David Blanks

Lowell Gustafson

Barry Rodrigue

This book examines the meaning of religion within the scientific, evidence-based history of our known past since the big bang. While our current major religions are only centuries or millennia old, our volume discusses the origins and development of human religious practice and belief over our species’ existence of 300,000 years. The volume also connects the scientific approach to natural and social history with ancient truths of our religious ancestors using new lines of inquiry, new technologies, new modes of expression, and new concepts. It brings together insights of natural scientists, social scientists, philosophers, writers, and theologians to discuss narratives of the universe. The essays discuss that to apprehend religion scientifically, or to interpret and explain science theologically, the subject must be examined through a variety of disciplinary lenses simultaneously and raise several theoretical, philosophical, and moral problems. With a singular investigation into the meaning of religion in the context of the 13.8 billion-year history of our universe, this book will be indispensable for scholars and students of religious studies, big history, sociology and social anthropology, philosophy, and science and technology studies.

Science, Religion and Deep Time

Harry Foster

John Geis

Christopher Kinnan

Ted Hailes

In 1996 the Air Force initiated a major study effort under the direction of Gen Ronald R. Fogleman, the Air Force chief of staff. That study, Air Force 2025, looked 30 years into the future and made enormous contributions toward directing Air Force research and procurement. In 2007 Gen T. Michael Mosley, Air Force chief of staff, directed a continuous series of future thinking and study efforts be undertaken, using Air University (AU) as the "Air Force's think tank." This study, Blue Horizons, was commissioned by the United States Air Force (USAF) chief of staff to provide "a new look at the future." Specifically, the chief of staff asked the research team to provide "a common understanding of future strategic and technological trends for Air Force leaders to make better decisions." The chief also sought to "confirm AU as [the Air Force's] in-house think tank" and to improve the relevance of Air Force education to the decision- making processes in Washington.1 The best and brightest officers from the Air Force and the sister services participated during their one-year AU courses of instruction, building four alternate scenarios to act as a foil to evaluate future systems and technologies, to determine the optimum path forward for Air Force investment. These senior officers each spent a year researching and traveling to their respective regions of concern. In the end, the team built four scenarios based on challenges found in the National Security Strategy. These scenarios include a resurgent Russia, a peer China, a jihadist insurgency in the Middle East, and a failed-state scenario in West Africa. The authors then evaluated 58 potential future systems or concepts and 172 key enabling technologies to determine what capabilities the Air Force would need to maintain superiority in air, space, and cyberspace to the year 2030. Occasional Paper No. 65, Center for Strategy and Technology, Air University Press.

Blue Horizons II - Future Capabilities and Technologies for the Air Force In 2030

Michael Frassetto

Amy Livingstone

These essays examine the ideas that were important to monks and the intersections between the monks and the secular world. The volume explores the ideas and realities that shaped the lives of monks over the medieval millennium.

Studies in Honor of Richard Sullivan

Medieval Monks and Their World: Ideas and Realities

David Blanks

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