"A matter of bones and feathers, and wishful thinking": science and the marginalization of religion
When the American novelist Marilynne Robinson delivered the Terry Lectures in 2010, she described how religion is caricatured by some eminent scholars in the alleged conflict between science and religion: religion was just a matter of bones and feathers and wishful thinking. The widespread and popul...
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| Format: | Electronic/Print Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
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| Published: |
University of Toronto Press
2014
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| In: |
Toronto journal of theology
Year: 2014, Volume: 30, Issue: 2, Pages: 257-268 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | When the American novelist Marilynne Robinson delivered the Terry Lectures in 2010, she described how religion is caricatured by some eminent scholars in the alleged conflict between science and religion: religion was just a matter of bones and feathers and wishful thinking. The widespread and popular view of science is that it renders traditions and practices such as religion obsolete. In this article, I explore the discourse used by science popularizers in their polemic against religion in their attempt to foreclose any alternative narrative to the narrative about science, in which religion is not the only villain; aboriginals and women are also enlisted as unwitting and naive "primitives." By drawing on conversations in aboriginal thought—who are "naively" concerned with bones and feathers—and on conversations in feminist philosophy—who are all too familiar with being dismissed as engaged in wishful thinking—I consider their efforts to generate alternative narratives. My concern is how this discourse about science enables dehumanizing effects while precluding liberatory possibilities for human flourishing. It is here that I think philosophy of religion can make a significant contribution: to provide an alternative narrative to science's fiction about human beings as nothing more than "meaty machines" engaged in a competition to ensure the survival of their genes. |
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| ISSN: | 0826-9831 |
| Contains: | In: Toronto journal of theology
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.3138/tjt.2853 |