrumental in bringing to fruition the vision of Ralph Wendell Burhoe by helping to create the ''Chicago Center for Religion and Science,'' which later was renamed the ''Zygon Center for Religion and Science.'' He was the first director of the center and remained in that capacity from 1988 until 2003, at which point Antje Jackelén succeeded him. Today the Zygon Center is direc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Myth
Myth is a genre of folklore consisting primarily of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society. For scholars, this is very different from the vernacular usage of the term "myth" that refers to a belief that is not true. Instead, the veracity of a myth is not a defining criterion. Myths are often endorsed by religious (when they are closely linked to religion or spirituality) and secular authorities. Many societies group their myths, legends, and history together, considering myths and legends to be factual accounts of their remote past. In particular, creation myths take place in a primordial age when the world had not achieved its later form. Origin myths explain how a society's Norm (social), customs, institutions, and taboos were established and sanctified. National myths are narratives about a nation's past that symbolize the nation's values. There is a complex relationship between Myth and ritual, recital of myths and the enactment of rituals. Etymology The w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Grassie
William John Grassie (born May 3, 1957) is an American activist for numerous causes, including nonviolence and a freeze on nuclear weapons, reform of science education, and greater dialogue between science and religion. He is the executive director of Metanexus Institute, an organization which worked closely with the John Templeton Foundation to promote "dialogue and interactive syntheses between religion and the sciences internationally". Early years Grassie was born in Wilmington, Delaware, and attended Middlebury College. He is member of the Quakers. Social activism In 1980, in Philadelphia, he promoted nuclear disarmament through the Friends Peace Committee, where he helped to found the Nuclear Weapons Freeze Campaign. Grassie was arrested in several non-violent civil disobedience actions and was a symbolic war tax resister. Grassie and David Falls, another employee of the Religious Society of Friends, a Quaker organization, refused to pay federal taxes on the grounds that it ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
