How Science and Religion Can Be Besties: Part 4

How Science and Religion Can Be Besties: Part 4

1. Details for Tonight : What we’ll cover Definitions : Naturalism Aquinas : Secondary Causation, Casuistry Causal Closure : Thoughts and questions Argument from Neglect : Ditto Aubrey Moore : Good to know Polkinghorne : The Teapot Theodicy : Is there “natural evil”? Goodness : What does that mean?! TODAY’S AGENDA – 3.5.25 How SCIENCE and FATH Can Be BESTIES

2. ALAN G. PADGETT “We can prove that Christianity is reasonable, even if we can’t prove it is true.” How SCIENCE and FATH Can Be BESTIES

3. DEFINITIONS Methodological Naturalism The claim science shouldn’t investigate or appeal to the supernatural How SCIENCE and FATH Can Be BESTIES

4. DEFINITIONS Methodological Naturalism God might exist, but science shouldn’t investigate or appeal to the supernatural Metaphysical Naturalism The claim that there are no supernatural entities to investigate or appeal to How SCIENCE and FATH Can Be BESTIES HOW WOULD YOU CRITIQUE THIS PERSPECTIVE?

5. SAINT THOMAS AQUINAS An Italian Dominican friar/priest; philosopher, theologian, proponent of natural theology; founder of Thomism; held that truth should be accepted wherever it is found (1225-1274) How SCIENCE and FATH Can Be BESTIES

6. SECONDARY CAUSATION Aquinas’ idea that divine action is the 1 st cause and natural action is the 2 ndary cause; events in the natural world originate in both senses (1225-1274) How SCIENCE and FATH Can Be BESTIES

7. CASUISTRY Resolving the causal history of an event: Direct action by God The result of natural causes (NOTE: there was no 3 rd alternative where God is active in/through natural causes, but that could have been assumed in #1…?) How SCIENCE and FATH Can Be BESTIES

8. CAUSAL CLOSER Science must include the commitment that the universe is causally closed (i.e. there is nothing external to the workings of the universe which could have effects on the objects/processes of nature; every physical event must have a physical explanation.) HOW WOULD YOU CRITIQUE THIS PERSPECTIVE? How SCIENCE and FATH Can Be BESTIES

9. ARGUMENT FROM NEGLECT There are actions we might expect a good and all-powerful divine being to perform…but there are many instances of evil and suffering in which God doesn’t intervene; either there is no God, or God is incapable or unwilling to intervene, and is therefore neither good nor all powerful. How SCIENCE and FATH Can Be BESTIES HOW WOULD YOU CRITIQUE THIS PERSPECTIVE?

10. CRITICAL QUESTIONS TO ASK How do we know there was no intervention? Why assume God’s goodness must = intervention that is to our liking? What if God is capable/willing to intervene, but has reasons not to that we can’t see? How can we judge such things from our incredibly limited perspective? How SCIENCE and FATH Can Be BESTIES

11. AUBREY MOORE (1848-1890) “ Those who oppose the doctrine of evolution in defense of ‘a continued intervention’ of God seem to have failed to notice that a theory of occasional intervention implies as its correlative a theory of ordinary absence … Deism In other words, either God is everywhere present in nature, or God is nowhere.” How SCIENCE and FATH Can Be BESTIES

12. POLKINGHORNE’S TEAPOT There are two explanations for the teapot boiling which are not in conflict … How SCIENCE and FATH Can Be BESTIES

13. POLKINGHORNE’S TEAPOT There are two explanations for the teapot boiling which are not in conflict… PHYSICS BRINGING H 2 0 TO A BOIL How SCIENCE and FATH Can Be BESTIES

14. POLKINGHORNE’S TEAPOT There are two explanations for the teapot boiling which are not in conflict… PHYSICS BRINGING H 2 0 TO A BOIL My wife wants tea! How SCIENCE and FATH Can Be BESTIES

15. POLKINGHORNE’S TEAPOT Just as these two teapot explanations are not in conflict, neither are scientific/theological explanations in conflict… PHYSICS BRINGING H 2 0 TO A BOIL My wife wants tea! How SCIENCE and FATH Can Be BESTIES

16. THEODICY An explanation intended to show how traditional attributes of God, like goodness and justice, are compatible with the reality of pain/suffering How SCIENCE and FATH Can Be BESTIES

17. TWO WAYS TO UNDERSTAND WHY “NATURAL EVIL” OCCURS Result of “the fall” Interpretive choice How SCIENCE and FATH Can Be BESTIES

18. TWO WAYS TO UNDERSTAND WHY “NATURAL EVIL” OCCURS Result of “the fall” Interpretive choice Random due to evolution Interpretive choice How SCIENCE and FATH Can Be BESTIES

19. TWO WAYS TO UNDERSTAND WHY “NATURAL EVIL” OCCURS Result of “the fall” Interpretive choice Random due to evolution Interpretive choice The Point : EVERYONE makes a choice on how to make sense of the presence of evil/suffering; there’s no one clear answer to the questions involved… How SCIENCE and FATH Can Be BESTIES

20. VARIOUS THEODICIES “The Fall” Human beings How SCIENCE and FATH Can Be BESTIES

21. ORIGINAL SIN humans, (through the male sperm) at birth, genetically inherit a tainted nature with a proclivity to sinful conduct which requires regeneration; infants are damned at birth; free will is impaired , but not destroyed Augustine of Hippo (354-430) How SCIENCE and FATH Can Be BESTIES

22. T otal Depravity U nconditional Election L imited Atonement I rresistible Grace P erseverance of the Saints John Calvin (1509-1564) How SCIENCE and FATH Can Be BESTIES

23. VARIOUS THEODICIES “The Fall” Human beings The “Cosmic Fall” Satan/demons How SCIENCE and FATH Can Be BESTIES

24. VARIOUS THEODICIES “The Fall” Human beings The “Cosmic Fall” Satan/demons Skeptical Theism We just can’t know or reason it out How SCIENCE and FATH Can Be BESTIES

25. VARIOUS THEODICIES “The Fall” Human beings The “Cosmic Fall” Satan/demons Skeptical Theism We just can’t know or reason it out The “Only Way,” pt. 1 Human free will How SCIENCE and FATH Can Be BESTIES

26. VARIOUS THEODICIES “The Fall” Human beings The “Cosmic Fall” Satan/demons Skeptical Theism We just can’t know or reason it out The “Only Way,” pt. 1 Human free will Transformation: disorder-to-order By necessity… How SCIENCE and FATH Can Be BESTIES

27. VARIOUS THEODICIES “The Fall” Human beings The “Cosmic Fall” Satan/demons Skeptical Theism We just can’t know or reason it out The “Only Way,” pt. 1 Human free will Transformation: disorder-to-order By necessity… The “Only Way,” pt. 2 Needed for moral development How SCIENCE and FATH Can Be BESTIES

28. VARIOUS THEODICIES “The Fall” Human beings The “Cosmic Fall” Satan/demons Skeptical Theism We just can’t know or reason it out The “Only Way,” pt. 1 Human free will Transformation: disorder-to-order By necessity… The “Only Way,” pt. 2 Needed for moral development “Pitiless, blind indifference” Dawkins, Sagan, etc. How SCIENCE and FATH Can Be BESTIES

29. SCIENCE AND NATURAL EVIL Is there room in science for the concept of “natural evil”? If things function as they are designed to function, can it accurately be described as “evil”? HOW DO YOU MAKE SENSE OF “NATURAL EVIL”? How SCIENCE and FATH Can Be BESTIES

30. WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE GOOD? Do more ”good” than “bad”? “ Do no harm”? Causing no suffering? Working to eliminate suffering/injustice? Moral perfection? Other? How SCIENCE and FATH Can Be BESTIES

31. WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE GOOD? Do more ”good” than “bad”? “Do no harm”? Causing no suffering? Working to eliminate suffering/injustice? Moral perfection? Bringing order from disorder How SCIENCE and FATH Can Be BESTIES

32. How SCIENCE and FATH Can Be BESTIES