christianity + science

Question 1

What’s empiricism?

Answer 1

All knowledge starts from sense experience

Question 2

What’s rationalism?

Answer 2

All knowledge starts w the processes of human thought

Question 3

What is deism?

Answer 3

Belief in an intelligent but impersonal creator: creates the universe then leaves it to its own devices

Question 4

What does deism offer explanation for?

Answer 4

Predictable nature of the universe; can’t be easily challenged bc science either

Question 5

What limitation does John Polkinghorne point out w deism?

Answer 5

Christian God is personal; ppl can interact w prayer - so where would a personal God be in deism?

Question 6

What is existentialism?

Answer 6

Humans create their own reality through choices they make - the world isn’t fixed + handed to them

Question 7

Why was Darwin’s ‘On the Origin of Species’ controversial?

Answer 7

Suggested natural selected could explain the appearance of design by God + make the idea of God unnecessary

Question 8

What does Karl Rahner argue about evolution?

Answer 8

Humans are made wholly by evolution + God
Evolution works by natural laws of chem, bio etc - these were authorised by God

Question 9

What do some Christians believe about God’s role in the Big Bang (1)?

Answer 9

God caused the Big Bang that created the universe

Question 10

What do some other Christians believe about God’s role in the Big Bang (2)?

Answer 10

the Big Bang happened wo need for a Creator, as a spontaneous event where the universe simply came into existence

Question 11

What are the 2 implications quantum theory gives religion?

Answer 11

• God influences events at a quantum level
• The ‘Many Worlds’ interpretation (multiverses)

Question 12

How does neuroscience challenge religion?

Answer 12

All human experiences (incl. religious ones) can be explained in terms of brain activity

Question 13

What’s an e.g. of a moral dilemma w modern medicine?

Answer 13

Should a large amount of money bc spent on expensive treatment for 1 patient if the same resources can be used for simpler treatments that benefit multiple patients

Question 14

What is an example of Christians being justified in seeking indefinite life extension?

Answer 14

The possibility of merging human biology w robotic systems; uploading a human mind into a comp. environment

Question 15

What’s an issue w evolutionary ethics? Give an example

Answer 15

The drive to produce a ‘super race’ e.g. the contributing factor in the Nazi holocaust

Question 16

What is ‘God of the Gaps’?

Answer 16

Less+less scope for ‘God’ to be used as an explanation for what we don’t understand - ‘God’ retreats further into gaps in our knowledge

Question 17

Give an example of the God of the Gaps in play?

Answer 17

Lightning/thunder was believed to be anger of the Gods but we now know its a common meteorological phenomena

Question 18

What happens when we use God to fill in gaps in our scientific knowledge? What’s the issue w this?

Answer 18

God becomes an explanatory hypothesis; part of the scientific explanation
If this were true then we’d be able to look for God w microscopes, telescopes etc bc this is absurd

Question 19

What does Flew’s parable of the Gardener show?

Answer 19

Belief in God is unscientific bc we can’t test the existence + the theist will always maintain belief

Question 20

What does it mean for God to be a part of the scientific creation of the world?

Answer 20

We should be able to test this scientifically but there’s no convincing evidence so his existence fails as a scientific hypothesis

Question 21

How does Paul Tillich apply to the God of the gaps responses?

Answer 21

If God is a being among others, there’s less room for him
But God is immanent + transcendent; not just a thing in the world but the means by which the whole world exists

Question 22

How does John Polkinghorne respond to God of the gaps?

Answer 22

God intervenes at a quantum level

Question 23

How does Wiles respond to the God of the gaps?

Answer 23

God is active all the time, everywhere, in and beyond universe

Question 24

What did the Church of England think of Darwins theory of evolution?

Answer 24

Claimed it was a way of turning humans into beasts
Evolution challenges the idea that humans were created in God’s image

Question 25

What do liberal Anglicans say about Darwin's theory of evolution?

Answer 25

Evolution was the way God designed the world; God initiated the evolution of species by natural selection

Question 26

What do Christians who take an interventionist approach to Darwins theory of evolution say?

Answer 26

Natural selection isn't needed bc when he wants, God intervenes directly

Question 27

What is a response to the Big Bang theory regarding evidence?

Answer 27

Provides evidence that there was a beginning of the universe If the universe was used, there must've been a First Cause (Aquinas' Third Way)

Question 28

What does the 'fine tuning' argument for the Big Bang suggest?

Answer 28

For us to survive, everything has to be so specif. acc. (gravity, distance from sun) smth (God) must've fine-tuned constants

Question 29

What's an argument against the fine-tuning argument?

Answer 29

The multiverse theory says there are a colossal no. of universes which began w the Big Bang

Question 30

What did the official position of the Catholic Church say about the Big Bang?

Answer 30

The theory didn't conflict w the Catholic idea of creation Atheists = uncaused Christianity = will of God

Question 31

What are Creationists? What do they reject?

Answer 31

Evangelical Christians - reject scientific accounts of the origin of the universe

Question 32

What are the 2 types of creationists?

Answer 32

Six day (young earth) creationism Progressive (old earth) creationism Intelligent design creationists

Question 33

What do six day (young earth) creationists believe?

Answer 33

Follow a literal reading of the Genesis; creation occurred in 6 days bet 5000 + 10000 yrs ago All humans descend from Adam+Eve + God created all species as we see them now, not through evolution

Question 34

What do progressive (old earth) creationists believe?

Answer 34

The age of the Earth+universe is given correctly by science; but Darwinism is abandoned for the fact that species' just appeared by Gods will; Adam was the first man to have a soul

Question 35

What does intelligent design creationism argue?

Answer 35

Gives creationism scientific support

Question 36

What did John Polkinghorne believe?

Answer 36

Religion + science can coexist but they clash when religion makes claims that depend on evidence that can be scientifically be examined e.g. the Big Bang

Question 37

What are John Polkinghorne's 3 books?

Answer 37

Science+creation: search for understanding Science+providence: God's interaction w the world One World: interaction of science+theology

Question 38

What is Polkinghorne's main premise in Science+Creation?

Answer 38

The world is intelligible (understandable) when it might easily not have been

Question 39

What is the Anthropic Principle?

Answer 39

Cosmological constants are fine tuned to produce humans

Question 40

What does Polkinghorne say about multiverses in Science+Creation?

Answer 40

Multiverse theory suggests given enough universes, some must be ordered by chance

Question 41

What does Polkinghorne say about natural theology in Science+Creation?

Answer 41

Uses insights of science to reach a clearer understand of the world; works alongside revelation from scripture

Question 42

What does Polkinghorne conclude in Science+Creation?

Answer 42

The rationality of the universe is a reflection of the rationality of the creator

Question 43

Evaluate Polkinghorne's assessment of the multiverse theory in Science+Creation?

Answer 43

In String Theory, it's a math. inference; Big Bang is treated as a quantum particle in superposition, meaning it exists in all configurations

Question 44

Evaluate Polkinghorne's idea of the Big Bang in terms of radiation?

Answer 44

Penrose says radiation from the Big Bang shows signs of an earlier cycle of the universe

Question 45

What does Polkinghorne say in Science+Providence?

Answer 45

Providence is God's caring/nurturing of us~w/o God doing this, he has no content - so he's personal by influencing event t a quantum level

Question 46

What's a weakness of Polkinghorne's ideas in Science+Providence?

Answer 46

The problem of evil: why didn't God intervene in the holocaust, Black Death etc

Question 47

What's the main problem w Polkinghorne's idea's in Science+Providence?

Answer 47

Evidence: we can say that God influences events at a quantum level but how do we prove it?

Question 48

What does Whitehead say in Polkinghorne's ref. to him in One World?

Answer 48

- Analogy bet. activities of science+theology - Both are concerned w understanding the universe

Question 49

What is genetic engineering?

Answer 49

Uses enzymes to transfer pieces of DNA from 1 organism into the DNA of another organism so organism w added DNA becomes genetically modif.

Question 50

What does the Catholic Church say about GE?

Answer 50

Qualified approval to GE in plants+animals not least to feed the hungry