CHOOSING OPTIONS
As we look at the two methods discussed in this lesson, we see each one relies upon data that gives clues for answering questions of how the world works. This data is then interpreted to formulate answers to these questions. While the procedures for interpreting the data might differ for each method, they are both analyzed using the same mental capabilities.
For scientific data, there are no rules for how one uses mental capabilities to understand the data. While it has been previously assumed that science was purely objective, or not influenced by outside sources, because its theories were “validated by clear-cut criteria and were tested by agreement with indisputable, theory-free data,”1 we know that theories are not created in a vacuum or from a blank slate. The data and the interpretation are subject to mental processes of the individual interpreter.
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For theology, there are also data that are subject to the interpretation of the individual. This interpretation happens within a particular religious community and beliefs are formed based upon this interpretation. Because divine revelation is “not accessible to everybody in the same way that experience of the world is,”2 its validity can be subject to the interpretation of the individual or surrounding belief system of the community.
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Our mental capabilities are the result of functions of the human brain. The human brain is a complex organ and is the tool we use to make sense of our world. As James B. Ashbrook and Carol Rausch Albright explain:
Experience, observation, explanation – these are present simultaneously in everything we do and in everything we are. There is no such thing as an uninterpreted life. We humans make sense of what we experience in ourselves and of what we meet in the world. We put things together. That’s just the way we are. This process integrates what catches our attention, the emotion elicited by the stimulus, and the way we represent that as a symbol and/or an idea.3
Experience, observation, explanation – these are present simultaneously in everything we do and in everything we are. There is no such thing as an uninterpreted life. We humans make sense of what we experience in ourselves and of what we meet in the world. We put things together. That’s just the way we are. This process integrates what catches our attention, the emotion elicited by the stimulus, and the way we represent that as a symbol and/or an idea.3
OPEN THE DOOR TO NEW UNDERSTANDING |
If you participated in the first lesson in section one, “I Believe in God, Creation and Evolution," you will recall that the stories of Genesis differ based upon the writer’s interpretation of how God relates to the world, and each story was influenced by a particular community in a particular time.
If you participated in the first lesson in section two, “Prayer and Faith - Mind, Body, Spirit: Are They Connected?” you will recall that the way we observe the world is dependent upon our particular perspective. If you participated in the second lesson in section one, "I Believe in Jesus Christ - Incarnation, Life, Death, and Resurrection" you will recall that we should develop our perspective by looking at both the religious and scientific claims. As humans who make sense of our world through the methods and process our brains employ, we are capable of interpreting the world both theologically and scientifically. How we perceive is subject to the selective processes of what Ashbrook and Albright call the “humanizing brain.” This brain is “influenced by what ‘fits’ an individual’s patterns of thought. All perceptions necessarily have a human bias.”4 While humans may use differing methods and processes for understanding the world in a scientific or theological manner, these processes originate in a brain that integrates and makes sense of our inner personal and external encounters with the world. |
So remember, as you consider the choice of using a scientific and/or theological method for learning about and making sense of the world, you are doing so with a brain that is capable of integrating both methods!
Here are two options for using the LEADER GUIDE; the first option contains information for this page only and the second option contains the entire LEADER GUIDE.
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1 Ian Barbour, Religion in an Age of Science; The Gifford Lectures Volume One (San Francisco: Harper Collins, 1990), 20.
2 George L. Murphy, Toward a Christian View of a Scientific World: Fifteen Topics for Study (Lima, Ohio: CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 2001), 24.
3 James B. Ashbrook and Carol Rausch Albright, The Humanizing Brain: Where Religion and Neuroscience Meet (Cleveland, Ohio: The Pilgrim Press, 1997), 15.
4 Ibid., 36.
2 George L. Murphy, Toward a Christian View of a Scientific World: Fifteen Topics for Study (Lima, Ohio: CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 2001), 24.
3 James B. Ashbrook and Carol Rausch Albright, The Humanizing Brain: Where Religion and Neuroscience Meet (Cleveland, Ohio: The Pilgrim Press, 1997), 15.
4 Ibid., 36.