more than can the various metaphysical overviews against which the postmodern mind has defined itself." This term refers to a trend in the history of ideas, in the mid-to-late twentieth century. It is a part of, as well as a reaction to,

on Aristotle ’s metaphysical and physical treatises (c.1240-1246). He also invested heavily, whilst in his thirties, in the study of languages, mathematics and experimental science and was particularly influenced by Robert Grossteste.

away with most, if not all, metaphysical , philosophical, and religious claims, as the truths they proclaim cannot be apprehended by the scientific method. In essence, scientism sees science as the absolute and only justifiable access to the

he wrote of the single metaphysical substance (“God or nature”), or the one necessary being that is self-dependent and not distinct from the world. As a strict rationalist influenced by René Descartes (1596-1650), he also

!’ In spite of the metaphysical tone of much of their discussion, Barrow and Tipler stress that the FAP makes clear predictions about the kind of universe we can expect to observe. Most importantly, they argue that, in order for

(since the doctrine rests on metaphysical convictions about God and existence) but only provide an additional gloss to it Topic Index More: The ‘Anthropic Coincidences’

theory, and its metaphysical implications are still being argued out. Nor is the ‘fit’ the science offers, even judged at its most helpful, to the taste of every theologian. Topic Index

cannot answer the metaphysical question as to whether the universe had an underlying cause - why, in other words, there is something and not nothing. But the fundamental structure of the universe has led some physicists like Paul Davies

of a similarly metaphysical kind, and may be considered to be a simpler and more comprehensive explanation of the universe as we find it. Topic Index More: Can Reductionism Rule Out

This is a theological and metaphysical principle. According to this principle God endowed nature with all the (natural) causal powers it ever needs to accomplish all the things that happen in nature. Thus in Van Till's manner of speaking, it is