IngentaConnect AN INTELLECTUALLY HONEST THEOLOGY

Author: Jackelén, Antje¹

Source: Zygon, Volume 43, Number 1, March 2008 , pp. 43-55(13)

Abstract:

A hallmark of Arthur Peacocke's work is his aim of writing theology that is intellectually honest. He believed that intelligibility and meaning are foremost on theology's agenda. Consequently, he focused on ultimate meanings, but he did so by taking into account the scientific knowledge of the world. He faced head-on the challenge to accept the Christian tradition, at the same time subjecting that tradition to critique and reforming its images and modes of thinking. I survey Peacocke's agenda, his methodology, and the sources of his theological thinking, and how this contributes to understanding the relationship between science and theology. A major result of his approach is the abolition of dualisms, specifically that of the natural and the supernatural. Peacocke's approach to theology has exemplary potential for the debate between those who espouse a radical Enlightenment with its claim to universal principles of reason and radical postmodernists who may appear to fall prey to a relativism that equals nihilism.

Keywords: dualism; emergence; intellectually honest theology; intelligibility; meaning; Arthur Peacocke; science-and-religion

Document Type: Research article

DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9744.2008.00897.x

Affiliations: 1: Bishop of Lund, Sweden, and former director of the Zygon Center for Religion and Science. Her address is Box 32, SE-221 00 Lund, Sweden;, Email: antje.jackelen@svenskakyrkan.se.

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