William Blake 1757-1827
Newton 1795/circa 1805
Colour print finished in ink and watercolour on paper
frame/transit frame 710 x 860 x 160 mm
support 460 x 600 mm
signed
Presented by W. Graham Robertson 1939
Tate Gallery, London

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This course

as a SRP course

interdisciplinary

integrative

evoke personal reflection

area of fundamental human concern

its place in Jesuit higher education

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Clarification of "religion" and "theology"

Religion

The definition of Michael Peterson, William Hasker, Bruce Reichenbach, & David Basinger. "Religion is constituted by a set of beliefs, actions, and experiences, both personal and corporate, organized around a concept of an Ultimate Reality." (Reason and Religious Belief, 2nd ed. Oxford UP, 1998: 9)

A second definition of religion: Ninian Smart’s six characteristics of religion

Ritual

Experience

Stories

Doctrines

Social

Ethical

"Theology"

The idea component of Smart’s six characteristics.

A second order enterprise, a reflection on the basic stories and experiences of a religion and the attempt to clarify, order, and systematize these basic stories and experiences.

Ian Barbour’s 4 ways of relating science and religion (Religion and Science: Historical and Contemporary Issues, HarperSanfrancisco, 1997, chap. 4)

1.  Conflict – the position that science and religion are in conflict, not only as a matter of historical fact but intrinsically either because of method or metaphysics. In some versions, the conflict position holds that only one of these two realms of knowledge and activity is legitimate.

 

The historical roots of the conflict model

(See Collin Russell, "The Conflict of Science & Religion," in Gary Ferngren, Science & Religion: A Historical Introduction (Johns Hopkins U Press, 2002); & David Lindberg & Ronald Numbers, God & Nature: Historical Essays on the Encounter between Christianity & Science (Berkeley: U of California P, 1986, introduction)

Two 19^th century books, & one 20^th century book

John William Draper’s (b. England, United States, 1811-1882) - History of the Conflict between Religion and Science (1874). Immensely popular, it went through 50 printings & 10 translations.

Andrew Dickson White (United States, 1832-1918) - A History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom (1896)

J. Y. Simpson, Landmarks in the Struggle between Science & Religon (1925)

Deeper roots

The Galileo affair (1633)

But was this really principally about science and religion? More later.

Darwin’s theory of evolution (1859)

Issues raised by Darwin’s theory

Biblical literalism

Human dignity

Design

Others?

The main isms which hold the conflict position:

scientific materialism (or scientific naturalism)

biblical literalism

In scientific materialism, science swallows religion; in biblical literalism, religion swallows science.

Some representative authors who hold one of these positions: Carl Sagan, Francis Crick, Jacques Monad, Richard Dawkins

Carl Sagan: "The Cosmos is all that is or ever was or ever will be" (Cosmos, 1980).

Barbour’s brief critique of scientific materialism

Failure to distinguish between a scientific theory and a philosophical theory. Position that science can explain all and that scientific method is the only reliable source of knowledge is a philosophical position which goes well beyond science (81).

Barbour’s brief comments on scientific creationism, a position which is based on biblical literalism

Is not a genuine scientific theory (83)

The position discredits religion by posing a false dilemma: choose religion or science but not both (84).

2.  Independence –– Science and religion have distinctive domains and methods and hence in principle cannot conflict (84).

Sören Kierkegaard (Danish, 1813-1855) -- are two ways of knowing, objective and subjective.

Martin Buber (b.Austria, Israeli, 1878-1965) -- the realm of persons & the realm of things

Karl Barth -- God is transcendent, wholly other, and hence unknowable except as self-disclosed.

Stephen Jay Gould’s NOMA

Barbour’s critique:

These positions tend to privatize and interiorize religion, and as such neglects the communal dimension of religion.

Exaggerates the contrast between the personal, inter-personal & the impersonal, objective.

My critique

There do seem to be some areas (metaphysical domains) where science & religion overlap or at least bump into each other. What might these be?

Scientific method and knowledge is not completely different than theological method and knowledge. There are differences, but also many similarities (Barbour’s position).

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3.  Dialogue -- Science and religion are distinct but occasionally bump into each other at the edges, & they may enrich each other.

Examples of boundary issues.

Origins

Human nature

Foundations of ethics & ethical norms

Historical evidence

Example of enrichment of science by religion

Perhaps science arose in the West because of the Jewish & Christian belief in an orderly & intelligible universe & belief that nature is good and worthy of exploration. Thus Judaism & Christianity gave legitimazation to scientific inquiry. (Defended by Reijer Hooykass, Religion and the Rise of Modern Science (1972), Stanley Jaki, Science & Creation (1974), & Rodney Stark, For the Glory of God (2003).

Examples of the enrichment of theology by science

Methodological parallels between science & theology

4.  Integration -- the position that theology or a system of metaphysics can integrate scientific theories into a grand system.

Some varieties

The version of natural theology which rejects revelation -- Frank Tipler & John Barrow

Theologies of nature -- constructing a theory of nature based on scripture and religious tradition but then bouncing the theory off of modern science. Representative: Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (French (1881-1955))

Process philosophy: Alfred North Whitehead (b.England, United State, 1861-1947) & process philosophy