Excellent Beauty

Eric Dietrich is professor of philosophy at Binghamton University and the founding editor and current editor in chief of the Journal of Experimental and Theoretical Artificial Intelligence. He is the author of numerous papers and several books focusing on cognitive science, consciousness, artificial intelligence, metaphysics, epistemology, and philosophy of mind.

• Author's Note Acknowledgments Who's in Charge of the World's Mysteries? 1. The Traveler to Excellent Beauty: Invited Rather Than Drafted Part I. Of Spiritual Journeys 2. What Is a Religion? 3. The One Billion 4. The Traveler's Dark Night of the Soul Appendix to Chapter 4: Statistics and Probability Meet Job Part II. The Biology of Religion, the Psychology of Morality 5. Justifying the Ways of God to Man via Evolution Appendix to Chapter 5: Yes, There Really Is Such a Thing as a Coincidence 6. Does God Want You Dead? 7. Good Without Gods Part III. The Journey in Tatters 8. Beyond Atheism: The Religion Illusion 9. The Janus-Faced Hominid Part IV. Ther Heretic's Way: Into the Mysterious Realm 10. Some Strangeness in the Proportion Appendix to Chapter 10: A Compendium of Mysteries 11. The Beauty of Seeing More Than We Can Understand Appendix to Chapter 11: Welcome to the Inscrutable 12. The Personal Mystery and the Impersonal God 13. Summa Mysteriologica Notes Bibliography Index

Excellent Beauty boldly breaks the code of silence that keeps coolly rational academics from attempting to link evolution and theology. Dietrich reflects on some of the deepest mysteries of religious thought, but he does so from the viewpoint of a philosopher with deep training in logic and firmly grounded reasoning. -- John Sullins, Sonoma State University This is, quite simply, one of the most eloquent books on religion and science I have read in recent years. Eric Dietrich writes clearly and accessibly, with a touch of humor and a great deal of personality. His book moves fluidly between historically supported arguments and pedagogically minded examples, all presented in a limpid style that will be attractive to the general reader. -- William Egginton, Johns Hopkins University, author of In Defense of Religious Moderation This book is the perfect answer to dogmatic atheism and religious fundamentalism, two dangerous trends in our polarized world. For me, just reading this book became a spiritual experience! Eric Dietrich shows very elegantly how both science and philosophy deepen the mystery of existence and awareness of existence. If you are not perpetually surprised that you exist, your humanity is incomplete. To be fully human is to wonder, to have true humility, gratitude, and reverence for life. This book could get you there. -- Deepak Chopra, author of The Future of God Science, Eric Dietrich claims, is the most open door into profound mystery that human beings have yet invented. Excellent Beauty urges science to wrest control of the discourse of mystery from religions, which have fiercely defended their claim to be the exclusive purveyors of mystery for centuries. The mystery science reveals is not a god who loves us, but an unknowable universe in which we must learn to take care of ourselves. -- Chris Fields, former associate vice provost for research, New Mexico State University