Thanks to Barry Turner for this brief summary of Ian Barbour’s fourth type of dialogue, Integration.
Science and Religion: Integration
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Religion and Science: Integration
Thanks to Carol McPhee for her brief summary of Process Theology.
In dialogue, science and religion share insights from each field which can enrich or correct the other. Ian Barbour’s Integration takes dialogue a step further, by seeking to create a synthesis of scientific ideas with religious belief.
As examples of integration, Elizabeth Johnson refers to Teilhard de Chardin and Process Theology (see ‘Ask the Beasts’, pages 10-12).
Faith in Dialogue with Reason
Notes from our discussion – January 29
I’ve been thinking about Barbour’s types of dialogue between science and religion (as presented here and in our discussion last week), and also about the people who have joined in this discussion.
Types of dialogue and types of people:
Conflict – I don’t think we have anyone in this group who isn’t open to scientific discoveries; nor anyone who isn’t open to hearing other people talking about faith…
Independence – I don’t think we have anyone in this group who is trying to keep ‘science’ and ‘facts’ in one part of their brain, and ‘faith’ and ‘God’ in another part of their brain. But many of us may find it difficult to see how to integrate them….
Dialogue – Most of us are hoping to learn more about science and evolution – and at the same time we’re hoping for new religious insights that may come from scientific concepts and information…
Integration – And there are many – perhaps all of us – who are looking for some way to integrate science and religion, some way to use both faith and reason as we seek to understand the world we live in. Yes, perhaps we experience science and religion as always in tension (in our culture and in our own minds) – and yet, as we work to integrate what we’re learning, we try to keep faith and reason in conversation with each other.
A question about Charles Darwin himself:
As he moved through his life, did Darwin find it harder and harder to integrate the information he was collecting – and the theories he was building – with the conventional Christian faith he had received from his family, church and culture?
A question for you:
As you read the next chapter of Ask the Beasts (chapter 3, “Endless forms most beautiful”), how can you keep your own faith in conversation with science? (You may find that as you ‘stretch’ your mind to comprehend the science, you will also have to ‘stretch’ your faith for an idea of God ‘big enough’ to make sense.)
Reading Origin of Species – 1
Darwin’s Origin of Species is a sustained argument – almost 500 pages long – which aims to demonstrate that over millions of years all species of plants and animals have descended from original parents, along the way diversifying and/or going extinct, due to the process of natural selection.
(1) Starting with farm and garden (pages 45-49)
(2) Two key elements: variation and struggle (pages 49-55)
Reading Origin of Species – 2
Reading Origin of Species – 3
Reading Origin of Species – 4
(7) Across space (pages 82-93)
By the 15th century, European explorers were accumulating more and more knowledge of the earth’s flora and fauna. As their discoveries increased, naturalists speculated that there might be important ‘centers of special creation’ around the globe. But in Origin Darwin argues that natural selection gives a more plausible explanation of the distribution of life.
Looking at the distribution of animals and plants around the globe, Darwin observes major patterns. These patterns cry out for explanation:
Reading Origin of Species – 5
(8) Mutual affinities (pages 93-95)
(9) “There is grandeur in this view of life” (pages 95-99)
Origin’s Chapter 14 probes the ‘mutual affinities of organic beings’ by focusing on various branches of biology (as practiced in Darwin’s day). Origin’s overarching argument is that the problems these disciplines were encountering could be addressed by his theory of descent with modification.
Lectio Divina for Groups
Lectio Divina, or ‘Holy Reading’, is an ancient monastic practice – a slow, meditative way of prayerfully reading a passage from Holy Scripture.
When a group comes together for Lectio Divina, greet each other warmly and then find comfortable places to sit. Choose one member of the group to be leader or time-keeper. Then let the silence of the Spirit settle upon you during the opening (centering) prayer.
Praying with Biblical Images
Poetic Biblical Images *
Lectio Divina, or ‘Holy Reading’, is an ancient monastic practice – a slow, meditative way of prayerfully reading a passage from Holy Scripture.
(1) Lectio: Read the passage slowly and quietly. Give it time to open within you.
(2) Meditatio: Reflect upon what the passage says to you.
(3) Oratio: Respond by writing down whatever has entered your spirit. When you are finished, circle a word or phrase that jumps out from what you have written.
(4) Contemplatio: Rest with your word or phrase, allowing the Holy Spirit to speak to your spirit.