TLAČ - Plašienková - Evolution-Science-Religion (3) (1).pdf (original) (raw)
Related papers
Teilhard de Chardin and the dialogue between science and religion
We can find in Teilhard’s writings many points of interest for the dialogue between science and religion. I have selected three of them in his conception about science, matter and human evolution. The first is his high esteem for science and its role in human history. Science for him represents the line along which evolution progresses at human level and prepares man to find the hidden profound meaning of the mystery of reality. This conception of science may serve as a good starting point in the science-religion dialogue, since it recognize a potentiality in science to be interpreted in religious terms. The second is his understanding of matter which surpasses all matter-spirit dualism. Matter for him has an internal dynamism which leads it to the spirit, through the process of cosmic evolution. The third is his conception of human evolution as a part of cosmic evolution. By this the conscious dimension of man (noosphere), progress along the line of increasing unity to finally converge into an Omega Point, where it finds its ultimate fulfillment.
The soul of science: Christian faith and natural philosophy
1994
Science, philosophy, even theology, are, all of them, legitimately interested in questions about the nature of space, structure of matter, patterns of action and, last but not least, about the nature, structure, and value of human thinking and of human science. Thus it is that science, philosophy, and theology, represented as often as not by the very same men-Kepler and Newton, Descartes and Leibniz-join and take part in the great debate.
The Linacre Quarterly, 2015
The objective of this editorial is to show that a harmonious relationship between science and faith is possible, as exemplified by great saints of the Catholic Church. It begins with the definitions of science and faith, followed by an explanation of the apparent conflict between them. A few saints that constitute an example that a fruitful relationship between these two seemingly opposed realities has been possible are Saint Albert the Great, Saint John of the Cross, Saint Giuseppe Moscati, and Saint Edith Stein, among others, and this editorial highlights their deep contributions to the dialogue between faith and reason. This editorial ends with a brief discussion on whether it is possible to be both a scientist and a man of faith.
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, a spirituality from the scientific view of the world
Teilhard de Chardin besides his scientific work in geology and paleontology, especially related to the fossil origins of man in China, developed a philosophical and theological thought rethinking Christian faith taking into account the evolutionary view of the world provided by science. His thought sprung from a deep spirituality and mystic experience. His spirituality was founded on the role of Christ in an evolving universe, as the creator and the center of the evolving process. Here I present the main lines of his spirituality. The role of science as Teilhard is aware that science is the main force that drives today human progress. The relation between matter and spirit, the convergence of the cosmic evolving process to what he has called the Omega Point, that is identified with the Christ of Christian faith. According to Teilhard, we can neither think of the universe without its center in Christ nor of Christ without being the center of the universe. This leads to the concepts of Cosmic or Universal Christ and the process of cosmogenesis becoming a Christgenesis. Thus the world becomes transparent to the present of Christ in what he calls the “Divine Milieu” and the “Christique”.
SCIENCE AND RELIGION IN CHARDIN'S EVOLUTIONARY SYNTHESIS
ABSTRACT The interaction between science and religion has been one of the most articulated issues by many scholars. This conversation has showcased interest in the origin of man precisely captured in the term “evolution.” The problem lies on the possibility of presenting an evolutionary theory that could bear both religious and scientific elements. Addressing this issue, the paleontologist, theologian and philosopher, Teilhard de Chardin presents his evolutionary synthesis. This work aims at presenting his idea which encapsulates an evolving man moving towards a transcendental force of attraction, which he calls the Omega point. It presents the scientific and religious elements embedded in this synthesis and its implication for some schools of thoughts like Marxism. The work projects a kind of metaphysics that really bears theological identity which presents all of the information to stand out as a working tool for understanding human existence.
Telling the story of science and religion: a nuanced account
The British Journal for the History of Science, 1996
Readers familiar with the work of John Brooke will know that he has been a leading interpreter of the historical interaction between science and religion, especially natural theology. This recent book shows a mature historian at work. The volume's broad scope (roughly from 1543 to the present) and its arresting themes, presented with careful precision, command attention. Nor has this book gone unnoticed. It has won a number of accolades, chief among them being the 1992 Watson Davis Prize by the History of Science Society in North America for the best work targeted for a general lay audience or for a student audience. It is a book that clearly deserves review in this journal. Can we learn from history ? The stated object of John Brooke's book 'is not to deny that assumption but to show that the lessons are far from simple' (p. 5). Consequently, the lessons to be learned about the complex set of interactions between science and religion are not to be captured by general theses of one form or another. This book should not be regarded as a pedagogical exercise in presenting these historical lessons, but rather as an effort 'to assist in the creation of critical perspectives' (p. 5). It also, the author takes pains to insist, is 'a historically based commentary' rather than a typical historical narrative. The historical episodes Brooke selects are in a sense not as crucial as is his conviction that religion and science have always been interrelated. In fact he concludes the book with this remark: 'But whether belief in the supreme worth of every human life, and the action such an ideal requires, can be sustained without reference to the transcendent, is a question unlikely to be laid to rest' (p. 347). The episodes Brooke does examine are ones chosen to display a plethora of interactions between science and religion and simultaneously make the reader ever more alert to the contingency and complexity of the historical moment. Brooke's temperate and even-handed analysis invites us to think along, and move beyond simplistic and frequently polemical solutions to the problems. Look and see, he gently argues, it is not a choice of either war or peace between science and religion. Those very categories and choices hide a complexity of issues. If we were to stick to rigid definitions of either religion or science we could easily, far too easily, exclude important questions that were in fact asked. Nor for that matter is it first of all a question of mediation or reciprocal relation between the two. Rather we need to remain aware of how particular individuals in their peculiar context 'wrestled with fundamental questions concerning their relationship with nature and God' (p. 5). Religion and science are caught in an entangled bank of interrelationships, and the methods employed to tease out these relationships