In hmolscience, Robert John Russell (c. 1946-) is an American physicist-theologian noted, in religious thermodynamics, for his circa 1982 views on thermodynamics and evil.
Overview
In circa 1982, Russell presented views on thermodynamics of evil, discussed generally in terms of entropy. Russell’s central premise is that both entropy and evil are connected to their effect or measure of disorder, and must be related if they both exist. [1] The following are Russell's opening words from his 2008 chapter on the subject of the thermodynamics of the nature of good and evil in nature: [2]
“The power of evil is tragically self-evident. The domain of the second law of thermodynamics extends throughout science. Is there any substantive relationship between entropy and evil?”
English biochemist-theologian Christopher Southgate cites Russell as having developed the theory, in 1984, that a future universal eschatological state will be characterized by a suspension of the second law of thermodynamics. [3]
Education
Russell completed his BS in physics (1968) at Stanford University, his MS in physics (1970) from UCLA, and BD and MA in theology (1972) from the Pacific School of Religion, and his PhD in physics (1978) from the University of California, Santa Cruz. Russell has taught college physics courses, courses on science and religion, and is an ordained minister.
References
1. Russell, Robert John. (1982). "Disorder and Order: A Study of Entropy and a Study of Evil", Twenty-ninth Summer Conference of the Institute on Religion in an Age of Science, Star Island, New Hampshire, 24–31 July.
2. Russell, Robert J. (2008). Cosmology: from Alpha to Omega: the Creative Mutual Interaction of Theology (ch. 7: Entropy and Evil: the Role of Thermodynamics in the Ambiguity of Good and Evil in Nature, pgs. 226-49). Fortress Press.
3. Southgate, Christopher. (2005). God, Humanity, and the Cosmos (thermodynamics, pgs. 124, 293, 299). Continuum International Publishing Group.
Further reading
● Russell, Robert John. (1984). "Entropy and Evil," Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science 19.4 (December): 449-68.
● Russell, Robert John. (1990). "The Thermodynamics of ‘Natural Evil'," CTNS Bulletin 10.2 (Spring).
● Russell, Robert, J. (2005). "Evil and the Problem of Suffering in Nature - Evil, Entropy, and the Laws of Thermodynamics" Physics & Cosmology.
● Bennett, Gaymon, Peters, Ted, Hewlett, Martinez J., and Russell, Robert J. (2008). The Evolution of Evil: Volume 8 of Religion, Theology, and Natural Science (thermodynamics, pgs. 120, 125, 130-38). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.
External links
● Robert Russell – Wikipedia.
