Forms of Transcendence in Science and in Religion

Abstract

The paper compares Barbour's four ways of relating science and religion with Kuhn's theory of scientific revolutions and Lindbeck's classification of views on the nature of religious doctrine. It turns out that these three theories can be brought into correlation. On the one hand, in the framework of Kuhn's theory, three kinds of scientific revolutions can be distinguished, which, together with normal science, correspond to Barbour's four ways that science and religion relate to each other. On the other hand, Lindbeck's three views on the nature of doctrine can be complemented by a fourth view, and so brought into correspondence with Barbour's theory. This fourth view understands doctrines as forms of transcendence. We will analyze the theological motifs in the works of Galileo, Descartes, and Newton and show how the scientific revolution relates to the integration of science and religion in Barbour's sense.