FLYER_27_01_2018_2.pdf

Philosophia Christi, 2019

Journal for the Study of Religion, 2022

Living between Science and Belief We live in an interregnum between the claims of science and those of faith. With this conviction, Charles Villa-Vicencio has commenced with a book, as John De Gruchy succinctly puts it in the Introduction, which was born out of the writer's 'long and often painful personal struggle...to relate religious faith to science' (Villa-Vicencio 2021:ix). As such, Living between science and belief is therefore aimed at 'believers trying to deal honestly with doubt' (Villa-Vicencio 2021:ix). Chapter 1 is Villa-Vicencio's personal take on the (modern) dilemma of living between science and religion, while Chapter 2 is a summary of the traditional debate between what he clearly acceptsà la Gould (2002)as two non-overlapping magisteria. Chapters 3 to 5 is an overview of some of the core moments in the theological development of the three Abrahamic religions. Chapter 6 is about what he believes to be the best challenges that the neurosciences specifically pose to modern believers. The questions underlying the booknot surprisinglyare the following: Can the claims of science be reconciled with those of religion? Should the claims of science be reconciled with those of religion? To these questions, Villa-Vicencio answers with a provisional 'Yes'. Any possibility of reconciliation will require from theologians to not only renounce any scriptural literalism and dogmatic beliefs, but also to be prepared to reexamine all religious claims in light of scientific findings. On condition that these two prerequisites are met, Villa-Vicencio argues, religion

Zygon®, 2008

argued that the "Judeo-Christian" tradition, especially Christianity, has promoted anthropocentric attitudes and environmentally destructive behaviors. Here, we provide a review of over 600 research articles that are pertinent to (1) Lynn White Jr.'s contentions and (2) subsequent claims that world's predominant religions are becoming more environmentally friendly, assertions we label "The Greening of Religion Hypothesis." We conclude that on balance extant research supports White's thesis but not the Greening of Religion Hypothesis. It also suggests that indigenous traditions may be more likely to foster pro-environmental behaviors than other religious systems, and so apparently do some nature-based cosmologies and value systems, which are often deeply informed by the sciences as well as by experiences within environmental systems. After reviewing the research session participants will discuss future research into the role of religion in environmental behaviors. This workshop will commence with an invitation-only workshop as part of an ongoing international research project. After summarizing our review of research and plans for further research, a number of panelists followed by session participants will be invited to respond and brainstorm with the presenters and discussants future research possibilities. Participants will be strongly encouraged to pre-read two pre-distributed research articles. In the afternoon we will then offer a session open to all conference attendees in which we will present and discuss the research reviewed and planned.

Journal for the Study of Religion, Nature and Culture, 2015

A Saudi cleric recently explained at a lecture in the United Arab Emirates that Galileo was wrong and that the earth is stationary with the sun and the rest of the heavens revolving around it (Vale 2015). Most people, and most natural scientists in the academy, would regard this as an example of retrograde religious dogmatism in the face of contrary empirical evidence. This view, however, is not universal with all academics. The sociologist Steve Fuller testi ed in the Dover, Pennsylvania, evolution case, for example, in favor of teaching the intelligent design of nature by a supernatural force or entity alongside Darwinian evolution, arguing that to do otherwise would allow 'a self-perpetuating élite' of natural scientists to enforce adherence to their own dogmas (in Talbot 2005: 77). In a similar vein, the philosopher Steven Toulmin, grounding his claim in the sixteenth-century philosopher Montaigne, declared that because 'there is no general truth about which certainty is possible,…we can claim certainty about nothing ' (1992: 44). If Toulmin applies this relativistic view consistently, we cannot even be certain that the earth orbits the Sun.

The Journal of Theological Studies, 2011

Ars Disputandi, 2010

Athens Journal of Humanities & Arts, 2020

Religion and science are an expression of human existence. However, consistent with Freud᾽s view of religion as elusive and childish, many institutions of higher learning have omitted religion from their curriculum and consider religion as harmful to the pursuits of their departments of science. This is evident in the Democratic Republic of Congo where the secularisation of public institutions in the 1970᾽s has resulted in the exclusion of religion as a study subject and the disappearance of theological departments in secular institutions. Secularisation seems to be misunderstood as a need to avoid any spiritual dimension, rather than in its true meaning of expressing non-religious belonging. This study explores the interface between science and religion and the apparent conflict between these disciplines at the Institut Supérieur Pédagogique (ISP)/Mbanza Ngungu, one of the secular institutions of higher learning in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The findings of the study indicate that academics use science as a general concept, or an umbrella, in resisting religion or theology. On the other hand, religious believers use religion in a similar way to fight natural science. This reflects the apparent existence of a conflict between religion and science. Thereby, the fact that religion and natural science offer a different outlook on the world is negated. Although human knowledge is limited in its capacity to understand and explain the transcendental God, the theological understanding of God can fit into the scientific model. However, in the important body of knowledge represented by natural science, there is weakness. Part of this weakness lies in its ignoring of theology as a science in the field of religion. As regards the apparent conflict between religion and science, the respondents in the present study did not express perceptions of a significant incompatibility that could determine a negative relationship between science and religion. In fact, the interdependence of science and religion had been noticed and ascribed to the binary nature of human beings.

Debates about the conflict between science and religion often turn on the related questions of what the basis of religious belief is, and how, if at all, those beliefs can be challenged. Focusing on Philip Kitcher's recent proposals concerning an "enlightened secularism", I argue that the idea that religious belief can be dissolved by cognitive challenge relies upon a facile conception of the nature of religious belief. I use William James’s theory of the emotions, and his related discussion of ‘temperaments’, to argue that religious (and naturalistic) commitments are grounded in tacit, inarticulate ways that one finds oneself in a world. The temperamental nature of religious and naturalistic commitments renders the 'solubility thesis' untenable because it entails that those commitments are prior to rational and evidentiary considerations. Enlightened secularists must therefore consider new ways of challenging religious belief.