- Home »
- Issues »
- 26/1 – Spring 2021 »
- Articles »
Natural Science within Public Christian Philosophy and Public Systematic Theology
Abstract
Christian philosophy provides the form and systematic theology the substance when the church turns its intellectual face toward the wider public. This united front is vital in the context of a global competition between worldviews, where naturalism in the form of aggressive scientism has declared war on all things religious. Through discourse clarification the philosopher should distinguish between genuine science and the naturalistic reductionism that attempts to co-opt it; and through worldview construction the theologian should then demonstrate how nature viewed by science belongs within a picture where all reality is oriented toward the one God of grace. In the battle between competing explanations of reality, the public Christian philosopher along with the public systematic theologian should offer a worldview with greater explanatory adequacy.
Keywords
- Christian philosophy
- discourse clarification
- explanatory
- John Paul II
- public systematic theology
- worldview construction
- Alvin Plantinga
- discourse clarification
- explanatory
- Alvin Plantinga
- public systematic theology
- worldview construction
- John Paul II
Cite this article
Peters, Ted. “Natural Science within Public Christian Philosophy and Public Systematic Theology.” Forum Philosophicum 26, no. 1 (2021): 13–34. doi:10.35765/forphil.2021.2601.03.
Bibliography
Aquinas, Thomas. 1920. Summa Theologica. Translated by translated by Fathers of the English Dominican Province. Accessed 6 May 2021. https://www.newadvent.org/summa/1001.htm - article7
Atkins, Peter, 2006. "Atheism and Science," The Oxford Handbook of Religion and Science, eds., Philip Clayton and Zachary Simpson. Oxford UK: Oxford University Press, 124–36.
Barbour, Ian G. 1974. Myths, Models, and Paradigms: A Comparative Study in Science and Religion. New York: Harper.
Bellah, Robert N., 2011. Religion in Human Evolution from the Paleolithic to the Axial Age Cambridge MA and London: Harvard University Press.
Calvin, John. 1960. “Institutes of the Christian Religion.” In Library of Christian Classics, edited by John T. McNeill. Vol. 1. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press.
DeRoo, Neal. 2020. “Phenomenological Spirituality and its Relationship to Religion.” Forum Philosophicum 25 (1): 53–70. https://doi.org/10.35765/forphil.2020.2501.4.
Frame, John M. 2019. We Are All Philosophers: A Christian Introduction to Seven Fundamental Questions. Bellingham WA: Lexham Press.
Gunter, W. Stephen, Ted A. Campbell, Scott J. Jones, Randy L. Maddox, and Rebekah L. Miles. 1997. Wesley and the Quadrilateral: Renewing the Conversation. Nashville: Abingdon Press.
Haight, Roger. 2011. “Sin and Grace.” In Systematic Theology: Roman Catholic Perspectives, edited by Francis Schüssler, Fiorenza Galvin and John P. Galvin, 375–430. Minneapolis MN: Fortress Press.
Hayhoe, Kathryn. October 2017. “The Roots of Science Denial.” Scientific American, 66–8.
John Paul II. 1988. “Message of His Holiness Pope John Paul II.” In Physics, Philosophy, and Theology: A Common Quest for Understanding, edited by Robert John Russell, William R. Stoeger and George V. Coyne, M1–M14. Vatican City State: Vatican Observatory.
———. 1998a. “Evolution and the Living God.” In Science and Theology: The New Consonance, edited by Ted Peters, 149–52. Boulder: Harper.
———. 1998b. “Fides et Ratio.” Accessed 6 May 2021. http://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_14091998_fides-et-ratio.html.
———. 2019. Teaching for an Unbelieving World. Notre Dame IN: Ave Maria Press.
Kaminski, Stanislaw. 2020. On the Metaphysical Cognition. Translated by Maciej B. Stephen. Lublin: Polskie Towarzystwo Tomasza z Akwinu.
Karkkainen, Veli-Matti. 2015. Creation and Humanity. Vol. 3 A Constructive Christian Theology for the Pluralistic World. Grand Rapids MI: Eerdmans.
Krąpiec, Mieczysław A., and Andrzej Maryniarczyk. 2015. “The Lublin Philosophical School: Historical Development and Future Prospects.” Studia Gilsoniana 4 (4): 423–41.
Lilienfeld, Scott O., Adele N. Strother, Shauna M. Bowes, and Thomas H. Costello. September/October 2020. “Intellectual Humility: A Guiding Principle for the Skeptical Movement?” Sketpical Inquirer, 32–7.
Louth, Andrew. 2013. Introducing Eastern Orthodox Theology. Downers Grove IL: IVP Academic.
McInerny, Ralph. 1993. “Reflections on Christian Philosophy.” In Rational Faith: Catholic Responses to Reformed Epistemology, edited by Linda Zagzebski, 256–79. Notre Dame IN: University of Notre Dame Press.
Moritz, Joshua M. 2016. Science and Religion: Beyond Warfare and Toward Understanding. Winona MN: Anselm Academic.
Murphy, Nancey. 2018. A Philosophy of the Christian Religion for the Twenty-first Century. London: SPCK.
Murphy, Nancey, and George F.R. Ellis. 1996. On the Moral Nature of the Universe: Theology, Cosmology, and Ethics. Minneapolis: Fortress Press.
Musser, George. 2020. “Paradox puts objectivity on shaky footing.” Science 369 (6506): 889–90. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.369.6506.889.
Paine, John A. 1883. “Editorial Policy.” The Journal of Christian Philosophy II (3, April): 337–90.
Pannenberg, Wolfhart. 1991–1998. Systematic Theology. Translated by Geoffrey W. Bromily. 6 vols. Grand Rapids MI: Eerdmans.
Peters, Ted. 2015. God—The World’s Future: Systematic Theology for a Postmodern Era. 3 ed. Minneapolis MN: Fortress Press.
———. 2018. “Public Theology: Its Pastoral, Apologetic, Scientific, Political, and Prophetic Tasks.” International Journal of Public Theology 12 (2): 153–77. https://doi.org/10.1163/15697320-12341533.
Peters, Ted, and Carl Peterson. 2013. “The Higgs Boson: An Adventure in Critical Realism.” Theology and Science 11 (3): 185–207. https://doi.org/10.1080/14746700.2013.809948.
Plantinga, Alvin. 1998. “Christian Philosophy at the End of the Twentieth Century.” In The Analytic Theist: An Alvin Plantinga Reader, edited by James F. Sennet, 328–52. Grand Rapids MI: Eerdmans.
———. 2005. “The Reformed Objection to Natural Theology.” In Ten Essential Texts in the Philosophy of Religion: Classic and Contemporary Issues, edited by Steven M. Cahn, 378–90. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Russell, Robert John. 2008. Cosmology from Alpha to Omega: The Creative Mutual Interaction of Theoloyg and Science. Minneapolis: Fortress Press.
Smith, Huston. 2003. The Way Things Are: Conversations with Huston Smith on the Spiritual Life. edited by Phil Cousineau. Berkeley: University of California Press.
———. 2005. “The News of Eternity.” In Healing our Planet; Healing Our Selves, edited by Dawson Church and Geralyn Gendreau, 43–58. Santa Rosa CA: Elite Books.
Tarasiewicz, Pawel. 2015. “Gilson, Krapiec, and Christian Philosophy Today.” Studia Gilsoniana 4 (4): 381–92.
Tillich, Paul. 1989. “Über die Idee einer Theologie der Kultur.” In Main Works/Hauptwerke, edited by Carl Heinz Ratschow. Vol. 2, 69–86. Berlin: De Gruyter.
Tischner, Józef. 1982. The Spirit of Solidarity. Translated by Marek B. Zaleski and Benjamin Fiore. New York: Harper.
Tracy, David. 1984. “The Role of Theology in Public Life: Some Reflections.” Word and World 4 (3): 230–9
———. 1987. Plurality and Ambiguity: Hermeneutics, Religion, Hope. San Francisco: Harper.
West, Cornell. 2013. “Reflections on the Life and Legacy of Nelson Mandela.” Accessed 6 May 2021. http://www.cornelwest.com/nelson_mandela.html.
Whitehead, Alfred North. 1978. Process and Reality. corrected edition ed., edited by David Ray Griffin and Donald W. Sherburne. New York: Free Press.
Wilson, Edward O. 2012. The Social Conquest of Earth. New York: W.W. Norton & Company.
Wong, Michael T.H. 2019. Ricoeur and the Third Discourse of the Person. Lanham MD: Lexington Books.
Wyman, Jayson A. 2017. “Interpreting the History of the Workgroup on Constructive Theology.” Theology Today 73 (4): 312–24. https://doi.org/10.1177/0040573616669565.
Zdybicka, Zofia. 1985. “Man and Religion.” In I-Man: An Outline of Philosophical Anthropology, 137–85. New Britain CT: Mariel Publications.