Science and Theology

https://brasiliensis.cerm.org.br/index.php/brasiliensis/article/view/60/version/60 The influence of science on modern life is enormous, and has come to dominate our intellectual situation. Theology has effectively been demoted, and for many has only a secondary role in the pursuit of knowledge. In fact this general attitude stems from a misunderstanding of the nature of science, scientific knowledge, and theology. There are eight ways in which science and theology differ, and they provide the key to correctly understanding the relationship between these forms of knowledge: (1) The object of their knowledge; (2) Their respective manners of investigation; (3) The levels of knowledge each involves; (4) The levels of reality at which each operates; (5) The number of levels at which their respective statements can be understood; (6) The goals of each; (7) The source of their knowledge and corresponding authority; (8) Their use of postulation of reality. When these are examined, it becomes clear that neither science nor any other form of knowledge can capture all of reality. That is, human knowledge of reality can never be complete, whether based on philosophy, science, literature, or any other form of knowledge based at the level of reason. Science utilizes a particular methodology and a canon of reality in order to proceed; both are subject to revision, and the canon may vary from one scientific field to another. Neither of the two can be proved within science itself; the methodology can only be judged in the total context of human knowledge, and the canon of (scientific) reality ultimately is a subset of reality in general. Theology, like philosophy, utilizes human reason based on our direct contact with reality. However, it also has other sources, in particular revelation, which gives it an authority that other forms of knowledge do not have. And ultimately theology sees beyond science, to ultimate reality, and even sees ordinary things at a level inaccessible to science