Issues in Science and Religion
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| Author | Ian Barbour |
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| Subject | Relationship between religion and science |
| Genre | Non-fiction |
| Publisher | Prentice Hall |
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Publication date
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1966 |
| ISBN | |
| OCLC | 17518056 |
Issues in Science and Religion is a book by Ian Barbour. A biography provided by the John Templeton Foundation and published by PBS online states this book "has been credited with literally creating the contemporary field of science and religion."
The book is divided into three parts. The first part is concerned with the history of science and religion, the second with the methods of science and religion, and the third with the issues themselves.
Barbour provides introductions to several schools of philosophy in order to give the reader knowledge enough to understand how relations between science and religion look from these distinct viewpoints. The book also includes several specific, non-philosophical areas of science are employed in its discussion. Several specific concepts and objects are brought up in the discussion generally along with summaries of significant criticisms.
In this part Barbour provides an overview of how scientific discovery has influenced theology throughout the 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. The major scientific discoveries made in the 17th century included those made by Galileo and Newton. The scientific discoveries made by Galileo and Newton began to describe and explain the natural and physical laws by which the earth operates. These discoveries drastically changed the way that man viewed the world and nature. This in turn caused shifts in theological thought. Natural theology emerged, where God was able to fill the scientific gaps and was responsible for the orderliness of nature. The idea of God as the "Divine Clockmaker" and the beginning of Deism can also be traced back to the 17th century.
During the 18th century the Age of Reason and Romanticism greatly shaped views on science and theology. Deism became very popular during this time among many Enlightenment scholars. Romanticism, on the other hand, led to an appreciation of the underlying spirituality in nature and in man, and God's personal relationship with man and nature. This in turn led to the concepts of moral and religious experience, which focused on man's intuition and imagination in relation to their religious experience.
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