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philo

Long Live the Queen (of the Sciences)

Some centuries ago, someone (a politician, I suppose) disconnected theology from the rest of the academy, hustled it down a dark hallway, and locked it in a basement office with stern warnings to “Stay put” and “Behave.”

Theologians, by and large a meek race, complied. They have spent their time holding long seminars and filling shelves of books with monographs on details of Scripture, on historical studies, on the arcana of systematic theology—many of them of great erudition and enduring value for the church. In exchange for the freedom to pursue minutiae, theologians agreed not to issue authoritative “Thus saith the Lord”s about liberal politics, serial music, Cubism, relativity, or epistemology. Few cared to make such pronouncements anyway.

“Theology and . . .” still pays homage to the strictures of modernity. Time was when “sacred doctrine” encompassed everything. Augustine wrote in the interrogative mood and for him every question about everything was a theological question, a prayer directed back to the Creator of all. Thomas was the greatest philosopher, as well as the greatest theologian, of his time, and he and Augustine are both among the great political theorists of the West. Thomas understood that all other sciences are ancillae, handmaids, to the science of God, and so all other disciplines are internal to theology. But Thomas didn’t think he was doing “theology and . . .” Like Augustine, he was just doing theology, studying and teaching and shedding the light of sacred Scripture on everything around him.

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  • Wesley

    Sir Isaac Newton who is the father of physics primary subject of study was theology. he used his belief in God to search for His hand in the natural world. Pascal is credited for saying that the human heart has a God shaped vacuum in their heart that only God can fill. Blaise Pascal studied the physics of vacuums. theology affects everything about our worldview. my theo professor told the class that without proper theology God is limited in bringing healing to our sin-sick soul.

    • http://www.answersingenesis.org/ keyboardshark

      Not only that, but virtually all branches of modern science were founded by Bible-believing scientists. For example, Leonardo da Vinci (scientific methods) Robert Boyle (chemistry) Johann Kepler and Galileo Galilei (Astronomy), Blaise Pascal (sciences of hydrostatics & hydrodynamics), Sir Isaac Newton (physics), just to name a few.

      100 Famous Bible-Believing Scientists

      http://unmaskingevolution.com/29-100_scientists.htm

  • Esther

    Quote from article: "Divide and marginalize has been modernity’s strategy for neutering theology." If theology is the "science of Scripture" then I want to see by what authority the powers that be in theology believe they have the premise for calling themselves scientists and also, in doing so, must provide the protocol by which they will operate as so-called scientists for all to see and consider for themselves. Also, I hardly see that theology has been neutered by modernity, but perhaps theology has been caught in the trap of allowing horrific things to occur under their stewardship and have divided and marginalized themselves to avoid accountability.

    • dionesius3

      Esther says, " If theology is the "science of Scripture" then I want to see by what authority the powers that be in theology believe they have the premise for calling themselves scientists and also, in doing so, must provide the protocol by which they will operate as so-called scientists for all to see and consider for themselves."
      I too must ask the same question of you dear Esther; If Mormonism is "Christianity" then I wish to see by what authority the Mormon church believe themselves to be "Christian" and I wish you to provide the protocol by which you affirm the reality of your "god" in opposition to the true "God" recorded in Scripture. And please give us the potocol by which you will operate and conduct yourselves as "Christian" and not practice "proselytization" of other "Christian" faiths.

      • Esther

        There is no way,
        shape, or form by which one can call any religion or any aspect of a religion,
        a science. Religions are all "revealed," that is, their survival
        hinge upon people’s beliefs in miracles.

        You can hem and haw
        all you want about the Saints, they have as much a right to their miracles as
        you have, and really, they are not any more required to provide scientific
        proof for their miracles then you do.

        I have never asked you to consider becoming a Saint, but you have written stories on this forum how you encouraged and succeeded in turning certain Saints' to your way of thinking, no? Which one of us pros·e·ly·tizes? You or me?

        While I am not a missionary in the sense you talk about I believe the best I can do for the general public to understand how the missionaries operate is read Steven Covey's book, The Eight Habit.

        I think that covers your concerns.