The Lab, the Temple, and the Market

By Sharon M.P. Harper

Subjects: Religious aspects, Technology, Religion and science, Economic development, Technology, religious aspects

Description: What do faith, science, and the world of international development have to offer one another? Current international development discourse is starting to look at how religion affects globalization, peacebuilding, and the environment, for example. But how do the roles, approaches, and world views of science, religion, and international development intersect? And how does this intersection express itself in different cultures? The Lab, the Temple, and the Market tackles these complex questions in four separate essays. Each essay meshes a discussion of development issues and processes with a different system of religious belief: Hinduism, Christianity, Islam, and the Bahá'i Faith. The authors — each a scientist as well as a person of faith — show how religious belief and personal faith can be deeply motivational and strikingly fruitful in scientific pursuits. Further, they emphasize how their faith has brought them a profound understanding of interconnectedness and compassion, and thus a wider perspective and greater sense of personal meaning to their research. Fifty years of "international development," has produced some remarkable advances in health care, communication, and agriculture. But, for many, poverty continues to worsen, as the Earth suffers from the social, economic, and environmental consequences of the consumption-based model of human progress. The Lab, the Temple, and the Market furthers the search for a more "people-centred" model of development and for a scientific practice that supports tolerance, sustainability, peace, and justice for all. It will appeal to development practitioners and researchers, bilateral and multilateral policymakers, academics, religious leaders, and those who feel that current models of (and approaches to) human progress are constructed on a too-narrow definition of humanity.