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Relationship between science and theology

The relationship between science and theology is generally depicted as a conflict, though in fact this need not be so. It is seen in this fashion in our more and more secular age, and there is clearly conflict between much science and certain fundamentalist beliefs held by those who see the Bible as literal and anything that does not fit as clearly false. In one sense, science and theology each address their own areas of interest and so need not conflict, but there are areas of overlap where conflict can develop. Science explains the physical operation of things in this universe and offers a mechanical explanation of their origin, and none of this necessarily excludes a deity as a driving force, as theology may explain.

Polkinghorne notes the view that "science and theology really are . . . partners in the great human quest to understand reality" (Polkinghorne 20) and cites Ian Barbour as to a classification of interactions between the two. Conflict is cited first and seen to derive from a clash of scientism (or "the assertion that the only meaningful questions to ask or possible to answer are scientific questions" [Polkinghorne 20]) and biblical literalism. Independence would treat the two as completely separate. Dialogue sees the two as speaking to one another about issues where their interests overlap. Integration is an ambitious aim that "encourages the unification of science and theology into a single discourse" (Polkinghorne 21). Consonance is another possibility by which the two retain their autonomies in their domains while making statement capable of reconciliation. Assimilation is a possible conceptual merging of science and theology without either being entirely subsumed by the other (Polkinghorne 20-22).

The conflict between the two realms began with the movement toward humanism in the Renaissance, which involved a shift in how people thought. This occurred at the same time that the horizons of the West we...

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Relationship between science and theology. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 02:21, March 19, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1689459.html