natural science & theological science
“Both theology and the natural sciences are to be seen as a posteriori activities, which are a response to ‘the given’. In the case of the natural sciences, ‘the given’ is the world of nature; in the case of theology, ‘the given’ is God’s self-revelation in Christ” (Torrance ).
I like this quote and agree with it. I can see, however, that it can be problematic for many people. The problem is this: the ‘given’ of the world is obvious to all. It really cannot be contended. But the ‘given’ of theology being God’s self-revelation in Christ is not a given for everybody. Torrance even continues to admit that one of the problems he had with the German theologian Pannenberg was that, even though he believed theology was a science, he believed that revelation was a “publicly accessible event” “conveyed in history which is accessible to any who care to observe it”. I agree with Torrance’s assessment of Pannenberg because God’s self-revelation in Christ is obviously not a publicly accessible event. Many don’t even believe that Jesus the man is a historical event, never mind the Christ being God’s self-revelation.
I’m still studying Torrance to see if he resolves this problem because I think it is a serious one. The natural sciences are recognized universally, and the world of nature is a given accessible to everyone. The science of theology, especially God’s self-revelation in Christ, is not universally recognized and is not accessible to everyone. My question, which I hope Torrance satisfies, has to do with the quality and veracity of theological science versus natural science.
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Any interpretation of “nature” as well as the Bible is based on preconceptions–be they naturalistic preconceptions or theistic preconceptions. It never hurts to acknowledge whatever preconception you’re interpreting from and qualify your interpretation accordingly.
Ridiculous statements. Theology is not and will never be science.
You obviously recognize the need to address the problems that a scientific assessment of God presents. Trying to adopt “science language” to address these problems does not work and does nothing more than make you look like an idiot.
Thanks Fred. You’re on to something I think.
Henry: I have to disagree. Theology IS a science. It isn’t natural science, but there are other kinds of sciences. Simply defined, a science is “any activity that is the object of careful study or that is carried out according to a developed method on a certain subject.” That would include theology.