Peters, Karl E. 1939-

PERSONAL:

Born 1939.

ADDRESSES:

Home—CT.

CAREER:

Rollins College, Winter Park, FL, professor emeritus of philosophy and religion; Hartford College, Hartford, CT, adjunct professor of philosophy; Center for Advanced Study in Religion and Science, president.

MEMBER:

University Unitarian Universalist Society (founder, organizer, first president), Institute on Religion in an Age of Science (past president).

WRITINGS:

Dancing with the Sacred: Evolution, Ecology, and God, Trinity Press International (Harrisburg, PA), 2002.

Editor of Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science. American Association for the Advancement of Science, editorial advisor.

SIDELIGHTS:

Karl E. Peters is an educator and philosopher whose primary area of research interest is the point at which science and religion connect. He is the founder and first president of the University Unitarian Universalist Society, and has worked for both the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Center for Advanced Study in Religion and Science. Peters's book, Dancing with the Sacred: Evolution, Ecology, and God, looks at the place of religion in a life that shows the proof of more scientific explanations behind the workings of the universe. The dance described in the title refers to the dance of life itself, and how people can embrace the sacred concepts of religion without clinging to the traditional personifications used to explain the broad concepts. Peters offers the book as a primer to the idea of naturalistic theism. Steve Young, in a review for Library Journal, acknowledged that much of Peters's book covers territory previously explained by various theologians, but concluded that, even so, "Peters's vibrant optimism and joy of life comes ringing forth from his science-based spirituality." Frank R. Hensley, writing in Interpretation, objected to Peters's basic premise and so found himself unable to agree with the book on the whole, but he noted that "anyone who cannot conceive of how to find meaning, morality, and the sacred apart from a personal God may find this book intellectually stimulating." Roger E. Timm, in a review for Currents in Theology and Mission, commented that he found the book "helpful, stimulating, and challenging, especially for those concerned for the intersection of faith and science," and Theological Studies contributor James F. Salmon wrote: "This clearly written book offers the finest personal exposition of the school of naturalist theism that dominates the writings of many contemporary intellectuals and scientists."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, August 1, 2002, Steven Schroeder, review of Dancing with the Sacred: Evolution, Ecology, and God, p. 104.

Choice, April, 2003, D.E. Burton-Christie, review of Dancing with the Sacred, p. 1381.

Currents in Theology and Mission, April, 2004, Roger E. Timm, review of Dancing with the Sacred, p. 127; April, 2005, Antje Jackelen, review of Dancing with the Sacred, p. 145.

Interpretation, January, 2004, Frank R. Hensley, review of Dancing with the Sacred, p. 101.

Library Journal, August, 2002, Steve Young, review of Dancing with the Sacred.

Theological Studies, September, 2004, James F. Salmon, review of Dancing with the Sacred, p. 681.

Theology Today, April, 2003, John F. Haught, review of Dancing with the Sacred, p. 144.