107-557: Ian Graeme Barbour (October 5, 1923 – December 24, 2013) was an American scholar on the relationship between science and religion . According to the Public Broadcasting Service his mid-1960s Issues in Science and Religion "has been credited with literally creating the contemporary field of science and religion." In the citation nominating Barbour for the 1999 Templeton Prize , John B. Cobb wrote, "No contemporary has made
214-681: A Bachelor of Divinity degree from Yale Divinity School in 1959. She then went on to earn a Master of Arts degree at Yale University in 1960 and was awarded her PhD in 1964 – a revised version of her doctoral thesis being published in 1966 as Literature and the Christian Life . She received the LittD from Smith College in 1977. At Yale she was deeply influenced by the dialectical theology of Karl Barth , but gained an important new perspective from her teacher H. Richard Niebuhr with his Appreciation of liberalism's concern for experience, relativity,
321-460: A Doctor of Philosophy degree in physics from the University of Chicago , where he worked as a teaching assistant to Enrico Fermi . He earned a Bachelor of Divinity degree in 1956 from Yale University's Divinity School . Barbour taught at Carleton College beginning in 1955 with a joint appointment in the departments of physics and philosophy. He began teaching religion full-time in 1960, when
428-595: A "complexity" model, because religious figures were on both sides of each dispute and there was no overall aim by any party involved to discredit religion. An often cited example of conflict, that has been clarified by historical research in the 20th century, was the Galileo affair, whereby interpretations of the Bible were used to attack ideas by Copernicus on heliocentrism . By 1616 Galileo went to Rome to try to persuade Catholic Church authorities not to ban Copernicus' ideas. In
535-467: A Christian perspective. Barbour compared methods of inquiry in science and religion, and has explored the theological implications of the natural and social sciences . He also has lectured widely on ethical issues in such fields as climate change , technology policy, energy, agriculture, computers, and cloning . Forrest Clingerman ties Barbour to the religious naturalism movement via his theology of nature. His subjective/objective approach to religious
642-624: A Scottish Presbyterian father. His family left China in 1931 and Barbour spent the remainder of his youth in the United States and England. A conscientious objector , he served in the Civilian Public Service for three years during the Second World War . He received his Bachelor of Science degree in physics from Swarthmore College and his Master of Science degree in physics from Duke University in 1946. In 1950, he received
749-522: A coherent explanation of everything – looks like "reality" or "truth". In McFague's view, this is how the complex of "male" images for God has long functioned in the Christian West – but it has done so in a way that is oppressive for all but (privileged) men. So, the notion of God, as "father", "lord" or "king" now seemingly unavoidably conjures up oppressive associations of "ownership", obedience and dependency, and in turn dictates, consciously or otherwise,
856-541: A coma at Abbott Northwestern Hospital until his death four days later. In his efforts to link science and religion in Issues in Science and Religion , Barbour coined the term critical realism . This has been adopted by other scholars. He claimed the basic structure of religion is similar to that of science in some ways but also differs on some crucial points. They are part of the same spectrum in which both display subjective as well as objective features. The subjective include
963-449: A good deal of intellectual freedom as long as it was restricted to the natural world. In general, there was religious support for natural science by the late Middle Ages and a recognition that it was an important element of learning. The extent to which medieval science led directly to the new philosophy of the scientific revolution remains a subject for debate, but it certainly had a significant influence. The Middle Ages laid ground for
1070-567: A linguistic community's interpreted experience'. The experience of Jesus - his parables , table fellowship and healing ministry in particular - makes him a rich source of the 'destabilising, inclusive and non-hierarchical' metaphors Christians might profitably borrow from him as paradigmatic, a 'foundational figure'. But he is not all they need. Experience of the world, and of God's relationship to it, must add to that illustration and re-interpret it in terms and metaphors relevant to those believers, changing how they conceive of God and thus care for
1177-419: A major role in the institutionalization, systematization, and expansion of reason. Christianity accepted reason within the ambit of faith. In Christendom , ideas articulated via divine revelation were assumed to be true, and thus via the law of non-contradiction , it was maintained that the natural world must accord with this revealed truth. Any apparent contradiction would indicate either a misunderstanding of
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#17328525092431284-413: A method per se partly because religions emerge through time from diverse cultures, but when it comes to Christian theology and ultimate truths, she notes that people often rely on scripture, tradition, reason, and experience to test and gauge what they experience and what they should believe. The conflict thesis , which holds that religion and science have been in conflict continuously throughout history,
1391-488: A more original, deep and lasting contribution toward the needed integration of scientific and religious knowledge and values than Ian Barbour. With respect to the breadth of topics and fields brought into this integration, Barbour has no equal." Barbour was born on October 5, 1923, in Beijing , China, the second of three sons of an American Episcopal mother (who was the daughter of the obstetrician Robert Latou Dickinson ) and
1498-598: A multiplicity of senses, one should adhere to a particular explanation, only in such measure as to be ready to abandon it, if it be proved with certainty to be false; lest Holy Scripture be exposed to the ridicule of unbelievers, and obstacles be placed to their believing." ( Summa 1a, 68, 1) where the referenced text from Augustine of Hippo reads: "In matters that are obscure and far beyond our vision, even in such as we may find treated in Holy Scripture, different interpretations are sometimes possible without prejudice to
1605-541: A particular socio-cultural and political system, such as the patriarchal one feminist theology critiques extensively - she asserted that "there are personal, relational models which have been suppressed in the Christian tradition because of their social and political consequences". But the 'trick' of a successful metaphor, whether in science or theology, is that it is capable of generating a model, which in turn can give life to an overarching concept or world-view, which looks like
1712-462: A serious academic field, with academic chairs in the subject area, and two dedicated academic journals , Zygon and Theology and Science . Articles are also sometimes found in mainstream science journals such as American Journal of Physics and Science . Philosopher Alvin Plantinga has argued that there is superficial conflict but deep concord between science and religion, and that there
1819-517: A variety of scholars, including Arthur Peacocke , John Polkinghorne , Sallie McFague , and Robert John Russell . His subjective / objective approach is prominent in the evolving paradigm of religious naturalism . Barbour considered critical realism an alternative to the competing interpretations of scientific theories: classical or naive realism, instrumentalism, and idealism. A critical realist perspective sees scientific theories yielding partial, revisable, abstract, but referential knowledge of
1926-540: A whole complex of attitudes, responses and behaviours on the part of theistic believers. This understanding of the shifting nature of language in relation to God underpins McFague's handling of the 'building blocks' that have long been considered foundational to accounts of belief, primarily Scripture and tradition. But neither is privileged as a source of conversation about God for McFague - both 'fall under experience', and are, in their different ways, themselves extended metaphors of interpretation or 'sedimentations' of
2033-441: Is God's self-expression'. Equally we must take seriously our own embodiment (and that of other bodies): all that is has a common beginning and history (as McFague put it 'we are all made of the ashes of dead stars' ), and so salvation is about salvation of all earthly bodies (not just human ones) and first and foremost about living better on the earth, not in the hereafter. Elaborating further, McFague argued that sin , on this view,
2140-459: Is a fulfilment of that creation, not a rescue from it. This of course brings about a radical shift in the significance of the cross and resurrection of Jesus, whose resurrection is primarily if not exclusively a validation of continued human embodiment. There is, too, an insistence on realized, not final, eschatology. The earth becomes the place 'where we put down our roots', and we live with 'the hope against hope' that all will participate in
2247-446: Is a matter of offence against other parts of the 'body' (other species or parts of the creation) and in that sense only against God, while eschatology is about a better bodily future ('creation is the place of salvation, salvation is the direction of creation' ), rather than a more disembodied spiritual one. In this metaphor, God is not a distant being but being-itself, a characterization that has led some to suggest McFague's theology
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#17328525092432354-851: Is a very long time since these attitudes have been held by historians of science." Many scientists , philosophers , and theologians throughout history, from Augustine of Hippo to Thomas Aquinas to Francisco Ayala , Kenneth R. Miller , and Francis Collins , have seen compatibility or interdependence between religion and science. Biologist Stephen Jay Gould regarded religion and science as " non-overlapping magisteria ", addressing fundamentally separate forms of knowledge and aspects of life . Some historians of science and mathematicians, including John Lennox , Thomas Berry , and Brian Swimme , propose an interconnection between science and religion, while others such as Ian Barbour believe there are even parallels. Public acceptance of scientific facts may sometimes be influenced by religious beliefs such as in
2461-426: Is an insistence that God is always and only (or predominantly) like this. McFague remarked, "theology is mostly fiction", but a multiplicity of images, or metaphors, can and should enhance and enrich our models of God. Most importantly, new metaphors can help give substance to new ways of conceiving God appropriately "for our time", and more adequate models for the ethically urgent tasks humankind faces, principally
2568-462: Is beyond male and female, recognizing twin dangers: exaggeration of the maternal qualities of the mother so as to unhelpfully essentialize God (and by transference, women as well) as caring and self-sacrificing; or juxtaposition of this image to that of father, unhelpfully emphasizing the gender-based nature of both male and female images for God. Nonetheless, she saw in it other connotations, which she maintained are helpful in re-imaging God in terms of
2675-478: Is deep conflict between science and naturalism . Plantinga, in his book Where the Conflict Really Lies: Science, Religion, and Naturalism , heavily contests the linkage of naturalism with science, as conceived by Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett and like-minded thinkers; while Daniel Dennett thinks that Plantinga stretches science to an unacceptable extent. Philosopher Maarten Boudry , in reviewing
2782-1235: Is merely a commitment to universality that protects against subjectivity and has nothing at all to do with personal detachment as found in many conceptions of the scientific method. Polanyi further asserted that all knowledge is personal and therefore the scientist must be performing a very personal if not necessarily subjective role when doing science. Polanyi added that the scientist often merely follows intuitions of "intellectual beauty, symmetry, and 'empirical agreement'". Polanyi held that science requires moral commitments similar to those found in religion. Two physicists, Charles A. Coulson and Harold K. Schilling , both claimed that "the methods of science and religion have much in common." Schilling asserted that both fields—science and religion—have "a threefold structure—of experience, theoretical interpretation, and practical application." Coulson asserted that science, like religion, "advances by creative imagination" and not by "mere collecting of facts," while stating that religion should and does "involve critical reflection on experience not unlike that which goes on in science." Religious language and scientific language also show parallels (cf. rhetoric of science ). "Science
2889-558: Is necessarily a construction a human creation, a tool to delineate as best we can the nature and limits of our understanding of God. According to McFague, what we know of God is a construction, and must be understood as interpretation: God as father, as shepherd, as friend, but not literally any of these. Though such habits of language can be useful (since in the Western world at least people are more used to thinking of God in personal, than in abstract terms ), they become constricting, when there
2996-720: Is not necessarily modified in the face of conflicting evidence, and typically involves supernatural forces or entities. Because they are not a part of nature, supernatural entities cannot be investigated by science. In this sense, science and religion are separate and address aspects of human understanding in different ways. Attempts to put science and religion against each other create controversy where none needs to exist. According to Archbishop John Habgood , both science and religion represent distinct ways of approaching experience and these differences are sources of debate. He views science as descriptive and religion as prescriptive . He stated that if science and mathematics concentrate on what
3103-477: Is not only compatible with spirituality; it is a profound source of spirituality."— Carl Sagan , The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark The religion and science community consists of those scholars who involve themselves with what has been called the "religion-and-science dialogue" or the "religion-and-science field." The community belongs to neither the scientific nor the religious community, but
3210-462: Is not primarily the initiator of creation, but 'the empowering, continuing breath of life'. It follows, too, from this metaphor of God as involved in the world that traditional notions of sin and evil are discarded. God is so much part of the process of the world and its agencies' or entities' "becoming" that it is difficult to speak of " natural disasters " as sin: they are simply the chance (as viewed by human observers) trial-and-error ways in which
3317-400: Is not problematic to a certain point before it collapses into a number of excuses for keeping certain beliefs, in light of evolutionary implications. According to theoretical physicist Steven Weinberg , teaching cosmology and evolution to students should decrease their self-importance in the universe, as well as their religiosity. Evolutionary developmental biologist PZ Myers ' view
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3424-402: Is only one straight line between two points", are in fact arbitrary. Therefore, science, which relies on arbitrary axioms, can never refute Torah , which is absolute truth. According to Ian Barbour , Thomas S. Kuhn asserted that science is made up of paradigms that arise from cultural traditions, which is similar to the secular perspective on religion. Michael Polanyi asserted that it
3531-505: Is prominent in this evolving paradigm. Michael Dowd calls Barbour the grandfather of the evolutionary Christianity movement. In his acceptance speech for the 1999 Templeton Prize , Barbour spoke about the need to break down barriers, using cloning as an example of science's ability to say what is possible and of religion to reflect on what is desirable. Relationship between science and religion The relationship between religion and science involves discussions that interconnect
3638-680: Is said to be a third overlapping community of interested and involved scientists, priests, clergymen, theologians and engaged non-professionals. Institutions interested in the intersection between science and religion include the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences , the Institute on Religion in an Age of Science , the Ian Ramsey Centre, and the Faraday Institute . Journals addressing
3745-424: Is similar to ones used by theologians Ian Barbour and John Haught . More typologies that categorize this relationship can be found among the works of other science and religion scholars such as theologian and biochemist Arthur Peacocke . "Not only is science corrosive to religion; religion is corrosive to science. It teaches people to be satisfied with trivial, supernatural non-explanations and blinds them to
3852-480: Is that all scientists should be atheists, and that science should never accommodate any religious beliefs. Physicist Sean M. Carroll claims that since religion makes claims that are supernatural, both science and religion are incompatible. Evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins is openly hostile to religion because he believes it actively debauches the scientific enterprise and education involving science. According to Dawkins, religion "subverts science and saps
3959-428: Is the age-old endeavor of mankind to become clearly and completely conscious of these values and goals and constantly to strengthen and extend their effect. If one conceives of religion and science according to these definitions then a conflict between them appears impossible. For science can only ascertain what is, but not what should be, and outside of its domain value judgments of all kinds remain necessary. Religion, on
4066-689: Is very much a part of tradition and religion. Thus, they differ from Western atheists in that for them following the lifestyle of a religion is not antithetical to atheism. Others such as Francis Collins , George F. R. Ellis , Kenneth R. Miller , Katharine Hayhoe , George Coyne and Simon Conway Morris argue for compatibility since they do not agree that science is incompatible with religion and vice versa. They argue that science provides many opportunities to look for and find God in nature and to reflect on their beliefs. According to Kenneth Miller, he disagrees with Jerry Coyne's assessment and argues that since significant portions of scientists are religious and
4173-654: The Galileo affair of the early 17th century, associated with the scientific revolution and the Age of Enlightenment , led scholars such as John William Draper to postulate ( c. 1874 ) a conflict thesis , suggesting that religion and science have been in conflict methodologically, factually and politically throughout history. Some contemporary philosophers and scientists, such as Richard Dawkins , Lawrence Krauss , Peter Atkins , and Donald Prothero subscribe to this thesis; however, historians such as Stephen Shapin claim that "it
4280-517: The Human Genome Project Francis Collins , and climatologist John T. Houghton . The kinds of interactions that might arise between science and religion have been categorized by theologian, Anglican priest, and physicist John Polkinghorne : (1) conflict between the disciplines, (2) independence of the disciplines, (3) dialogue between the disciplines where they overlap and (4) integration of both into one field. This typology
4387-462: The study of law consisted of concepts such as penance through piety and ceremonial as well as practical traditions . Medieval Japan at first had a similar union between "imperial law" and universal or "Buddha law", but these later became independent sources of power. Throughout its long history, Japan had no concept of "religion" since there was no corresponding Japanese word, nor anything close to its meaning, but when American warships appeared off
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4494-506: The 17th century in the midst of colonization, globalization and as a consequence of the Protestant reformation. "Science" emerged in the 19th century in the midst of attempts to narrowly define those who studied nature. Originally what is now known as "science" was pioneered as " natural philosophy ". It was in the 19th century that the terms " Buddhism ", " Hinduism ", " Taoism ", " Confucianism " and " World Religions " first emerged. In
4601-510: The 18th century, the orbital motions of binary stars by William Herschel in the 19th century, the accurate measurement of the stellar parallax in the 19th century, and Newtonian mechanics in the 17th century. According to physicist Christopher Graney, Galileo's own observations did not actually support the Copernican view, but were more consistent with Tycho Brahe's hybrid model where that Earth did not move and everything else circled around it and
4708-714: The 19th century. This coincided with the refining of "science" (from the studies of " natural philosophy ") and of "religion" as distinct concepts in the preceding few centuries—partly due to professionalization of the sciences, the Protestant Reformation , colonization , and globalization . Since then the relationship between science and religion has been characterized in terms of "conflict", "harmony", "complexity", and "mutual independence", among others. Both science and religion are complex social and cultural endeavors that may vary across cultures and change over time. Most scientific and technical innovations until
4815-618: The Conference on Science, Philosophy and Religion in Their Relation to the Democratic Way of Life, Inc., New York in 1941, Einstein stated: Accordingly, a religious person is devout in the sense that he has no doubt of the significance and loftiness of those superpersonal objects and goals which neither require nor are capable of rational foundation. They exist with the same necessity and matter-of-factness as he himself. In this sense religion
4922-726: The Earth as if it were God's "body". She was Distinguished Theologian in Residence at the Vancouver School of Theology , British Columbia , Canada. McFague was born May 25, 1933, in Quincy , Massachusetts . Her father, Maurice Graeme McFague, was an optometrist. Her mother, Jessie Reid McFague, was a homemaker. She had one sister, Maurine (born 1929). McFague earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature in 1955 from Smith College and
5029-518: The Great (c. 1200–1280), Roger Bacon (c. 1214–1294), William of Ockham (c. 1287–1347), Jean Burdian (c. 1301–1358), Thomas Bradwardine (1300–1349), Nicole Oresme (c. 1320–1382), Nicholas of Cusa (c. 1401–1464). In the 17th century, founders of the Royal Society largely held conventional and orthodox religious views, and a number of them were prominent Churchmen. While theological issues that had
5136-537: The Japanese. According to cosmologist and astrophysicist Lawrence Krauss , compatibility or incompatibility is a theological concern, not a scientific concern. In Lisa Randall 's view, questions of incompatibility or otherwise are not answerable, since by accepting revelations one is abandoning rules of logic which are needed to identify if there are indeed contradictions between holding certain beliefs. Daniel Dennett holds that incompatibility exists because religion
5243-682: The Quran, and other texts did not have a concept of religion in the original languages and neither did the people or the cultures in which these texts were written. In the 19th century, Max Müller noted that what is called ancient religion today, would have been called "law" in antiquity. For example, there is no precise equivalent of "religion" in Hebrew, and Judaism does not distinguish clearly between religious, national, racial, or ethnic identities. The Sanskrit word " dharma ", sometimes translated as "religion", also means law or duty. Throughout classical India,
5350-565: The Sun. British philosopher A. C. Grayling , still believes there is competition between science and religions in areas related to the origin of the universe, the nature of human beings and the possibility of miracles. A modern view, described by Stephen Jay Gould as " non-overlapping magisteria " (NOMA), is that science and religion deal with fundamentally separate aspects of human experience and so, when each stays within its own domain, they co-exist peacefully. While Gould spoke of independence from
5457-484: The United States, where some reject the concept of evolution by natural selection , especially regarding Human beings. Nevertheless, the American National Academy of Sciences has written that "the evidence for evolution can be fully compatible with religious faith ", a view endorsed by many religious denominations . The concepts of "science" and "religion" are a recent invention: "religion" emerged in
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#17328525092435564-627: The ancient and medieval world, the etymological Latin roots of both science ( scientia ) and religion ( religio ) were understood as inner qualities of the individual or virtues, never as doctrines, practices, or actual sources of knowledge. The 19th century also experienced the concept of "science" receiving its modern shape with new titles emerging such as "biology" and "biologist", "physics", and "physicist", among other technical fields and titles; institutions and communities were founded, and unprecedented applications to and interactions with other aspects of society and culture occurred. The term scientist
5671-570: The book Religion in an Age of Science . He was awarded the Templeton Prize in 1999 for Progress in Religion in recognition of his efforts to create a dialogue between the worlds of science and religion. Barbour was married to Deane Kern from 1947 until her death in 2011. They had four children. Barbour suffered a stroke on December 20, 2013, at his home in Northfield , Minnesota , and remained in
5778-499: The book, has commented that he resorts to creationism and fails to "stave off the conflict between theism and evolution." Cognitive scientist Justin L. Barrett , by contrast, reviews the same book and writes that "those most needing to hear Plantinga's message may fail to give it a fair hearing for rhetorical rather than analytical reasons." As a general view, this holds that while interactions are complex between influences of science, theology, politics, social, and economic concerns,
5885-590: The coast of Japan in 1853 and forced the Japanese government to sign treaties demanding, among other things, freedom of religion, the country had to contend with this Western idea. The development of sciences (especially natural philosophy ) in Western Europe during the Middle Ages , has a considerable foundation in the works of the Arabs who translated Greek and Latin compositions. The works of Aristotle played
5992-484: The conflict thesis in its original form and no longer support it. Instead, it has been superseded by subsequent historical research which has resulted in a more nuanced understanding. Historian of science, Gary Ferngren, has stated: "Although popular images of controversy continue to exemplify the supposed hostility of Christianity to new scientific theories, studies have shown that Christianity has often nurtured and encouraged scientific endeavour, while at other times
6099-426: The creation. However, this same 'mother' who 'bodies forth' the cosmos cares for it with a fierce justice, which demands that all life (not just humankind) has its share of the creator's care and sustenance in a just, ecological economy where all her creatures flourish. For McFague, God is the one 'who judges those who thwart the well-being and fulfilment of her body, our world'. From this metaphor developed another:
6206-511: The developments that took place in science, during the Renaissance which immediately succeeded it. By 1630, ancient authority from classical literature and philosophy, as well as their necessity, started eroding, although scientists were still expected to be fluent in Latin , the international language of Europe's intellectuals. With the sheer success of science and the steady advance of rationalism ,
6313-704: The earth. As McFague remarked: 'we take what we need from Jesus using clues and hints…for an interpretation of salvation in our time'. Though McFague does use biblical motifs, her development of them goes far beyond what they are traditionally held to convey. She used others, such as the notion of the world as God's body, an image used by the early church but which 'fell by the wayside' (according to British theologian Daphne Hampson ), in her search for models 'appropriate' to our needs. She stressed that all models are partial, and are thought-experiments with shortcomings: many are needed, and need to function together. Her work on God as mother, for example, stressed that God
6420-508: The end, a decree of the Congregation of the Index was issued, declaring that the ideas that the Sun stood still and that the Earth moved were "false" and "altogether contrary to Holy Scripture", and suspending Copernicus's De Revolutionibus until it could be corrected. Galileo was found "vehemently suspect of heresy", namely of having held the opinions that the Sun lies motionless at the center of
6527-452: The existence of books explaining reconciliation between evolution and religion, indicate that people have trouble in believing both at the same time, thus implying incompatibility. According to physical chemist Peter Atkins , "whereas religion scorns the power of human comprehension, science respects it." Planetary scientist Carolyn Porco describes a hope that "the confrontation between science and formal religion will come to an end when
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#17328525092436634-439: The faculty for natural philosophy and theology were separate, and discussions pertaining to theological issues were often not allowed to be undertaken by the faculty of philosophy. Natural philosophy, as taught in the arts faculties of the universities, was seen as an essential area of study in its own right and was considered necessary for almost every area of study. It was an independent field, separated from theology, and enjoyed
6741-461: The faith we have received. In such a case, we should not rush in headlong and so firmly take our stand on one side that, if further progress in the search of truth justly undermines this position, we too fall with it. That would be to battle not for the teaching of Holy Scripture but for our own, wishing its teaching to conform to ours, whereas we ought to wish ours to conform to that of Sacred Scripture." ( Gen. ad lit. i, 18) In medieval universities,
6848-492: The individual scientist gained prestige. Along with the inventions of this period, especially the printing press by Johannes Gutenberg , allowing for the dissemination of the Bible in languages of the common people (languages other than Latin). This allowed more people to read and learn from the scripture, leading to the Evangelical movement . The people who spread this message concentrated more on individual agency rather than
6955-613: The intellect". He believes that when science teachers attempt to expound on evolution, there is hostility aimed towards them by parents who are skeptical because they believe it conflicts with their own religious beliefs, and that even in some textbooks have had the word 'evolution' systematically removed. He has worked to argue the negative effects that he believes religion has on education of science. According to Renny Thomas' study on Indian scientists, atheistic scientists in India called themselves atheists even while accepting that their lifestyle
7062-454: The less clear I am that it is theistic'. A theology where God as creator does not stand 'over against' the creation tends to shift the focus away from God as personal. In which Jesus is a paradigm individual rather than the unique bearer of godlikeness. The role of the Spirit is emphasized in her theology, though there is little sense in which this is uniquely the spirit of Jesus. God as Spirit
7169-465: The metaphor of the world (or cosmos) as God's body. McFague elaborated this metaphor at length in The Body of God: An Ecological Theology . The purpose of using it is to 'cause us to see differently', to 'think and act as if bodies matter', and to 'change what we value'. If we imagine the cosmos as God's body, then 'we never meet God unembodied'. This is to take God in that cosmos seriously, for 'creation
7276-408: The moorings of Scripture and tradition' and appealing only to experience and credibility as her guides. Human constructions determine what she will say about God; her work is mere anthropologizing. The lack of a transcendent element to her work is criticized by David Fergusson as 'fixed on a post-Christian trajectory'. McFague defended her approach as simply being about a refocusing, a 'turn of
7383-429: The mother metaphor. In particular, God as mother is associated with the beginning of life, its nurture, and its fulfilment. These associations allowed McFague to explore how creation of the cosmos as something 'bodied forth' from God preserves a much more intimate connection between creator and created than the traditional model whereby the world is created ex nihilo and sustained by a God distanced and separate from
7490-458: The natural world or a misunderstanding of revelation. The prominent scholastic Thomas Aquinas writes in the Summa Theologica concerning apparent contradictions: "In discussing questions of this kind two rules are to observed, as Augustine teaches ( Gen. ad lit. i, 18). The first is, to hold the truth of Scripture without wavering. The second is that since Holy Scripture can be explained in
7597-563: The natural world. A notable example is the now defunct belief in the Ptolemaic (geocentric) planetary model that held sway until changes in scientific and religious thinking were brought about by Galileo and proponents of his views. In the view of the Lubavitcher rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson , non-Euclidean geometry such as Lobachevsky's hyperbolic geometry and Riemann's elliptic geometry proved that Euclid 's axioms, such as, "there
7704-505: The nature of science. The Gifford Lectures were established in 1885 to further the discussion between " natural theology " and the scientific community. This annual series continues and has included William James , John Dewey , Carl Sagan, and many other professors from various fields. The modern dialogue between religion and science is rooted in Ian Barbour 's 1966 book Issues in Science and Religion . Since that time it has grown into
7811-756: The other hand, deals only with evaluations of human thought and action: it cannot justifiably speak of facts and relationships between facts. According to this interpretation the well-known conflicts between religion and science in the past must all be ascribed to a misapprehension of the situation which has been described. Einstein thus expresses views of ethical non-naturalism (contrasted to ethical naturalism ). Prominent modern scientists who are atheists include evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins and Nobel Prize–winning physicist Steven Weinberg . Prominent scientists advocating religious belief include Nobel Prize–winning physicist and United Church of Christ member Charles Townes , evangelical Christian and past head of
7918-443: The perspective of science, W. T. Stace viewed independence from the perspective of the philosophy of religion . Stace felt that science and religion, when each is viewed in its own domain, are both consistent and complete. They originate from different perceptions of reality, as Arnold O. Benz points out, but meet each other, for example, in the feeling of amazement and in ethics. The USA's National Academy of Sciences supports
8025-451: The philosophical integrity of such Buddhist modernism has been challenged. While the classification of the material world by the ancient Indians and Greeks into air, earth, fire, and water was more metaphysical, and figures like Anaxagoras questioned certain popular views of Greek divinities, medieval Middle Eastern scholars empirically classified materials. Events in Europe such as
8132-575: The potential to be divisive were typically excluded from formal discussions of the early Society, many of its fellows nonetheless believed that their scientific activities provided support for traditional religious belief. Clerical involvement in the Royal Society remained high until the mid-nineteenth century when science became more professionalized. Albert Einstein supported the compatibility of some interpretations of religion with science. In "Science, Philosophy and Religion, A Symposium" published by
8239-608: The preface of his book claims that the character is named after a famous Aristotelian philosopher ( Simplicius in Latin, Simplicio in Italian), the name "Simplicio" in Italian also has the connotation of "simpleton". Unfortunately for his relationship with the Pope, Galileo put the words of Urban VIII into the mouth of Simplicio. Most historians agree Galileo did not act out of malice and felt blindsided by
8346-445: The productive engagements between science and religion throughout history should be duly stressed as the norm. Sallie McFague Sallie McFague (May 25, 1933 – November 15, 2019 ) was an American feminist Christian theologian , best known for her analysis of how metaphor lies at the heart of how Christians may speak about God . She applied this approach, in particular, to ecological issues, writing extensively on care for
8453-536: The proportion of Americans believing in evolution is much higher, it implies that both are indeed compatible. Elsewhere, Miller has argued that when scientists make claims on science and theism or atheism, they are not arguing scientifically at all and are stepping beyond the scope of science into discourses of meaning and purpose. What he finds particularly odd and unjustified is in how atheists often come to invoke scientific authority on their non-scientific philosophical conclusions like there being no point or no meaning to
8560-402: The reaction to his book. However, the Pope did not take the suspected public ridicule lightly, nor the physical Copernican advocacy. Galileo had alienated one of his biggest and most powerful supporters, the Pope, and was called to Rome to defend his writings. The actual evidences that finally proved heliocentrism came centuries after Galileo: the stellar aberration of light by James Bradley in
8667-522: The relationship between science and religion include Theology and Science and Zygon . Eugenie Scott has written that the "science and religion" movement is, overall, composed mainly of theists who have a healthy respect for science and may be beneficial to the public understanding of science. She contends that the "Christian scholarship" movement is not a problem for science, but that the "Theistic science" movement, which proposes abandoning methodological materialism, does cause problems in understanding of
8774-455: The rest of creation. Correspondingly, the notion of the individual in need of God's salvation is anachronistic in a world 'from' which that individual no longer need to be saved, but rather 'in' which he or she need to learn how to live interrelatedly and interdependently. Redemption is downplayed, though not excluded: McFague emphasized, characteristically, that it 'should include all dimensions of creation, not just human beings' and that it
8881-481: The resurrection of all bodies. However, God is presently and permanently with humankind: we are 'within the body of God whether we live or die'. Trevor Hart, a theologian from the Barthian tradition, within which McFague herself situated her early work, says that her approach, while it seeks to develop images that resonate with 'contemporary experiences of relatedness to God', shows her to be 'cutting herself loose from
8988-515: The role played by science in the lives of all people is the same played by religion today." Geologist and paleontologist Donald Prothero has stated that religion is the reason "questions about evolution , the age of the earth, cosmology, and human evolution nearly always cause Americans to flunk science literacy tests compared to other nations." However, Jon Miller, who studies science literacy across nations, states that Americans in general are slightly more scientifically literate than Europeans and
9095-576: The scientific revolution were achieved by societies organized by religious traditions. Ancient pagan , Islamic , and Christian scholars pioneered individual elements of the scientific method . Roger Bacon , often credited with formalizing the scientific method , was a Franciscan friar and medieval Christians who studied nature emphasized natural explanations. Confucian thought , whether religious or non-religious in nature, has held different views of science over time. Many 21st-century Buddhists view science as complementary to their beliefs , although
9202-609: The structures of the Church. Some medieval contributors to science included: Boethius (c. 477–524), John Philoponus (c. 490–570), Bede the Venerable (c. 672–735), Alciun of York (c. 735–804), Leo the Mathematician (c. 790–869), Gerbert of Aurillac (c. 946–1003), Constantine the African (c. 1020–1087), Adelard of Bath (c. 1080–1152), Robert Grosseteste (c. 1168–1253), St. Albert
9309-407: The study of the natural world, history , philosophy , and theology . Even though the ancient and medieval worlds did not have conceptions resembling the modern understandings of "science" or of "religion", certain elements of modern ideas on the subject recur throughout history. The pair-structured phrases "religion and science" and "science and religion" first emerged in the literature during
9416-688: The symbolic imagination and the role of the affections. She was deeply influenced by Gordon Kaufman . Sallie McFague was Distinguished Theologian in Residence at the Vancouver School of Theology, British Columbia, Canada. She was also Theologian in Residence at Dunbar Ryerson United Church in Vancouver , British Columbia . For thirty years, she taught at the Vanderbilt University Divinity School in Nashville , Tennessee , where she
9523-530: The task of caring for an ecologically fragile planet. McFague remarked that: "we construct the worlds we inhabit, but also that we forget we have done so". In this light, her work is understood as about "helping to unmask simplistic, absolutist, notions of objectivity " in relation to the claims language makes about God. And such images are usually not neutral: in McFague's understanding (and that of many feminist theologians), images of God are usually embedded within
9630-407: The then-current use of the words "natural philosophy", akin to "systematic study of nature". Even in the 19th century, a treatise by Lord Kelvin and Peter Guthrie Tait's, which helped define much of modern physics, was titled Treatise on Natural Philosophy (1867). It was in the 17th century that the concept of "religion" received its modern shape despite the fact that ancient texts like the Bible,
9737-464: The theory on data, the resistance of comprehensive theories to falsification, and the absence of rules for choice among paradigms. Objective features include the presence of common data, evidence for or against a theory, and criteria which are not paradigm-dependent. The presence of subjective and objective features in both science and religion makes his thinking valuable and original. Barbour's arguments have been developed in significant and diverse ways by
9844-478: The two have co-existed without either tension or attempts at harmonization. If Galileo and the Scopes trial come to mind as examples of conflict, they were the exceptions rather than the rule." Most historians today have moved away from a conflict model, which is based mainly on two historical episodes (Galileo and Darwin), toward compatibility theses (either the integration thesis or non-overlapping magisteria) or toward
9951-463: The universe as the only viable option when the scientific method and science never have had any way of addressing questions of meaning or God in the first place. Furthermore, he notes that since evolution made the brain and since the brain can handle both religion and science, there is no natural incompatibility between the concepts at the biological level. Karl Giberson argues that when discussing compatibility, some scientific intellectuals often ignore
10058-405: The universe, that the Earth is not at its centre and moves. He was required to "abjure, curse and detest" those opinions. However, before all this, Pope Urban VIII had personally asked Galileo to give arguments for and against heliocentrism in a book, and to be careful not to advocate heliocentrism as physically proven since the scientific consensus at the time was that the evidence for heliocentrism
10165-587: The university established a religion department. In the 1970s, he co-founded of the Science, Technology, and Public Policy program at Carleton, which later became the Environment and Technology Studies program. He retired in 1986 as the Winifred and Atherton Bean Professor Emeritus of Science, Technology and Society. Barbour gave the Gifford lectures from 1989 to 1991 at the University of Aberdeen . These lectures led to
10272-448: The view that science and religion are independent. Science and religion are based on different aspects of human experience. In science, explanations must be based on evidence drawn from examining the natural world. Scientifically based observations or experiments that conflict with an explanation eventually must lead to modification or even abandonment of that explanation. Religious faith, in contrast, does not depend on empirical evidence,
10379-499: The viewpoints of intellectual leaders in theology and instead argue against less informed masses, thereby, defining religion by non-intellectuals and slanting the debate unjustly. He argues that leaders in science sometimes trump older scientific baggage and that leaders in theology do the same, so once theological intellectuals are taken into account, people who represent extreme positions like Ken Ham and Eugenie Scott will become irrelevant. Cynthia Tolman notes that religion does not have
10486-556: The wonderful real explanations that we have within our grasp. It teaches them to accept authority, revelation and faith instead of always insisting on evidence."— Richard Dawkins According to Guillermo Paz-y-Miño-C and Avelina Espinosa, the historical conflict between evolution and religion is intrinsic to the incompatibility between scientific rationalism / empiricism and the belief in supernatural causation. According to evolutionary biologist Jerry Coyne , views on evolution and levels of religiosity in some countries, along with
10593-490: The world ought to be , in the way that religion does, it may lead to improperly ascribing properties to the natural world as happened among the followers of Pythagoras in the sixth century B.C. In contrast, proponents of a normative moral science take issue with the idea that science has no way of guiding "oughts". Habgood also stated that he believed that the reverse situation, where religion attempts to be descriptive, can also lead to inappropriately assigning properties to
10700-638: The world (though distinct from it), and concerned (as seen in the life of the paradigmatic Jesus, for example) to see all of it brought to full enjoyment of the richness of life as originally intended in creation. This is not the omnipotent, omniscient and immutable God of classical theism and neo-orthodoxy: for McFague, God is not transcendent in any sense that we can know. This has led some critics to ask whether McFague's theology leaves us with anything that may properly be called God at all. British theologian Daphne Hampson notes 'the more I ponder this book [ Models of God: Theology for an Ecological, Nuclear Age ],
10807-409: The world develops. As McFague saw it, "within this enlarged perspective, we can no longer consider evil only in terms of what benefits or hurts me or my species. In a world as large, as complex, and with as many individuals and species as our planet has, the good of some will inevitably occur at the expense of others". And because the world is God's body, evil occurs in and to God as well as to us and
10914-587: The world that can be expressed through metaphors and models. During the 1970s Barbour presented a program of interdisciplinary courses that dealt with ethical issues in the applications of science, exploring the social and environmental consequences of a variety of technologies. In 2000 in When Science Meets Religion (2000) he used a fourfold typology (Conflict, Independence, Dialogue, Integration) to relate religion and science that he had developed in his earlier writings. In his works, Barbour writes from
11021-464: Was a form of monism . She defended her views as not monist but panentheist . The world seen as God's body chimes strongly with a feminist and panentheist stress on God as the source of all relationship, while McFague's understanding of sin (as essentially a failure of relationality, of letting other parts of the created order flourish free of our control) is also typically panentheist. McFague's panentheistic theology stressed God as highly involved in
11128-464: Was coined by the naturalist-theologian William Whewell in 1834 and it was applied to those who sought knowledge and understanding of nature. From the ancient world, starting with Aristotle , to the 19th century, the practice of studying nature was commonly referred to as " natural philosophy ". Isaac Newton 's book Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica (1687), whose title translates to "Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy", reflects
11235-430: Was popularized in the 19th century by John William Draper 's and Andrew Dickson White 's accounts. It was in the 19th century that relationship between science and religion became an actual formal topic of discourse, while before this no one had pitted science against religion or vice versa, though occasional complex interactions had been expressed before the 19th century. Most contemporary historians of science now reject
11342-583: Was the Carpenter Professor of Theology. She was a member of the Anglican Church of Canada . McFague married Eugene TeSelle in 1959. They had two children: Elizabeth (born 1962) and John (born 1964). They were divorced in 1976. McFague later married Janet Cawley, and they were together until McFague's death. She died in Vancouver on November 15, 2019. For McFague, the language of Christian theology
11449-651: Was very weak. The Church had merely sided with the scientific consensus of the time. Pope Urban VIII asked that his own views on the matter be included in Galileo's book. Only the latter was fulfilled by Galileo. Whether unknowingly or deliberately, Simplicio, the defender of the Aristotelian/Ptolemaic geocentric view in Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems , was often portrayed as an unlearned fool who lacked mathematical training. Although
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