Earlier this week, a “Final Declaration” was published from a workshop on climate change, organized by, amongst others, the Pontifical Academy of Sciences. Obviously, this declaration is an important contribution to the debate regarding global warming (or, more euphemistically: ‘climate change’), inviting a number of enthusiastic as well as more critical comments in the media….
Tag: religion and science
Science, Religion and Theology: Two Lumberjacks and a Carpenter?
I think we could see both religion and science as a lumberjack, delivering tree trunks as the raw material for theology, the carpenter, to make pieces of furniture with, turning a building, i.e. the world, into a house, i.e. a habitable place. The tree trunks are the results of either scientific research, like theories, data analyses,…
About Pigeon Holes
I have been writing on this blog on and off for more than a year now. Unfortunately, I never managed to get myself to publish regularly. In an attempt to change that, I turned to 750words.com. My writing will start there, every day. And some of that writing will be published here. What will I…
Why Science Does Not Break the Spell of Religion
This morning I made a note on a quote by Philip Hefner, from his “The Human Factor” (p. 86): “Jesus caressed and pressed things until they began to resist, and at that point, his experience moved him to utter “Abba, Father” — the significance being not that “Father” is masculine, but that “Father” is personal….
McGrath Inaugural Lecture Andreas Idreos Professorship of Science and Religion: A Song or a Symphony?
Alister McGrath has delivered his inaugural lecture as Andreas Idreos Professorship of Science and Religion at Oxford University. The full transcript of the lecture is available online. Some highlights: Mc Grath sees science and religion as two distinct outcomes of one basic attitude: awe. Personally, McGrath felt a lack in science: it didn’t offer meaning Science gave…
Schillebeeckx on Religion and Science: Beyond Opposition
I presented my paper on Schillebeeckx and the perspectives he offers on the relation between evolutionary accounts of religion and theology. The audience was rather small in numbers, but I received some excellent questions and feedback. This is the presentation I used to present the paper (link) Created with Haiku Deck, presentation software that inspires…
Philip Hefner on Experience
This blogpost offers a summary and review of “Theology and Science: Engaging the Richness of Experience“. Philip Hefner argues that the significance of the relation between science and theology is to be found in the meaning that emerges from this relation. This meaning is both expressed and recreated through language. Hefner sees theology’s role as interpretative….
Handy: checklist of common misconceptions about evolution in both popular media and school textbooks
This is an excellent paper, moreover, a much needed paper. Not only does it give a concise introduction to the main issues regarding the science of evolution, it also offers a balanced, non-conflictual perspective on the relation between science and religion. Just one quote: “All science is non-theistic, by which is meant that it does…
Six Books That Shaped My Research
Tom Uytterhoeven One of the benefits of working at my faculty is that my office is located in – yes, as in physically part of – one of the largest theological libraries in the world. Reading has become a true adventure, leading to ever more new findings (sometimes it is not so much the…
Myth-busting in Science and Religion
Popular opinion has it that science and religion are in conflict, as they always have been and as they always will be. That is of course false, as historical research as shown: see for example this and this article (JSTOR-links, create a free account to acces the articles online – yes, for free!), or this…