Latest News Posts
Zygon migrates to a new publisher, a new platform, and diamond open access
Posted by OLH Janeway on 2023-06-22

From January 1, 2024, Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science will be published diamond open access via our new publisher, Open Library of Humanities. From that date we will leave Wiley, who have served as our publishing agent for more than 33 years. From July 14, 2023, the Wiley ScholarOne website cannot be used anymore for unsolicited submissions; OLH Janeway will be our new manuscript [...]

Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science

Welcome to Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science. Published since 1966, Zygon is dedicated to the manifold interactions between the sciences and human religious and moral convictions. We seek to consider the whole range of the sciences; cosmology and physics, biology and the neurosciences, sociology, psychology, and anthropology. We seek to be open to religious and non-religious perspectives, those rooted in the great traditions such as Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, but also to religious naturalism, secular humanism, and atheism, both variants at home in the Western world and versions elsewhere on our globe. We cover ideas (theories, theologies) as well as practices. We address ethical issues and analyze the history of the differentiation between science and religion and their subsequent interactions.

Statement of Perspective

The word zygon means the yoking of two entities or processes that must work together. It is related to zygote—meaning the union of genetic heritage from sperm and egg, a union which is vital in higher species for the continuation of advancement of life. The journal Zygon provides a forum for exploring ways to unite what in modern times has been disconnected—values from knowledge, goodness from truth, religion from science. Traditional religions, which have transmitted wisdom about what is of essential value and ultimate meaning as a guide for human living, were expressed in terms of the best understandings of their times about human nature, society, and the world. Religious expression in our time, however, has not drawn similarly on modern science, which has superseded the ancient forms of understanding. As a result religions have lost credibility in the modern mind. Nevertheless some recent scientific studies of human evolution and development have indicated how long-standing religions have evolved well-winnowed wisdom, still essential for the best life. Zygon’s hypothesis is that, when long-evolved religious wisdom is yoked with significant, recent scientific discoveries about the world and human nature, there results credible expression of basic meaning, values, and moral convictions that provides valid and effective guidance for enhancing human life. Zygon also publishes manuscripts that are critical of this perspective, as long as such papers contribute to a constructive reflection on scientific knowledge, human values, and existential meaning.

Institute on Religion in an Age of Science (IRAS)

Founded in 1954, IRAS is an independent society of natural scientists, social scientists, philosophers, religion scholars, theologians, and others who seek to understand and reformulate the theory and practice of religion in the light of contemporary scientific knowledge. It is both an affiliate society of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a member of the Council on the Study of Religion, a federation of learned societies in the field of religion.

Center for Advanced Study in Religion and Science(CASIRAS)

Founded in 1972, CASIRAS is an independent society of scholars and scientists from various fields who pursue critical, interdisciplinary studies of possibilities for constructively relating religion and science. In affiliation with the Association of Chicago Theological Schools it offers instruction and research opportunities in the implications of science for religion to seminarians, graduate students, visiting scholars, and faculty.

International Society for Science and Religion(ISSR)

Founded in 2002, ISSR is established for the purpose of the promotion of education through the support of interdisciplinary learning and research in the fields of science and religion conducted where possible in an international and multifaith context. It is registered in the UK as a Company and Charitable Trust.