Some Great Thinkers
Ian Barbour
Ian Barbour is professor emeritus of physics and religion at Carleton College, and a preeminent figure in the field of science and religion. His background is as a nuclear physicist and theologian, and he is a winner of the Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion for his pioneering role in advancing the study of religion and science. He has developed widely accepted definitions of the categories of thought regarding the boundaries between science and religion, and applied those definitions to key areas of scholarship. Although public opinion is often swayed by strident voices which attempt to place science and religion in conflict or keep them totally isolated, Barbour's voluminous contributions over the past fifty years have carved out a trusted pathway to constructive dialogue between science and religion.
Born in Beijing in 1923 to an American and a Scot, he grew up in England and the United States. He received a bachelor's in physics from Swarthmore College in 1943, a master's in physics from Duke University in 1946, and a doctorate in physics from the University of Chicago in 1949. After doing research in high-energy physics, he changed careers and received a divinity degree from Yale in 1956. He has worked at Carleton College ever since, teaching in both the physics and religion departments, except for one year of work at Purdue University under a Lilly endowment.
Conflict
In his book When Science Meets Religion, Ian writes "I proposed a fourfold typology as an aid to sorting out the great variety of ways in which people have related science and religion". Unfortunately, he defines religion from a Christian perspective, which narrows and restricts his definitions somewhat more than necessary. In his system, he describes the first category as follows. "Biblical literalists believe that the theory of evolution conflicts with religious faith. Atheistic scientists claim that scientific evidence for evolution is incompatible with any form of theism. The two groups agree in asserting that a person cannot believe in both God and evolution, though they disagree as to which they will accept. For both of them, science and religion are enemies." A famous proponent is Douglas Adams.
Contrast
Ian calls this category independence. "An alternative view holds that science and religion are strangers who can coexist as long as they keep a safe distance from each other. According to this view, there should be no conflict because science and religion refer to differing domains of life or aspects of reality. Moreover, scientific and religious assertions are two kinds of language that do not compete because they serve completely different functions in human life. They answer contrasting questions. Science asks how things work and deals with objective facts; religion deals with values and ultimate meaning." A famous proponent is Steven Jay Gould.
Contact
Ian divides this category into two, the first of which he calls dialogue. "One form of dialogue is a comparison of the methods of two fields, which may show similarities even when the differences are acknowledged. ... Alternatively, dialogue may arise when science raises at its boundaries limit-questions that it cannot itself answer. ... A third form of dialogue occurs when concepts from science are use as analogies for talking about God's relation to the world." Most people think of dialog as science asking the questions, and for those answers that science can't provide, religion fills the gaps.
The second category he calls integration. "A more systematic and extensive kind of partnership between science and religion occurs among those who seek a closer integration of the two disciplines. The long tradition of natural theology has sought in nature a proof (or at least suggestive evidence) of the existence of God. Other authors start from a particular religious tradition and argue that some of its religious beliefs (ideas of divine omnipotence or original sin, for instance) should be reformulated in the light of science. Such an approach I call a theology of nature (within a religious tradition) rather than a natural theology (arguing from science alone)." With science and religion, a geniune search for truth in one can augment a search for truth in the other.
Sources of Wisdom:
The living tradition we share draws from many sources:
... direct experience of that transcending mystery and wonder, affirmed in all cultures, which moves us to a renewal of the spirit and an openness to the forces which create and uphold life;
... words and deeds of prophetic women and men which challenge us to confront powers and structures of evil with justice, compassion, and the transforming power of love;
... teachings from the world's religions which inspire us in our ethical and spiritual life;
... Jewish and Christian teachings which call us to respond to God's love by loving our neighbors as ourselves;
... humanist teachings which counsel us to heed the guidance of reason and the results of science, and warn against the idolatries of the mind and spirit;
... and spiritual teachings of earth-centered traditions which celebrate the sacred circle of life and instruct us to live in harmony with the rhythms of nature.