A2 Christianity and Science

A2 Christianity and Science

1. How and why science has influenced Christianity and how Christianity has responded

   • Evalution
   • Bigbang
     • Catholic accept the Big Bang but believe God was the Cause. The 'God of the gaps'
   • "God of the gaps" is a term used to describe observations of theological perspectives in which gaps in scientific knowledge are taken to be evidence or proof of God's existence. The "gaps" usage was made by Christian theologians not to discredit theism but rather to point out the fallacy of relying on teleological arguments for God's existence. Some use the phrase as a criticism of theological positions, to mean that God is used as a spurious explanation for anything not currently explained by science.
     • 'To live of there was no God' - Bonhoeffer
     • 'Ground of our being' - Tillich

2. How scientific explanation has challenged Christian belief with reference to the 'God of the gaps', 19th century Christian responses to Darwin's theory of evolution and contemporary response

   • Creationist and the bible
     • Fundamentalists who sought to defend Christian theology against challenges of scientific developments. • Attempted to demonstrate the truth of the Bible by using empirical method and science.
       • There is no way to prove that creation began exactly the way Genesis said it did
   • The Big Bang
     • Scientist say that the universe created over 13.7 billion years old and the Earth is 5 billion years
     • Dawkins said 'Faith ‘is the great cop out, the great excuse to evade the need to think and to evaluate evidence. Faith is belief in spite of, perhaps even because of, lack of evidence'
   • Evolution
     • Darwin's evolutionary theory
       • Darwin himself admits, “If it could be demonstrated that any complex organ existed, which could not possibly have been formed by numerous, successive, slight modifications, my theory would absolutely break down."
     • Karl Ralmer God created the pins behind evolution

3. The belief that science is compatible with Christianity with reference to the views John Polkinghorne

   • Polkinghorne said that both religion and science are looking for truth
     • 'both science and theology both believe that their is a truth to be found' - Polkinghorne
   • 'religion is our encounter with the Devine reality, just as science is our encounter with the physical reality' - Polkinghorne
     • 'it is assumed that there is a philosophical conflict, or conflict about the bias of truth' - Fraser Watts
   • John Haught
     • The theological view of kenosis (self-emptying) anticipates scientific findings such as evolutionary theory: a self-emptying God (i.e., who limits Godself), who creates a distinct and autonomous world, makes a world with internal self-coherence, with a self-organizing universe as the result. The dominant epistemological outlook in Christian science and religion has been critical realism, a position that applies both to theology (theological realism) and to science

4. Different Christian responses to issues raised by Science: Genetic Engineering

   • Catholic view - Genetic engineering has the potential to take humanity into a transhuman state. This is also referred to as 'enhancement therapy' where new technologies are used in order to improve the human 'specification'.
     • The catholic Church rejects, because it means that humanity would no longer be in Gods image.
   • Protestant churches view - argue that all human potential is given by God, because God is the Creator; so if new technologies are developed which have the potential to improve life for plants, animals and humans, then they should be embraced where the risks are justified
     • Fletcher - humans are nature selectors and humans should not be redesigned to improve the species. Nothing should be ruled out because it is allegedly 'unbiblical'
   • 'CHRISTIAN PRINCIPLES FOR GENETIC INTERVENTION': Ethical concern key points: 1) the sanctity of human life, 2) The protection of human dignity, 3) The acceptance of social responsibilities, 4) the stewardship of God's creation