Are Theology and Science Friends or Foes?

Should theology and science be friends or foes? Scholars and theologians have heavily debated this topic for a variety of reasons. How theology and science interact, where they parallel and where they differ are worthy of inquiry. Christian apologetic arguments and evidence that support a Christian faith perspective concerning the domain of science, ethics, and relationality will raise important questions. Such as, How does a cumulative Christian apologetic approach correlate to the domain of science? Does this also support the coherence and veracity of the Christian faith? Finally, what supporting evidence to this view can be found and can it be understood as friends or foes and utilized in scientific apologetic purposes?

How theology and science interact, where they parallel, and where they differ

The actual term “Science” was not coined until the nineteenth century. It was referred to as natural philosophy until then. Natural philosophy and natural theology were closely tied together. Between the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Johannes Kepler and Isaac Newton’s theories were referred to as “Physico-Theology.”[1]

The beginning of conflict between religion and science began in the early twentieth century in the United States with the developing fundamentalist movement. With the arrival of higher criticism of the Scriptures and evolutionary theory, the development of liberal theology began to emerge known as modernism. This was a fundamentalist Christian strategy for reading Scripture that took evolutionary biology to be in conflict with biblical views of the age of the Earth and human origins. This conflict continues today, even with so many conservative theologians who have made very impressive moves to reconcile theology with scientific developments. [2]

Between 1724 and 1804, liberal theology had developed as a strategy to immunize theology from science. Immanuel Kant

responded to the threat that Newton and his determinism posed to human freedom and morality as well as religion. Kant made a distinction between the spheres of knowledge; metaphysics and ethics. Friedrich Schleirmacher between 1768 and 1834 located religion in the third, aesthetic sphere. The consequence was an understanding of theology that had no intellectual relation to science. The doctrine of creation does not say anything about the origin of the universe, but speaks of a human religious awareness of its dependence on God.[3]

Francis Bacon, an English philosopher and scientist developed a new viewpoint on causation. Events fitted into causal accounts, with causation understood in terms of laws of nature. While this change was motivated theologically, it was also an answer to the question of how God governs the universe with the concept of nature as entirely determined by strict causal laws which would make God’s ongoing involvement seem problematic. What are some of the major Christian apologetic arguments and evidences that support a Christian faith perspective concerning the domain of science, ethics, relationality, or aesthetics?

Science gives humanity the facts where religion inspires our values. That the Bible really does claim the stretching out of the heavens is both “finished” and “ongoing” is made all the more evident in (Isaiah 40:22, NIV), where it is evident by our Sovereign God that His actions in all times, sitting enthroned above the earth and stretching out the heavens, constantly exercising his creative power in His ongoing providential work exist eternally.[4]

Isaiah 42:5 declares, “This is what the Lord says, He who created the heavens and stretched them out.” The Hebrew verb translated “created” in (Isaiah 42:5, NIV) means bara, which has in its definition the meaning of “bringing into existence something new, something that did not exist before.” The proclamation that God created bara, the entirety of the heavens is mentioned seven times in the Old Testament. (Genesis 1:1; 2:3; 2:4; Psalm 148:5; Isaiah 40:26; 42:5; and Isaiah 45:18, NIV). This concept of transcendent creation is made clearer by passages like (Hebrews 11:3, NIV), which states the universe that we

humans can measure and detect was made out of that which we cannot measure or detect. Also, (Isaiah 45:5-22; John 1:3; and Colossians 1:15-17, NIV) stipulate that God alone is the agent for the universe’s existence. Biblical claims that God predated the universe and was actively involved in causing certain effects before the existence of the universe is not only found in (Colossians 1) but also in (Proverbs 8:22-31, John 17:24, Ephesians 1:4; 2 Timothy 1:9, Titus 1:2; and 1 Peter 1:20, NIV). [5]

Craig, the philosopher, which was Coplestone’s successor, developed the following line of argument, Major premise: Whatever begins to exist has a cause. Minor premise: The universe began to exist. Conclusion: Therefore the universe has a cause.[6]

The New Testament asserts that all morality flows from the Great Commandment, to love God with all our heart, mind, strength and soul and to love our neighbor as our self. This reverts back to the Old Testament, where in the Torah (Deuteronomy 6:4-9 and Leviticus 19:18, NIV) these commands were united together by Christ while He proposed Himself as the model of the love required in (John 13:12) also known as the New Commandment.

Thomas Aquinas defined love to be for the benefit of a Christian believer to will the good of another.[7] Hebrews 4:13 and Revelation 20:12 emphasize that people are answerable to God for all that they do. From the beginning man had with him the knowledge of right or wrong. God gave man a revelation of the standards of conduct He required in human relationships and how a person’s conscience would judge him according to these standards.[8]

Scripture shares the activities and nature of a relational God. Because God created in the beginning, He invited creatures to come forth with others to participate in creative activity. While God’s interactions with Adam and Eve show God as relational, from the beginning God has instructed, expected, and responded to His creation.

The Bible tells us that God has made a covenant with Israel and all of creation. This covenant demonstrates God’s relationality. Because God is relational, sinfulness brings anger to Him. Positive responses and ongoing relationship deepens as the relational friendship that God shares with His creatures continues. [9]

How does a cumulative Christian apologetic approach to one or more of the domains support the coherence and veracity of the Christian faith?

One of the most pervading thoughts gleaned from McGrath’s observations on the origins of the universe is that God created all things from nothing. Everything owes its origins and ultimate identity to the creative action of God. The universe has not existed from all eternity, but came into being in an instant. [10] "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God; all things were made through Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made" (John 1:1-3, NIV). This passage shows that Jesus was eternally existent with God the Father

prior to the creation of all things. There was a time when our material and spiritual universe did not exist. It had a definite beginning. But before that, God was. In fact, God is, because time itself was created by God. [11]

Because Jesus is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation; for in Him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or authorities. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together (Colossians 1:15-17, NIV).

The Holy Spirit explains that all things, (both visible and invisible) in the entire universe were created through the same Jesus, the eternal Word. We may think of the universe and its intricate design as being conceived in the mind of the Father, then spoken into existence by the Son (who makes the invisible, visible). The Holy Spirit is the one who supplies life to the creation, not only at the time of creation but also moment by moment after that.[12]

What is the supporting evidence to your view as to whether they ought to be understood as friends (or foes) and whether science ought (or ought not) be utilized for apologetic purposes?

Jewish philosopher Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677) postulated that a current possibility for reconciling special divine action with the regularities of nature is that God works at the quantum level and thereby brings about macroscopic events. This approach emphasizes God’s immanence in all of nature and that He is immanent in the events and entities at the quantum level. Robert J. Russell is a pioneer in the area of quantum divine action. He argues that God acts directly at the quantum level to sustain the development of elementary processes and to determine other quantum events.

This kind of action is the mechanism that brings about special providential and revelatory events at the macro level. God’s actions are therefore in cooperation with natural causes that involve a continuous and creative divine presence within each quantum event. This is not a picture of God acting occasionally from outside the world, but rather in a scientifically informed specification of the nature of immanent divine causation. There is therefore, no violation of natural laws. Science and theology can be seen and understood as friends. This account of the marriage of science and theology should therefore be utilized for apologetic purposes. [13]

References

[1]. Murphy, Nancy. (2013) Science and Theology: Mapping the Relationship. Retrieved on 11/21/2018: https://fullerstudio.fuller.edu/science-theology-mapping-relationship/ [2]. Murphy, Nancy. (2013) Science and Theology: Mapping the Relationship. Retrieved on 11/21/2018: https://fullerstudio.fuller.edu/science-theology-mapping-relationship/ [3]. Ibid. [4]. Ross, Hugh (2000). Big Bang, The Bible Taught it First. Retrieved on 11/19/2018: https://reasons.org/explore/publications/facts-for-faith/read/facts-for-faith/2000/07/01/bigbang-the-bible-taught-it-first [5]. Ibid. [6]. McGrath, Alister E. 2012. Mere Apologetics: How to Help Seekers and Skeptics Find Faith. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books. [7]. Wijeyesekera, Ranil (2013). Ethics, a Christian Perspective. Retrieved on 11/21/2018: https://www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/ethics-a-christian-perspective/ [8]. Ibid. [9]. Oord, Thomas J. (2011) What is Relational Theology? Retrieved on 11/21/2018: http://thomasjayoord.com/index.php/blog/archives/what-is-relational-theology [10]. McGrath, Alister E. 2012. Mere Apologetics: How to Help Seekers and Skeptics Find Faith. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books. [11]. Dolphin, L.(1997). What Holds the Universe Together? Physics and the Bible. Retrieved on 11/17/2018: https://www.khouse.org/articles/1997/60/ [12]. PHI-610- (2015) Grand Canyon University Lecture 6 [13]. Murphy, Nancy. (2013) Science and Theology: Mapping the Relationship. Retrieved on 11/21/2018: https://fullerstudio.fuller.edu/science-theology-mapping-relationship/