Willem B. Drees

“Playing God? Yes!” Religion in the Light of Technology

If we appeal to God when our technology (including medicine) fails, we assume a “ God of the gaps.” It is religiously preferable to appreciate technological competence. Our successes challenge, however, religious convictions. Modifying words and images is not enough, as technology affects theology more deeply. This is illustrated by the history of chemistry. Chemistry has been perceived as wanting to transform and purify reality rather than to understand the created order. Thus, unlike biology and physics, chemistry did not provide a fertile basis for natural theologies. It is argued that an active, transformative role of humans is appropriate in biblically inspired religions and called for in the light of imperfections and evil in the world. When the expression “playing God” is used dismissively, as if we trespass upon God–given territory, a theologically problematical association of God and the given order is assumed. A different view of the human calling can be articulated by drawing upon the Christian heritage and by developing an antinatural religious naturalism.

Science and Religion: A New Introduction

In this format of book reviews, Theology & Science asks two eminent scholars in a particular area of theology and science to review each other’s works and respond to their respective reviews, thereby identifying in conversation with one another what they consider the most important issues in their field of research. The current issue features a conversation between Willem B. Drees, professor of philosophy of religion and ethics at Leiden University, the Netherlands, and Alister E. McGrath, chair of Theology, Religion and Culture at King’s College London.

Religion in an Age of Technology

Technology raises important religious issues and not only moral ones. Given that technology is about transforming reality, these issues are different from the issues that arise in dialogues on religion and science that are primarily after understanding reality (e.g., cosmology, physics, and evolutionary biology). Technology is a multifaceted reality-not just hardware but also skills and organization, attitudes and culture. Technology has been appreciated as well as considered a threat but is best understood contextually and constructively.

A Scientific Theology, Volume 3: Theory

Abstract In the third and final volume of his A Scientific Theology, the evangelical theologian Alister McGrath discusses the theoretical dimensions of theology. Theory is defended as a legitimate interest in theology, with a descriptive and explanatory agenda which cannot do but combine empirical and (a posteriori) metaphysical aspects.

A Scientific Theology, Volume 2: Reality

Abstract Alister McGrath is developing a trilogy entitled A Scientific Theology. In this context he is engaged in dialogue with the natural sciences, and especially with epistemological and methodological issues as they arise in relation to the sciences and theology. His main theological inspiration seems to come from Karl Barth and, especially, T.F. Torrance. Volume 2, reviewed here, deals especially with `realism’ in the sciences and in theology.

God and contemporary science: Philip Clayton's Defense of Panentheism

Philip Claytons God and Contemporary Science is summarized and discussed. Clayton presents a theological reading of biblical texts. In my opinion, science-and-religion studies should deal more substantially with insights of secular studies on the situated character of these texts. Clayton uses the relationship between mind and brain as analogy for the relationship between God and the world. This runs the risk of understanding God as analogous to the mind and hence secondary and emergent relative to the world. Besides, Claytons arguments for “mental causation” are wanting. But then, why should a defender of panentheism decouple the mental and the material?

Thick Naturalism: Comments on Zygon 2000

The term naturalism arouses strong emotions; religious naturalism even more. In this essay, naturalism is explored in a variety of contexts, in contrast to supernaturalism (in metaphysics), normativism (in ethics and epistemology), and rationalism (in the philosophy of mind). It is argued that religious naturalism becomes a “thick” naturalism, a way of life rather than just a philosophical position. We can discern a subculture with a historical identity, a variety of dialects, stories that evoke attitudes and feelings, as well as more systematic theological elaborations. In this context, religious naturalists are called to thicken further the ways of life that embody their religious and naturalist sensitivities. In order to speak of a naturalist theology in this context, one has to define theology in a way that avoids assumptions regarding the supernatural; this can be achieved by presenting theologies as particular combinations of cosmologies (informed by the sciences) and axiologies (values).

Naturalisms and religion

Such terms as materialism, naturalism, and near synonyms evoke strong negative reactions among many believers. However, the notion of naturalism has various meanings; implications for religion differ for the several varieties of naturalism. In this paper I analyze epistemological and ontological variants of naturalism and explore the perspectives for religion within a nonreductive ontological naturalism.

Science, Values and Loves: Theologies as Expressive Constructions

ABSTRACT Invited to write “a manifesto for [my] own theological position”, I begin with science and human rights as excellent examples of universalist aspirations of modernity. Modern individualism is important too, as particular existential loves shape each life. Science, morality, and personal loves are interwoven in theologies, as creative constructions. The sciences are important, as we need not only individual authenticity but also accountability. My position presented here is science-inspired naturalistic theism. It is not “religious naturalism”, given the categorical difference between facts and values. It is not “natural theology”, as inductive approaches do not reach that far. It comes closer to a “theology of nature”, but it does not assume the epistemic claims involved. I consider theologies to be important expressive constructions.

Disenchantment or Conflict? Egil Asprem and ‘Science and Religion’ Discourses

In his The Problem of Disenchantment , Egil Asprem offers an interesting view of discourses on science and religion. Despite the dominance of ‘conflicts’ in public perception, the ‘independence’ approach might be more deeply rooted in modern culture. Asprem studies ‘scientific’ movements that oppose disenchantment. In this paper I raise the question of why quantum physics was successful, whereas other revisions of ‘science’ were not. Of the natural theologies discussed, this paper offers some comments on ‘emergence’ and on ‘quantum mysticism’. Asprem presents himself as a methodological naturalist; a position that is in principle open to the study of parapsychology and other ‘spiritual’ claims. He considers theism to be incompatible with such a methodological naturalism, whereas I suggest that an epistemically agnostic theism is also appropriate, combining methodological naturalism and disenchantment.