{"id":356,"date":"2010-09-07T08:39:27","date_gmt":"2010-09-07T08:39:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/thinplaces\/2010\/09\/science-and-religion-how-do-we-know-what-we-know.html"},"modified":"2010-09-07T08:39:27","modified_gmt":"2010-09-07T08:39:27","slug":"science-and-religion-how-do-we-know-what-we-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/2010\/09\/science-and-religion-how-do-we-know-what-we-know.html","title":{"rendered":"Science and Religion: How do we know what we know?"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

“Epistemology.” It’s one of those words I learned in
\nSeminary and had to look up in the dictionary again and again because I always
\nforgot its meaning. Basically, it’s the philosophical discipline devoted to
\nanswering a simple question: How do you know what you know? <\/p>\n

For instance, how do you know what a flower is? Scientifically
\nspeaking, a flower is a type of plant that has a stamen and petals and pollen. But
\nI might answer the question a very different way, with reference to a poem by
\ne.e. cummings in which a flower describes love. Is a flower a way to talk about
\nlove or a way to talk about natural selection, or both? Where do I turn for an
\nauthoritative reckoning of flowers? To my biology textbook or my Norton
\nAnthology of Poetry?<\/p>\n

Similar questions arise when we talk about science and
\nreligion. Both disciplines answer, or try to answer, questions about the
\norigins of the universe. Science explains the universe in self-contained terms.
\nBy definition, for modern scientific method is predicated upon the assumption
\nthat we can test a hypothesis and get the same result on multiple occasions.
\nReligion explains the universe in metaphysical terms. It assumes an other, a
\nBeing beyond the self-contained world of scientific inquiry. For Christians,
\nreligion assumes an other who is a relational God, a God who has decided to
\nbreak into human time and history in the person of Jesus Christ. <\/p>\n

The so-called debate between science and religion has been
\nraging for years. Religious people have embarrassed themselves by not
\nunderstanding the science they write against, and some scientists (and
\nparticularly some of the “new atheists”) ought to feel embarrassed for their
\nsimilar misunderstandings when they wade into the waters of religion.
\nYesterday’s blog post for the New York Times by Tim Crane, a self-described
\natheist and scientist, comes as a refreshing reminder that dialogue between
\nscience and religion is possible. In “Mystery and Evidence<\/a>,”
\nCrane attempts to describe the differences between these two epistemological
\nsystems. He writes, “Those who criticize religion should
\nhave an accurate understanding of what it is they are criticizing… Religions
\ndo make factual and historical claims, and if these claims are false, then the
\nreligions fail. But this dependence on fact does not make religious claims
\nanything like hypotheses in the scientific sense. Hypotheses are not central.
\nRather, what is central is the commitment to the meaningfulness (and therefore
\nthe mystery) of the world.” <\/span><\/p>\n

In a blog for the Chicago Tribune<\/a>,
\nthe Reverend Robert Baron makes a similar point: “<\/span>There
\nis a qualitative difference between the sciences, which speak of objects,
\nforces, and phenomena within the observable universe, and philosophy or
\nreligion which speak of ultimate origins and final purposes. Science, as such,
\nsimply cannot adjudicate questions that lie outside of its proper purview–and
\nthis is precisely why scientists tend to make lots of silly statements when
\nthey attempt to philosophize.”<\/span><\/p>\n

I recommend both of these articles. And as both
\nmen recognize, there are certain points in which science and religion will
\nnecessarily reach an impasse. We can hope for both scientists and religious
\npeople to recognize the possibilities and limitations of their ways of knowing,
\nand to learn from one another with mutual respect and humility. <\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Epistemology.” It’s one of those words I learned in Seminary and had to look up in the dictionary again and again because I always forgot its meaning. Basically, it’s the philosophical discipline devoted to answering a simple question: How do you know what you know? For instance, how do you know what a flower is?…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":88,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,2,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-356","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles","category-faith","category-what-im-reading"],"yoast_head":"\nScience and Religion: How do we know what we know? - Thin Places<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/2010\/09\/science-and-religion-how-do-we-know-what-we-know.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Science and Religion: How do we know what we know? - Thin Places\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"“Epistemology.” It’s one of those words I learned in Seminary and had to look up in the dictionary again and again because I always forgot its meaning. 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Two major life experiences have shaped her writing and her faith\u00e2\u20ac\u201dcaring for her mother-in-law as she battled cancer and welcoming her daughter Penny into the world after she was diagnosed at birth with Down syndrome. Both experiences expanded and enriched her understanding of what it means to be human and to receive each and every person as a gift.\u00c2\u00a0 A graduate of Princeton University and Princeton Theological Seminary, she is the author of Penelope Ayers: A Memoir, and the forthcoming A Good and Perfect Gift (Bethany House). Her essays have appeared in First Things, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Christian Century, ChristianityToday.com, and Bloom, among other online venues.","sameAs":["http:\/\/amyjuliabecker.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/author\/amyjuliabecker"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/88"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=356"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=356"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=356"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=356"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}