Response to Thor’s Comment (Science & Theology)

Thor, I hope you don’t mind if I respond to your comment in a new post. I don’t want interesting threads to get buried in comments. Here’s what you wrote:

The word “theology” comes from two Greek words meaning “God” and “word.” Combined, the word “theology” means the “study of God.” Christian theology therefore is the study of what Christian believes the Bible teaches about God.

For the Christian, the basis of “knowledge about God” comes from “reading” the Bible. The Bible itself is a presupposition book (Genesis 1:1 – “In the beginning – GOD”), it assumes that a God that is transcendent time and space exists. It describes a God that spoke and where there “was nothing,” the universe, with all the stars, planets, comets, etc. leapt into existence. It goes on to tell a story of God’s relationship with mankind, fashioning the first people from the very soil of their home. It also describes God’s faithfulness toward and interaction with mankind on the very assumption He exists.

Science refers to any system of acquiring knowledge “based on the scientific method,” as well as to the organized body of knowledge gained through such research. The sciences to which this is referred (natural and social), are empirical, asserting that knowledge must be based on observable phenomena and capable of being tested for its validity by other researchers working under the same conditions.

The presupposition is therefore, since God is the author of all truth, having created the universe and everything therein, all truths, Biblical and extrabiblical, are consistent and cohere, and that the Bible speaks truth when it touches on matters pertaining to nature, history, or anything else.

Truths presupposed in the Bible must be consistent (not contradictory) with those in nature, and vice versa, though the former may be the more difficult to work out using the scientific method. If the God of the Bible created everything there is, we would expect no less (many of us Christians that is).

“everyone who is seriously involved in the pursuit of science becomes convinced that a spirit is manifest in the laws of the Universe-a spirit vastly superior to that of man, and one in the face of which we with our modest powers must feel humble. In this way the pursuit of science leads to a religious feeling of a special sort”. (Einstein – 24 January 1936)

You’re essentially saying (correct me if I’m wrong) that theology and science lay claim to the same set of truths, or perhaps that theology is a superset of science. I want to explore this in future posts, but I’ll comment a bit now, because this doesn’t seem to address instances where theology and science conflict, which by all accounts they do.

I’ll start at the concept of the supernatural. This idea seems intended to rope off certain areas of truth as off-limits to empirical study. Why can’t we see spirits? Are angels made of atoms? Not only do we not know, but the concept of “supernaturalness” makes such questions inherently unanswerable. If theology can say things about both the natural and the supernatural, but science can only say things about the natural, then theology must be a superset of science.

The problem is, science is a bit of a maverick. The scientific method wants to prevent theology and other belief systems from informing empirical study, otherwise discoveries are tainted. In other words, theology doesn’t inform science. Science will discover what’s really out there, not what politics or religion dictates. This is all well and good as long as science doesn’t ruffle theological feathers, but as soon as that happens everything goes haywire.

Typically, when scientific study reveals something that upsets long-held theological traditions, the church digs in its heels. At best, they intellectually marginalize themselves, at worst, the church uses political force to suppress the theories in question. History bears this out all the way up to the present day.

Maybe theology isn’t a superset of science after all? Maybe it’s a heuristic that exists while science evolves toward something more complete? Maybe the attrition of theological notions in the face of scientific advancement is actually part of God’s plan? I’m just thinking out loud here. Whatever the case, it seems extremely dangerous to just let theology trump science whenever they conflict.