BEYOND BARBOUR OR BACK TO BASICS? THE FUTURE OF SCIENCE-AND-RELIGION AND THE QUEST FOR UNITY

Author: Smedes, Taede A.

Source: Zygon, Volume 43, Number 1, March 2008 , pp. 235-258(24)

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Abstract:

Reflecting on the future of the field of science-and-religion, I focus on three aspects. First, I describe the history of the religion-and-science dialogue and argue that the emergence of the field was largely contingent on social-cultural factors in Western theology, especially in the United States. Next, I focus on the enormous influence of science on Western society and on what I call cultural scientism, which influences discussions in science-and-religion, especially how theological notions are taken up. I illustrate by sketching the way divine action has been studied in science-and-religion. The divine-action debates may seem irrelevant to theologians because the way divine action is dealt with in science-and-religion is theologically problematic. Finally, I analyze the quest for integration and unity of science and religion that underlies much of the contemporary field of science-and-religion and was stimulated particularly by the efforts of Ian Barbour. I argue that his quest echoes the logical positivist vision of unification and has a strong bias toward science as the sole source of rationality, which does not take theology fully seriously.

Keywords: Ian Barbour; divine action; logical positivism; science and religion; scientism

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9744.2008.00910.x

Affiliations: 1: Junior Fellow at the Faculty of Theology of the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium. His address is Lodewijk van Deyssellaan 51, 2182 VN, Hillegom, the Netherlands;, Email: tasmedes@tasmedes.nl.

Publication date: 2008-03-01