Is Theology Science? - Understanding of The ‘Theology’ of Reformed Life Theology in The Light of Calvin’s Institutes of Christian Religion -

This article is based on work conducted at a research unit that I head at Aarhus University called Religion, Cognition and Culture (RCC). It was originally designated as a special research area by the Faculty of Theology at the University and has since been integrated as a full-fledged research unit in the Department of the Study of Religion. In a recent statement by the RCC, we claim that humans are simultaneously biological and cultural beings. In all of hominin history, human biology and culture have never been separate. Each newborn infant is both unfinished and uniquely equipped, biologically and cognitively organized to flourish in socio-cultural environments that its genes could never anticipate. So a perspective on minds not limited to brains is required. Thus we must approach cognition as embodied and distributed. We must analyze religion by studying the functional organization of the human brain, its interaction with the social and cultural worlds that it inhabits and modifies, and its developmental constraints and flexibility. The RCC is a European institution, obviously. It differs in its approach to cognition from the few institutions in the United States, England and Northern Ireland that deal with cognition and religion. Whereas the RCC is similar in approach to other European initiatives such as the cognition group in Groningen and the research project in Helsinki. Therefore it could be claimed that our programmatic insistence on causal links between religion, cognition and culture is a peculiarly European approach. In the following, I will explain how the cognitive science of religion can become more relevant to the comparative study of religion and to cutting-edge cognitive science by following this European approach. 1 This article is a highly edited version of my keynote lecture presented at the EASR meeting in Messina in 2009 entitled Religion, Cognition and Culture: A European Idea?. 2 The RCC is closely integrated with the university-wide conglomerate in Aarhus, known as MINDLab, as well as the Center for Functionally Integrative Neuroscience (CFIN), and the Cognition, Communication, and Culture (CCC) network, all consisting of researchers from the humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, health sciences, the university hospitals and the psychiatric hospital. Too much mind and not enough brain 2 Introduction The recent success of and growing interest in the cognitive science of religion (CSR) indicates that it has a lot of potential not only for the comparative study of religion but also for the cognitive neurosciences. Despite these successes, we should not be blind to the fact that a number of challenges must be overcome in order to ensure future growth in the field. My own list of challenges, idiosyncratic as it may be, looks like this: • accommodating current breakthroughs in the social neurosciences • bringing deficient methodological paradigms to terms with cutting edge philosophy of science • obtaining both cross-cultural and ecological validity of current psychological hypotheses • broadening perspectives and theories to accommodate the accumulated knowledge and breakthroughs in the comparative study of religion • broadening perspectives and theories to accommodate the accumulated knowledge and breakthroughs in semiotics, history, literature and linguistics • recruiting young scholars, especially women scholars, and encouraging exchange between the few cognitive science of religion centers and research units that exist in the world In a word, current cognitive science of religion is too much mind and not enough brain, body and culture. It is swiftly becoming esoteric in 3 Cf. ARMIN W. GEERTZ. Cognitive approaches to the study of religion, in New Approaches to the Study of Religion. Volume 2. Textual, Comparative, Sociological, and Cognitive Approaches, edited by Peter Antes, Armin W. Geertz, Randi R. Warne, Berlin, Walter de Gruyter, 2004. pp. 347-399; ID.. Religion and cognition: A crisis in the academic study of religion?, «Bulletin of the Council of Societies for the Study of Religion» XXXVII, 2008, 4, pp. 91-95; JEPPE SINDING JENSEN, The complex worlds of religion: Connecting cultural and cognitive analysis, in Current Approaches in the Cognitive Science of Religion, edited by Ilkka Pyysiainen, Veikko Anttonen, London & New York, Continuum, 2002, pp. 203-228; ID., Religion as the unintended product of brain functions in the “standard cognitive science of religion model”: On Pascal Boyer, Religion Explained (2001) and Ilkka Pyysiainen, How Religion Works (2003), in Contemporary Theories of Religion: A Critical Companion, edited by Michael Stausberg, Abingdon & New York, Routledge, 2009, pp.

In 1882, Dr George Leslie Mackay (1844–1901), a Canadian Presbyterian missionary, established the earliest higher education institution in Taiwan, the Oxford College (today’s Aletheia University), and the first university museum collection on the island. After years of neglect, at the end of the 20 century, the collection was ‘rediscovered’ by Canadian and Taiwanese anthropologists from the Royal Museum of Ontario, Canada. Just as these illustrious artifacts embark on a new chapter in life, they also seem to be re-introduced with their original interpretations: items that Dr Mackay preserved to demonstrate the idol-worshipping and heathen beliefs of the ‘savages’ are, once again, seen from a pagan perspective. To date, they are deemed as one of the best resources available for contemporary researchers to understand the spiritual life and value system of the Taiwanese Aborigines. Dr. Mackay’s collection is extraordinary, but its history is far from unique. This paper aims to examine university museums whose holdings have strong theological ties. As user communities change and new research interests emerge, ecclesiastical collections have helped to shed new lights on secular scholarship on such topics as ethnography, folklore studies and even missionary work itself. Of the sacred and the secular: Missionary collections in university museums A missionary is a member of a religion who works to convert those who do not yet share his or her faith. Driven by the sense of fulfillment, a missionary is constantly engaged in reaching out. A university missionary collection is here defined as either a collection in a missionary university museum (museum in a seminary or a theological college), or a missionary collection in a university museum (museum in a secular university). In light of the frequent outreach and postings in far-flung places, a missionary has vast opportunities to build a rich collection of ‘all things bright and beautiful, all creatures great and small’, and which makes ‘missionary collections’ an interesting sub-set in the study of university museums. This paper will examine Dr Mackay’s collection, Taiwan’s first university museum, and the layers of meanings it has been invested with during its eventual journey. It argues that as the user communities change and new research interests emerge, ecclesiastical collections have helped to shed light on secular scholarship such as ethnography, cultural studies and even the missionary movement itself.

This is the accepted version of an article subsequently published in the Cormac McCarthy Journal. The definitive version is available here: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5325/cormmccaj.12.39

During the period of the slave trade (1650-1830), people were brought from the whole West Coast of Africa to Suriname. The majority had a Fante-Akan (Ghana), Ewe-Fon (Togo and Benin), or a western Bantu (Congo, Zaire and Angola) background, while the Mandingo (Senegal, Sierra Leone and Liberia) formed a minor fraction (Wooding 1972: ch. II). In the course of time they amalgamated into the Afrosurinamese population group, which is subdivided into two main groups: the coastal Creoles and the inland Bushnegroes.

The epistemological statute of a science accounts for the contents and procedures which enable access to knowledge. Theology, as well as any other science, has an epistemological statute raised and questioned by theologians of all ages and, not rarely, with questions and contributions from other sciences. Apart from the discussion on the scientificity of theology, this article examines the epistemological statute of theology in the light of the encounter or disencounter with verificationism and falsationism, within the framework of critical rationalism. Likewise, the following reflective appropriations give an account of the implicit and explicit relationship between theology and philosophy that, in permanent dialogue, can continue to enrich theological work. And, finally, an approach to 20th Century Anglo Saxon philosophy of religion resumes statements from verificationism and critical rationalism as horizons to the questioning of actions and affirmations of believers. From this point of view, theology has much to rethink, learn, and say.

Today, human are able to use genetic engineering to create new organisms, which normally it is very difficult to do. These organisms that named genetically modified organisms (GMO) are very extensive applications in various sciences and technologies including medicine, pharmaceuticals, industry, agriculture… One of the most applications of these organisms is in agriculture and food production. Development of transgenic foods have made some concerns in many different aspects of ethical, social and biosafety and acceptance of the new foods. On the other hand, religious views have a significant role in the public acceptance of this technology. However, the views of various religions and their influence are different on decision making of consumers. In the present paper, the divine views of three great religions (Islam, Christianity and Judaism) are discussed in the context of transgenic technology. The studies show that there is no general consensus on this issue within the three religions. Overall, however, it appears that mainstream theology in all three religions increasingly tends towards acceptance of GM technology per se, on performing GM research, and on consumption of GM foods. However, all of them are believed on there being rigorous scientific, ethical and regulatory scrutiny of research and development of such products, and that these products are properly labeled. Furthermore, the results show that several other factors also influence the religious aspects the acceptance of genetically modified crops, such as media, environmental activists, scientists and food industries as well as all of information sources.

Th is article aims to demonstrate - using selected examples of English Medieval poetry
\nas well as Polish Renaissance and Baroque works - the way poets applied their
\nknowledge of astrology, which modern researchers defi ne as metaphor. Astrology,
\nthe study of the geocentric Cosmos, today a historical science, was ultimately formulated
\nin Ptolemy’s time. As one of the seven liberal arts (septem artes liberales)
\nit constituted the basis of education from late Antiquity to Medieval universities,
\nsurviving until as late as the 18th century.

Responding to a ‘silence’ in the critical discourse of environmental education on the role of theology, this study is a Critical Discourse Analysis of the Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE) subject ‘Religion and Society’, offered to Year 11 and 12 secondary school students in the State of Victoria, Australia. This subject is analysed in terms of how it potentially constructs environmentally problematic assumptions, and its potential revision to foster greater contestation of such assumptions. An ecotheological conceptual framework was developed by distilling key concepts from a range of authors contributing to: an historical discourse concerning causes of the environmental crisis; the ecotheological discourse on links between theological understandings and nature, and; the critical discourse of environmental education. Over the past thirty years the critical discourse of environmental education facilitated an altered perspective in education on the earth’s ecological situation, from ‘environmental crisis’ to an ‘environmentally problematic human condition’. It identifies this condition as one where human identity is fragmented by the Scientific Paradigm. The ecotheological discourse characterises this condition as lack of self-love perpetuated by capitalist economic interests playing on deep archetypal forces within human identity. Environmentally problematic assumptions, then, are assumptions about self which are inherent in fragmented identity and lack of self-love. From an educational perspective, discipline and wisdom emerge as crucial concepts from the ecotheological discourse. When the critical discourse of environmental education is analysed in light of these, the notion of ‘disciplines of identity’ emerges – discipline of body, gender, culture, and narrative. New understandings of ‘interdisciplinarity’ emerge – conceptual relationships between these disciplines, and the work towards reconciliation between them, towards unifying identity. New understandings of ‘transdisciplinarity’ emerge – in this reconciliation the identity transcends its disciplines of body, gender, culture, and narrative. This reconciliation leads to intelligibility and accountability in individual identity and life narrative, which is transcended by resulting enhancing relationships with self, others, and nature. Self-knowledge, or wisdom, is necessarily developed in this process. Based on the application of the ecotheological framework, VCE ‘Religion and Society’ is found to construct environmentally problematic assumptions through the following interrelated characteristics: direct linkage to the bureaucratic selection process into the Victorian tertiary education system; likely emphasis on the economic imperative of maximising entry opportunities into this system, rather than on exploration of the ‘great questions of life’ for the sake of self-knowledge or wisdom; competitiveness, and emphasis on rational analysis rather than synthesis and creativity, in the exploration of the non-rational ‘great questions of life’. This study found that VCE ‘Religion and Society’ could be critically revised to foster greater contestation of environmentally problematic assumptions by: overtly facilitating student exploration of the ‘great questions of life’ in relation to their own identities and life narratives; emphasising and assessing depth of engagement, rather than ‘performance’, in this exploration; emphasising creative expression in relation to this exploration, and; structuring the curriculum around the disciplines of body, gender, culture, and narrative. More generally, this study contributes broader understandings to the critical discourse of environmental education, and to future transdisciplinary research efforts.

The relationship of science and religion has for long been an issue of prime importance in philosophy. The importance comes mainly from the fact that both science and religion depict its own comprehensive picture of human existence. We, while tending to go beyond the limits beset by the finitude of human conditions, long for these pictures in order to be incorporated into the infinitude. Though philosophers undergo divergently theoretical schemes, they ceaselessly investigate the different pictures by resorting to various perspectives. Among these perspectives, Jean Ladriere's deserves to special attention because of two reasons: 1. It includes many other perspectives. 2. It is engaged with significant mediation of science and theology by philosophy. This paper is accordingly divided into two parts: 1. An exposition of Ladriere's perspective which includes all major philosophical positions regarding science and religion (i.e., 'anti-positivism', 'the ontological differentiation' and 'the emotive commitment'). 2. A reconstruction of Ladriere's structure in which the existential significance of relating oneself with the outside world becomes 'perceptual' by transcendental arguments which dissolve the apparent discrepancy between science and theology. In this dissolution, Ladriere intends to make explicit that theology also resorts to a sensible language which validates its statements by relying on a closed intelligibility and corresponding to a particular reality. The combination of the 'reliance' and the 'correspondence' together paves the way for the mutual enrichment between science and theology.

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The article shows that Victoria’s response to the diffusion of the Protestant Reformation consisted in a precise scientific position, aimed at clearly contrasting Martin Luther’s position on Scholastic theology. In his Disputatio contra scholasticam theologiam (1517), and in his Disputatio Heidelbergae habita (1518), in which he defines the fundamental aspects of his theological programme, Luther harshly criticizes the Aristotelian philosophy and the use of the ratio in the study of the theological science. As Luther minimises the value of Scholastic theology, Victoria supports a concept of theology intended not only as a moral science, but also as a speculative science, even though the Dominican Master considered positive theology to be always dominant.

Abrahamic religions refer to three religions of Islam, Christianity and Judaism that are inspired by the ancient tradition of Abraham in the Semitic writings. These religions, all believe in the prophecy theory, i.e. God selects certain individuals and sends them messages directly and through an angel. The main feature of aforesaid religions is that the prophets are addressed by God. Although these three religions enjoy three distinct and different theological systems, but they have a lot of common features so that they may be placed in a category. The present paper intends to explain and illustrate existing similarities and differences in the ethical decision making in the biological affairs between them by discussing the fundamentals of the bioethics in theses religions.

Interfaith dialogue is an endeavor of the followers of different religions to recognize the common phenomena in various religions in a bid to proceed towards the common goal of communal harmony. The objective of interfaith dialogue is to create mutual understanding and respect to work in unity for peace and prosperity of humanity without harming the identity of any religious group in multi-culture societies. It is believed that every religion has some universal values which can serve as a common ground with other religions. Islam, as a complete code of life, guides us in this regard too with clear directives. The Islamic directive is to engage in interfaith dialogue and cooperative relationships with the people of other faiths on the basis of what they have common between them as religious injunctions aiming at the betterment of society. We are living in a globalised world, with diverse religious, ethnic, cultural, social, economic and political backgrounds. The followers of various religions need to learn how to live together like members of one united big family in this small global village of ours, known as the world. All these aspects suggest the importance for a better understanding one another through interfaith dialogue. The aim of this paper is to discuss all the possible ways to strengthen interfaith dialogue to resolve inter-religious conflicts and to restore harmony and peace in the light of Islamic directives. This paper also explores the role of Islamic directives to find a common theological platform with adherents of different faiths to create a better and peaceful pluralistic society. DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.4519715 Link: https://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.4519715.v1

The question of how religions will look like tomorrow is speculative. But this is not the case with the boundary conditions, or limits, of the future trajectories of world religions. Answers can be found in the intersection of three disciplinary perspectives. The disciplines are anthropology, philosophical ethics (or its political equivalent, international law), and the environmental and climate sciences. Anthropology has gained an understanding of the past development of religions, especially about its shifting functions in successive stages of civilization: among prehistoric bands and tribes, in ancient chiefdoms and medieval kingdoms, and in modern secular states. We know what social purposes religions served in the past, what kind of shifts occurred, and what the trend of religion from prehistory to today had been. Based on the empirical record, anthropology tells us what it means for religion to slide back to a less developed stage of civilization. This is one set of boundary conditions. Ethics discusses the meaning of right and wrong, but its debates cluster around normal, middle-of-the road issues. There is little disagreement over extremes. International institutions (e.g. International Criminal Court), treaties (e.g. Geneva Conventions), and metrics (e.g. Human Development Index) give a clear picture of the limits of right and wrong. As the moral assessment of genocides illustrates, there is no confusion over what counts as evil. We also have a clear idea of what constitutes a life that is safe and dignified. In this way, ethics and international law can tell us whether the social manifestation of faith is acceptable or not, whether it is good or evil. This is another set of boundary conditions. The environmental and climate sciences, finally, have arrived at a conclusion: civilization is maladapted to its environment. The ecological overshoot of humankind has worsened to the point that degradation of ecological integrity is tangible in accelerating extinction rates; that deterioration of environmental services is tangible in climate change; and that depletion of natural resources is tangible in rising prices (compared to incomes) of food, land, and rare earths. Since civilization relies on a global market economy whose stability needs material growth, and since our ecological overshoot makes such growth unsustainable, our species has arrived at a fork in the road. Either we keep doing business as usual and sink into crisis, or we redesign civilization and move towards sustainability. This fork in the road sharpens the anthropological sense of ＂regress＂ and ＂progress,＂ and tweaks the ethical meanings of ＂good＂ and ＂evil＂. Since religion is integral to the fabric of any society, the dimension of sustainability places a fork in the developmental road of religions, too. One future trajectory of faith is a path that is hopeful. Another is a path that is terrifying. The biophysical fork in the road establishes a third set of boundary conditions. Although we do not know what the future will bring, the environmental crisis and the opportunities for mitigating the crisis tell us what a good future will amount to, and what a bad future will boil down to. Anthropology and ethics tell us what it will mean for civilization to move forward or to slide back, to proceed to a healthier, safer world, or to regress to a harsher, poorer world. The purpose this paper is to use the findings of anthropology, ethics, and the environmental sciences to determine the best- and worst-case scenarios of future religion- how faith may look like along an evolutionary, enlightened, and sustainable pathway, and how it would look like if events and people push faith into the opposite direction. I argue that these two scenarios are clear and justifiable. I contend that only the sustainable pathway is compatible with Chinese cultural wisdom, as in Confucianism, Lao-Zhuang Daoism, and Chan Buddhism. And I suspect that Chinese culture and its spiritual traditions will become more influential globally if and only if civilization moves towards sustainability. But if civilization failed at this project, regressed, and suffered collapse, I fear that Chinese culture would be swept away by Middle Eastern creeds.

Women’s limited access to top positions has become of particular interest in the last two decades. A small number of studies bring institutional barriers, attitudes and values in Arab countries into focus. Mostly they emphasize a functionalist perspective of religion as a structural principle; notably Islam is seen as a prevailing, if not as the foremost symbolic resource in Arab societies. Without neglecting the social relevance of religion in the Middle East, for example as an instrument of power maintenance, this article questions the notion of religion as an all-encompassing cultural value pool. Instead, culture is introduced as a pivotal frame of meaning providing individual action and thinking with basic orientation. I assume that these meaning patterns shape the forms of religious participation and leadership, the basis of their legitimacy as well as the direction of their transformation. This will be sketched by means of Arab Christian women in selected Middle Eastern countries. The central question is which meaning patterns are shaping the power structures in the religious field of Middle Eastern societies and how far do they leave a margin for a change of its gendered constitution? The article discusses this by means of Christian women’s religious authority in Middle Eastern churches. This will be done against the background of a qualitative data. This material sheds light on the generative principles of social interpretation and cognition in the religious sub-segment of Middle Eastern churches including culturally framed notions of religious authority and spiritual leadership. Like in Islam, this religious segment is contingent on a specific power structure between the institutionalized theological leaders and the community. Nevertheless, I suppose that Arab Christian women have started to challenge the institutionalised system of power relations. The hypothesis is that a critical reconstruction of gender inequality is invented precisely through the lens of the dominant web of meaning. While these orientation patterns ensure social coherence, they simultaneously form the cognitive background for a challenge of authority structures. They are the starting point for women’s growing aspirations towards participation in religious leadership. Keywords: Arab modernity, gender hierarchy, power relations, religion