Re: [asa] More WLC on Evolution, ID, and Genesis

Heya Ted,

Whether the greeks were doing 'genuine/real science' to me seems like a
murkier area. As usual, it depends on what 'genuine science' means, and the
concept seems to slide around quite often to the point where it can mean
something as simple as 'developing technology'. I'm not saying I disagree,
only that I think the questions ges murky, particularly 'What exactly is
real science apart from modern science?'

I will note, though, that even WLC isn't talking broadly about genuine or
'real' science, wherever those lines may be drawn, but 'modern science'
(Which, I suppose, is described so specifically to differentiate it from
less rigid prior areas.) WLC also seems to add detail to what he means by a
biblical worldview, which I think is helpful here.

Again, what really stands out to me (and what I think is important to
accent) is just how reasonable, rational, and down-to-earth this 'biblical
worldview' really is, even with regards to Genesis. There's a modern
tendency to portray Christianity as laden with superstition and magic, a
view which really strikes me as strained - so WLC highlighting what he did
is remarkable and useful.

On Tue, Nov 25, 2008 at 11:51 AM, Ted Davis <TDavis@messiah.edu> wrote:

> Schwarzwald,
>
> I was picking up on this specific language: "modern science was birthed by
> a biblical worldview," which to my ears sounds like the claim that
> Christianity was the one main cause of modern science. Perhaps I have read
> too much into this, but if the language said "modern science arose in a
> Christian culture" I would fully agree.
>
> Often, I encounter the view that there was no genuine science at all, prior
> to (say) 1500 or (less commonly) 1200 AD, that it took Christianity to
> produce genuine science. That wasn't part of the claim I responded to, but
> (as I say) I do find it said more than a little. Stark pushes this, based
> partly on Stan Jaki and partly on his own misreading of other sources (he
> seems to think this is a consensus, when it's a tiny minority who think
> this). IMO, however, genuine science did exist in the Greek and
> Hellenistic
> worlds. It wasn't widespread in time or space, but it was real science,
> even if it didn't very closely resemble modern science. Indeed, the
> impulse
> for the human mind to go out and conquer nature, mentally if not
> technologically, is embedded within Greek philosophy; you don't need
> Christian theism to believe that nature makes sense, even though it very
> naturally flows from Christian theism that it should. Hubris can do what
> theism encourages.
>
> Ted
>

To unsubscribe, send a message to majordomo@calvin.edu with
"unsubscribe asa" (no quotes) as the body of the message.
Received on Tue Nov 25 12:10:02 2008