scholarly journals The shaping of rationality in science and religion

1996 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Wentzel J. Huyssteen
Keyword(s):  
Science And Religion ◽  
Natural Sciences ◽  
Religion And Science ◽  
Scientific Rationality ◽  
Theology And Science ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Epistemological Complexity ◽  
Human Rationality ◽  
Rationality Of Science

In this paper the focus is on the extreme epistemological complexity of the relationship between religion and science as two dominant forces in our culture today. This complexity is aggravated by a seemingly conflictual postrnodern, pluralist challenge to a culture that already reveals itself as decidedly empirically-minded. For theology  and science a meaningful dialogue becomes possible only if both modes of reflection are willing to move away from overblown foundationalist epistemologies and, for theology at least, from the intellectual coma of fideism. The paper finally argues for a postfoundationalist epistemology where theo-logy and science, although very different modes of reflection, do share the  richness of the  resources of human rationality. In so doing it attempts to answer three crucial questions: i) are there good reasons for still seeing the  natural sciences as our clearest available example of rationality at work? ii) If so, does the rationality of theological reflec-tion in any way overlap with scientific rationality?  iii) Even if there are impressive overlaps between these two modes of rationality, how would the rationality of science and the rationality of religious reflection differ?

scholarly journals Negotiations of Science and Religion in Nordic Institutions: An Ethnographic Approach

Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 45
Author(s):  
Tatiana Tiaynen-Qadir ◽  
Ali Qadir ◽  
Pia Vuolanto ◽  
Hans Petteri Hansen
Keyword(s):  
Science And Religion ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Local Context ◽  
Scientific Rationality ◽  
Global Trends ◽  
Working Space ◽  
Health Clinics ◽  
World Society Theory ◽  
Health Practitioners ◽  
The Relationship

This article explores how two seemingly contradictory global trends—scientific rationality and religious expressiveness—intersect and are negotiated in people’s lives in Nordic countries. We focus on Finland and Sweden, both countries with reputations of being highly secular and modernized welfare states. The article draws on our multi-sited ethnography in Finland and Sweden, including interviews with health practitioners, academics, and students identifying as Lutheran, Orthodox, Muslim, or anthroposophic. Building on new institutionalist World Society Theory, the article asks whether individuals perceive any conflict at the intersection of “science” and “religion”, and how they negotiate such a relationship while working or studying in universities and health clinics, prime sites of global secularism and scientific rationality. Our findings attest to people’s creative artistry while managing their religious identifications in a secular, Nordic, organizational culture in which religion is often constructed as old-fashioned or irrelevant. We identify and discuss three widespread modes of negotiation by which people discursively manage and account for the relationship between science and religion in their working space: segregation, estrangement, and incorporation. Such surprising similarities point to the effects of global institutionalized secularism and scientific rationality that shape the negotiation of people’s religious and spiritual identities, while also illustrating how local context must be factored into future, empirical research on discourses of science and religion.

From Decline of the West to Dawn of Day

Janus Head ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-66
Author(s):  
Hub Zwart ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Artificial Intelligence ◽  
Computer Science ◽  
Science And Religion ◽  
Natural Sciences ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Cultural Significance ◽  
Religion And Science ◽  
The West ◽  
Smart Technologies

This paper subjects Dan Brown’s most recent novel Origin to a philosophical reading. Origin is regarded as a literary window into contemporary technoscience, inviting us to explore its transformative momentum and disruptive impact, focusing on the cultural significance of artificial intelligence and computer science: on the way in which established world-views are challenged by the incessant wave of scientific discoveries made possible by super-computation. While initially focusing on the tension between science and religion, the novel’s attention gradually shifts to the increased dependence of human beings on smart technologies and artificial (or even “synthetic”) intelligence. Origin’s message, I will argue, reverberates with Oswald Spengler’s The Decline of the West, which aims to outline a morphology of world civilizations. Although the novel starts with a series of oppositions, most notably between religion and science, the eventual tendency is towards convergence, synthesis and sublation, exemplified by Sagrada Família as a monumental symptom of this transition. Three instances of convergence will be highlighted, namely the convergence between science and religion, between humanity and technology and between the natural sciences and the humanities.

scholarly journals Kuyper’s razor? Rethinking science and religion, trinitarian scholarship and God’s eternity

2015 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Renato Coletto
Keyword(s):  
Science And Religion ◽  
Religion And Science ◽  
Basic Assumptions ◽  
Research Fields ◽  
Contemporary Christian ◽  
Scientific Reflection ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Way

This article explores three research fields in contemporary Christian scholarship and argues that the way they are approached is often questionable due to the basic assumptions, the methods or the implications. The following allegations are proposed. Research on the relationship between religion and science is based on a framework of assumptions which does not reflect the biblical standpoint properly. Trinitarian scholarship expects too much from the presumed correspondence between Trinity and created reality, whilst it tends to neglect other resources available to Christian scholarship. Scientific reflection on God’s eternity is speculative in as much as it tries to transcend the modal horizon of knowledge. In these three cases (other cases are also briefly mentioned) it is argued that ‘Kuyper’s razor’ (an approach promoted in the Kuyperian reformational tradition) would help rethinking research in these areas.Kuyper se skalpel? ’n Heroorweging van wetenskap-en-religie, trinitariese navorsing en God se ewigheid. Hierdie artikel verken drie navorsingsterreine in die kontemporêre Christelike wetenskap en voer aan dat die manier waarop hulle benader word dikwels bedenklik is weens basiese aannames, die metodes of die implikasies daarvan. Die volgende kritiek word voorgestel. Navorsing oor die verhouding tussen religie en wetenskap is op ’n raamwerk van aannames gebaseer wat nie ’n behoorlike weerspieëling van die skriftuurlike standpunt is nie. Trinitariese navorsing verwag te veel van die veronderstelde ooreenkoms tussen die Drie-eenheid en die geskape werklikheid, terwyl dit neig om ander hulpbronne wat vir die Christelike wetenskap beskikbaar is, te verwaarloos. Wetenskaplike besinning oor God se ewigheid is spekulatief vir sover dit poog om die modale horison van kennis te transendeer. Dit word aangevoer dat ‘Kuyper se skalpel’ (’n benadering wat in die Kuyperiaans-reformatoriese tradisie bevorder word) sal help om navorsing in hierdie drie gevalle (ander gevalle word ook kortliks genoem) te heroorweeg.

scholarly journals Rethinking the Integrative Dimension of Theology with Science: Syntheses and Congruences

2021 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 121-129
Author(s):  
Ioan Dura ◽  
Ionel Mihălescu ◽  
Mihai Frățilă ◽  
Victor Cîrceie ◽  
Rubian Borcan
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
Science And Religion ◽  
Two Dimensions ◽  
Social Progress ◽  
Human Knowledge ◽  
Number Of Components ◽  
Double Function ◽  
Theology And Science ◽  
The Relationship

If we want to define today's society in one word, trying to capture its meaning, it would be polarization. The interdependence between all social segments, articulated by globalization, has a double function: unpacking the identitary elements that enter in the structure of society (religion, politics, culture, science, etc.) and framing them in a relational dynamic. In this situation are Theology and Science, which, of course, maintain a number of components under their general names. Can we talk about a congruence between these two dimensions of human knowledge? Or they are developing completely separately and antagonistic in social progress? According to Ian G. Barbour there are four types of relation between Science and Religion: conflict, independence, dialogue, integration. This article intends to highlight the congruence between Theology and Science in the paradigm of neo-patristic synthesis , which explores in a phenomenological, theological and philosophical way the relationship between these two. Neo-patristic synthesis is a theological movement from the 20th century, generated by the initiative of the orthodox theologian G. Florovsky.

scholarly journals Gülen on Nature of Knowledge

Aqlania ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 147
Author(s):  
Zenno Noeralamsyah
Keyword(s):  
Ontological Argument ◽  
Science And Religion ◽  
Complete Separation ◽  
Religion And Science ◽  
Religious Texts ◽  
Scientific Approach ◽  
Current Context ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Science And Faith ◽  
The Universe

P This article aim to explore perspective of Fethulleh Gülen about knowledge. The idea that science and religion coalesce in the structure of the universe has been expressed by Western philosophers, that contributed to the almost complete separation of intellectual and scientific activities from religion. In this view of dualism, science and religion both find their apotheosis and its keeping religion and science separating by an unbridgeable chasm. The ontological argument of the idea of giving birth to materialism, which supposes that the nature of existence based on matter. Associated with this, Fethullah Gülen offers a new typical scientific approach that will fuse scientific knowledge and religious beliefs closely associated with spirituality, reconfigures modern understandings of science and faith to relieve the dichotomous presumption of the reason-revelation divide. He is deeply interested in the problematic of the relationship between religion and science, while he does not reject the modern scientific approach, neither does it deify it. The essence of the philosophical thought of Fethullah Gülen (who was otherwise known simply as Hoca Effendi) is that understanding the religious texts and the creeds of Islam should be performed using sufi interpretation and commentary by transmission, without denying current context. In Gülen’s view, religious belief and scientifical reason should be combined, for they are a single truth with two expressions. Therefore, the unification of physics and metaphysics in the nature of knowledge, fundamental concept of bridging science and spirituality, both traditional and modern influences in Gülen's treatment of science will be analyzed in this article, to examine what nature of knowledge is in accordance with Gülen's worldview.

scholarly journals Finding Faith between the Sciences: The Cases of ‘The Outer Worlds’ and ‘Mass Effect: Andromeda’

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 145-161
Author(s):  
Frank G. Bosman
Keyword(s):  
Science Fiction ◽  
Digital Games ◽  
Mass Effect ◽  
Science And Religion ◽  
Religion And Science ◽  
Contemporary Science ◽  
The Relationship

Science fiction, as a genre, has always been a place for religion, either as an inspirational source or as a part of the fictional universe. Religious themes in science fiction narratives, however, also invoke the question of the relationship, or the absence thereof, between religion and science. When the themes of religion and science are addressed in contemporary science fiction, they are regularly set in opposition, functioning in a larger discussion on the (in)comparability of religion and science in science fiction novels, games, and films. In the games The Outer Worlds and Mass Effect Andromeda, this discussion is raised positively. Involving terminology and notions related to deism, pantheism, and esoterism, both games claim that science and religion can co-exist with one another. Since digital games imbue the intra-textual readers (gamer) to take on the role as one of the characters of the game they are reading (avatar), the discussion shifts from a descriptive discourse to a normative one in which the player cannot but contribute to.

scholarly journals What Has Science to Do with Religion? A Looming Challenge of Traditional and Religious Practices on Curbing the Spread of COVID-19 Pandemic in Kenya

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-33
Author(s):  
Bernard Alwala
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Inquiry ◽  
Religious Beliefs ◽  
Holistic Approach ◽  
Science And Religion ◽  
Religious Practices ◽  
Religion And Science ◽  
Interdisciplinary Field ◽  
Corona Virus ◽  
Theology And Science

The association between religion and science is a theme of continuous debate in philosophy and theology and recently in politics and governance as experienced in Kenya. To what degree are religion and science (e.g. medicine) well-matched? Are religious beliefs sometimes helpful to science, or do they inexorably pose hindrances to scientific inquiry? Are we able to manage COVID-19 through religion, or medicine or both medicine and prayer? The interdisciplinary field of “science and religion”, also called “theology and science”, aims at answering these and other questions. It studies historical and contemporary interactions between these fields and provides philosophical analyses of how they interrelate and is able to provide a holistic approach to combatting the corona-virus pandemic in Kenya. This paper provides an overview of the topic and discussions in science and religion; the role of spirituality/ religion in health and how traditional and religious practices may contribute to the spread of Corona-virus. Section 1, outlines the scope of both fields, and how they are intersecting; Section 2, focuses on health and spirituality and Section 3 concludes by looking at the looming challenges that religion and culture may present to the scientific directives on the spread of COVID-19 and ends by proposing strategies on community-directed programs by the Ministry of Health.

In Pursuit of Consonance: Science and Religion in Modern Works of tafsīr

2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 7-31 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ayman Shabana
Keyword(s):  
Modern Science ◽  
Science And Religion ◽  
Epistemic Authority ◽  
Religion And Science ◽  
Scholarly Literature ◽  
Modern Knowledge ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Exegetical Tradition

One of the most important types of scholarly literature to highlight the contentious debate on the relationship between Islam and modern science has been modern commentary on the Qur'an (tafsīr). This paper examines how modern commentators have conceptualised the relationship between religion and science and how, in turn, this modern concern with science has led to the emergence of a new genre within tafsīr literature. The article explores the extent to which this new genre represents an extension to earlier forms of tafsīr and how authors of this genre relate their work to the extended exegetical tradition. Special attention is devoted to Tafsīr al-manār by Muḥammad ʿAbduh and Rashīd Riḍā and its impact on subsequent works of tafsīr, with a particular focus on Tafsīr al-jawāhir by Ṭanṭāwī Jawharī. The article aims to analyse the epistemic authority of science in these works and explore how this authority has been used for the construction of the divine text in light of modern knowledge and sensibilities.

scholarly journals A metabolism of Adam and Eve: Damien Hirst meets Edvard Munch

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 125-135
Author(s):  
Sari Kuuva
Keyword(s):  
Science And Religion ◽  
Religion And Science ◽  
Adam And Eve ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Edvard Munch

Evolution is a theme which crosses the boundaries of art, science and religion. In this paper the problematics of evolution are approached by analysing the works of Edvard Munch (1863–1944) and Damien Hirst (b. 1965). Key attention is paid to Munch’s workMetabolism (1898–9) and Hirst’s work Adam and Eve Exposed (2004), both of which relate to the thematics of the Fall and combine the perspectives of religion and science. The relationship between evolution and art is further discussed through a distinction between pictures and images and the concept of remediation.  

The Scopes Trial

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam R. Shaprio
Keyword(s):  
Social Issues ◽  
New South ◽  
Science And Religion ◽  
Early 20Th Century ◽  
Court Case ◽  
Religion And Science ◽  
Scopes Trial ◽  
The Bible ◽  
William Jennings Bryan ◽  
The Relationship

The 1925 Scopes trial was a widely followed court case in Dayton, Tennessee, that attracted the attention of the nation. A prosecution against a schoolteacher charged with violating Tennessee’s new law prohibiting the teaching of human evolution, the trial became a great public spectacle that saw debates over the meaning and truth of the Bible, and the relationship between science and religion. The trial is most famous for the involvement of the lawyers William Jennings Bryan (for the prosecution) and Clarence Darrow (for the defense). Despite being a legally insignificant case, the trial has remained important in American history because it is seen as symbolizing some of the country’s great social issues in the early 20th century: fundamentalist responses to modernity, the autonomy and clout of the “New South,” and the eternal clash between religion and science.

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