Reforming Theology, Reframing Science

What is the role of science in theology? What internal dynamics compel theology to take science seriously? Those are the questions—posed in a characteristically cautious academic fashion. There is a back-story that needs to be told, however, if we are to get at these questions with the vigor they re...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Pederson, Ann Milliken 1957- (Author) ; Hefner, Philip 1932- (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Check availability: HBZ Gateway
Interlibrary Loan:Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany)
Published: 2007
In: Dialog
Year: 2007, Volume: 46, Issue: 3, Pages: 215-224
Further subjects:B Theology
B Incarnation
B modest witness
B Gospel
B Reframing
B Science
B Sacraments
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
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Summary:What is the role of science in theology? What internal dynamics compel theology to take science seriously? Those are the questions—posed in a characteristically cautious academic fashion. There is a back-story that needs to be told, however, if we are to get at these questions with the vigor they require: Without radical reformation of theology, there is little chance that we can even begin to work on the agenda that science poses to Christian faith and life. Faith is a journey in which we seek to make sense of the world and our lives in it in the light of the gospel we have received. The gospel is about God, God's presence and redemptive work in Jesus Christ and God's continuing presence in the Holy Spirit. But since it is God's presence and work in the world and for us, the gospel is also about the world and about human being—and that is where science comes in, provoking its reformation. Science is now an irreplaceable source of knowledge about the world and ourselves, and in some respects its knowledge is normative. Scientific knowledge has reshaped our view of the world and ourselves in ways that are so commonly known that it is unnecessary to elaborate. To relate our gospel to our actual lives in the empirical world—that is theology's motivation for taking science seriously. But theology must be reformed and reshaped if it is to be capable of taking science seriously. In this essay we focus on this reforming of theology.
ISSN:1540-6385
Contains:Enthalten in: Dialog
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1111/j.1540-6385.2007.00331.x