Science & Religion- Dennis O. Lamoureux) St Joseph College, U of Alberta

Question 1

Define hermeneutics

Answer 1

Hermeneutics are the rules used to interpret a written work

Question 2

What did Galileo believe was the intention of the Holy Spirit in inspiring the Bible?

Answer 2

How to go to heaven, not how heaven goes. It deals with religious matters, like spending eternity with God, not scientific issues like astronomy

Question 3

What was Charles Darwin’s religious belief?

Answer 3

Charles Darwin beleived in a creator who used evolution to create living organisms (intelligent design).

Question 4

What are the 5 best known views of origin?

Answer 4

1. Young Earth: The world was literally created in 6 days, just 6,000 years ago. (Henry Morris)
2. Progressive creation: the universe is old and God intervened to create living organisms at different times.
3. Evolutionary creation: a personal God created the world through evolution
4. Deistic evolution: An impersonal god who creates through evolution
5. Dysteleological (Scientism-Atheistic) evolution: The world arose through blind chance. (Julian Huxley)

Question 5

What did Pope John Paul II say about evolution?

Answer 5

In 1996, Pope John Paul II stated, “New knowledge leads to the recognition of the theory of evolution as more than a hypothesis. . . Sacred scripture wishes simply to declare that the world was created by God. And in order to teach this truth, it expresses itself in the terms of the cosmology, that is, the science in use at the time of the writer. . .The Bible does not wish to teach how heaven was made, but how one goes to heaven.”

Question 6

What did Rev. Billy Graham say about science and scripture?

Answer 6

Billy Graham said, “I don’t think there’s any conflict at all between science today and the scriptures . . . I think we have misinterpreted the scriptures many times. And we’ve tried to make the Scriptures say things they weren’t meant to say. And I think we made a mistake by thinking the Bible is a scientific book. . . . The Bible is not a book of science . . . And, of course, I accept the creation story. I believe God did create the universe. I believe He created man, and whether it came by an evolutionary process, and at a certain point he took this person or being and made him a living soul or not, does not change the fact that God did create man.”

Question 7

What was Einstein’s conception of God?

Answer 7

beauty and harmony in the physical world, not a personal being.

Question 8

what is theism?

Answer 8

A belief in a personal, supreme being who is all loving, all powerful, and all knowing. 40% of US scientists are theists.

Question 9

What is deism

Answer 9

Deism is a belief in an impersonal god who created the world the had nothing to do with it. Charles Darwin believed in deism for most of his adult life.

Question 10

What is paganism

Answer 10

A belief in a force or forces that control the universe.

Question 11

What is pantheism

Answer 11

Pantheism is the belief that everything is God. God is not a personal or impersonal spiritual being. The universe is the only reality. Einstein believed in pantheism.

Question 12

What is atheism

Answer 12

The Greet letter Alpha negates the term theism. Richard Dawkins is an atheist. He wrote, “The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at the bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, and no good, nothing but blind, pitiless, indifference.”

Question 13

What is agnosticism?

Answer 13

Agnosticism comes from the Greek noun gnosis, which means knowledge, which with the letter alpha negates the term. Therefore agnosticism is the belief that there is no knowledge regarding the existence or non-existence of God. Charles Darwin was an agnostic in his later life.

Question 14

What is the Apostles’ Creed in Christianity?

Answer 14

The Apostle’s Creed was formulated around 150 AD/CE, “I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of the early. I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, He who was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. Jesus descended to the dead and on the 3rd day, he rose again. He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of our sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting.”

Question 15

What are Conservative Christians and Liberal Christians?

Answer 15

Conservative Christianity: believes in the Apostle’s creed

Liberal Christians reject the Apostle’s Creed, believe Jesus to merely be an enlightened man, the resurrection was not of his body but of his teachings, and the Bible to be inspiring literature written by humans.

Question 16

What are the 2 categories of divine relation?

Answer 16

1. Special revelation: God communicates specific information to humanity. There are 3 categories
   (a) incarnation-takes on a human form to reveal information
   (b) Biblical - inspired the writers of the Bible to reveal himself
   (c) personal-answered prayers, dreams, visions, signs, etc.
2. General revelation: get an inkling or feeling that God is communicating to us.
   (a) natural - nature reflects God and some of his general attributes (also known as intelligent design)
   (b) moral- God communicates through human conscience and our sense of morality, moral compass

Question 17

Describe the Bible

Answer 17

The Bible was written over roughly 1,500 years, by roughly 50 authors, in many literary genres with some of the events aligning with scientific evidence in archeology, e.g., the Judah nation being deported to Babylon in 6 century BC.

Question 18

What is teleology?

Answer 18

The believe that the universe and life have a purpose and the world is moving toward an ultimate goal

Question 19

What is dysteleology?

Answer 19

Dysteleology is the belief that the universe and life don’t have an ultimate purpose, plan, or goal. The universe and life arose by blind chance.

Question 20

What is metaphysics?

Answer 20

Metaphysics: religion and philosophy. Beyond physics

Science: observations and experiments.

Intellectual leaps or steps of faith (e.g., rational thinking and intuition) to create a relationship between metaphysics and science. E.g., the average cell is 1,000 of an inch wide and has about 2 yards of DNA inside it, coiled into chromosomes with about 1.5 gigabytes (6,500 books of 300 pages each) of information. Does this reflect the design of a supreme engineer? Any answer requires step of faith — a scientific answer isn’t possible.

Question 21

What is epistomology?

Answer 21

Epistomology is how we know that we know.

Question 22

Name 3 epistemological categories.

Answer 22

1. Correspondence: it matches reality , e.g., water is wet.
2. Coherence- it’s internally consistent without contradictions
3. Consilence: it interconnects and fits into one encompassing theory.

Question 23

What is hermenutics?

Answer 23

Hermeneutics is the rules for reading a book.

Question 24

Name beliefs of ancient people that the BIble accomodates

Answer 24

1. The earth was flat with heaven and waters and inverted bowl above it and the underworld below.
2. The sun moved across the sky (until Galleo in the 1700s)
3. De Novo Creation (vs evolution)
4. Only men have seed, women do not. Until the 1700’s they didn’t know about sperm and eggs. They thought women provided the fertile field for seeds to grow; thus women were the cause of reproductive problems. A miscarriage looked like a seedling that was uprooted from the womb.
5. A god of the gaps in biology/geology/etc

Question 25

What is eisegesis?

Answer 25

Eisegesis is our views into reading of a book, e.g., 20th century science into the Bible.

Question 26

What is exegesis?

Answer 26

Exegesis is reading the books out of it - e.g., the Bible’s 3-Tier Universe. To draw out what the author intends to communicate.

Question 27

What are the 3 types evolutionary sciences?

Answer 27

1. Cosmological evolution
2. Geological evolution
3. Biological evolution

Question 28

What are the 3 hermeneutical principles?

Answer 28

1. Literalism: spiritual versus science truths
2. Literary genres: Identify the literary genre: poetry, narrative, parable, allegory, history, letters, Proverbs, sermons, hymns, prophecies, etc.
3. Accommodation: God reveals spiritual truths in a way that humans can understand them.

Question 29

Name 2 people who laid the foundation for reconciling science and religion

Answer 29

1. Ian Barbour, PhD in physics, Master of Divinity, Protestant: independence then dialogue and aspects of integration
2. John Haught, a Roman Catholic theologian: start with contrast then integrate contact and confirmation relationships

Question 30

What is intelligent design?

Answer 30

Intelligent design that the beauty, complexity, & functionality in nature reflects the rationality of an intelligent designer.

Question 31

What bridges the gap between science and metaphysics?

Answer 31

The gap between science and metaphysics is bridged by faith and reason.

Question 32

What is the rate of genetic mutation?

Answer 32

There are 6.4 billion pairs of chromosomes in each cell and the rate of mutation is equal to only one typing error in every 100 books.

Question 33

Name the 2 characteristics of intelligent design per RIchard Dawkins.

Answer 33

1. Complexity and efficiency (functionality)
2. Artistic with elegance (beauty)

Question 34

What is De Novo Creation?

Answer 34

De Novo Creation i creation that is quick, within days, not through hundreds of millions of years of evolution

Question 35

What was the Galileo controversy about?

Answer 35

• Not flat earth: in the 17th century all educated people believed the earth was spherical.
• The Galileo controversy was about whether the Earth (geocentricty-Ptolemy) or Sun (helicentricity -Copernicus) was at the center of the universe. Ptolemaic astronomy had a non-moving earth with the stars etc moving around it. In 1608 the telescope was invented. Then in 1609, Galileo made his own telescope. In 1615, he wrote his document. The next year, a committee said it contradicts Holy Scripture. When he was 70, Galileo rejected his former opinion.

Question 36

Name a book that influenced Darwin.

Answer 36

Natural Theology by William Paley. It is a classical example of for the argument of from nature to design.

Question 37

What is Charles Lyell’s principle of uniformitarianism?

Answer 37

The principle of uniformitarianism is one of the most important ideas in modern geology. It is the concept of explaining the earth’s past through processes observed today, using the same forces and intensities, verses a series of catastrophes (God of the gaps-in-geology).

Question 38

What were Darwin’s 2 arguments for God and immortality?

Answer 38

1. Nature convinces Darwin of the personal testimony regarding God and immortality of soul. Rebuttal: can be blind to the impact of nature.
2. Reason led him to think that the extreme impossibility of the universe by blind chance, rather than an intelligent first cause. Rebuttal: Can the mind be trusted? (The Horrid Doubt) He trusted his mind to not trust his mind - self-referential incoherence.

Question 39

What are the 3 components of most ancient creation accounts?

Answer 39

1. Religious beliefs that reflect spiritual truths and the values of the community
2. Include ancient origin science about the origin of the universe, life, people, and communities, usually De Novo creation.
3. Story like account with allegorical features

Question 40

What are the 3 motifs usually found in creation motifs?

Answer 40

Ancient creative accounts share similar motifs thoughout the world and the Near East with the Hebrews, Egyptians. and Mesopotamians. The 3 motifs in most creation accounts are:
1. De Novo creation - quick and complete origin of the universe and life, frequently with a 1st man and 1st woman. This answers the question of etiology, what is the cause or reason for the origin of the world and people. In creation accounts in the near east (Mesopotamian & Egypt), God uses earth to make humans
2. The lost idyllic age motif where something went wrong. This answer the question of what is the cause for the bad things in the world.
3. The origin of a community or nation from a single person, often 1st man and 1st woman.

Question 41

What is the Theory of Original Sources?

Answer 41

The theory of original sources states that Gensis 1-3 is the combination of 2 original creation accounts.
1. Priestly creation account, in Genesis 1, written about 500 BC, The author, P, uses the divine Hebrew name Elohim, which means God.
2. Jahwist creation account, in Genesis 2-3, written about 1000 BC, J, the author, uses the divine Hebrew name Yahweh, which means Lord.
3. Around 500 BC, an editor, the Redactor, combined the 2 sources.

Comparison of order of creation
Priestly account: First three days forms boundaries of world that separate opposites; the nthe next 3 days fills the world with vegetation then birds then land animals then man and woman
day 1 light; day 4 sun, moon, stars
day 2 air space and sea; day 5 birds and sea animals
day 3 dry land; day 6 land animals and humans

Jahwist account: Man then vegetation then animals then woman

Comparison of literary style:
Genesis 1 has no allegorical features; Genesis 2-3 has allegorical features such as mystical trees

Comparison of image of God:
Genesis 1: God is transcendent and in heaven
Genesis 2-3: the Lord is imminent and on earth

Comparison of style:
Genesis 1: Multiples of 7, e.g., Elohim (God) appears 35 times, 1.1 has seven words, 1.3 14 words which add up to 21; earth appears 21 times, heaven 21 times, at the phrase it was good 7 times. It uses a poetic, structured writing style 0 in 1.2 Tuhu (formless) and bohu (empty) rhyme.

Genesis 2-3, is similar to a parable, writes in free-flowing style; plays on words such as Adam (man or personal name) and Adamah (earth) thus Adam was made from Adamah; uses allegorical features such as mystical tree; uses archetypes such as Adam and Eve represent all human; use story

Comparison of messages:
Genesis 1: there is one God who is the Creator, affirms Sabbath commandment; humanity is in the image of God (the term image of God was used for Ancient Near Easter Kings who were thought to be the representatives on God on earth. This chapter underlines that all humans are representatives on earth.)

Question 42

What is different in Genesis 2 from other Ancient near Eastern Creation accounts?

Answer 42

In Genesis God created humans to have a relationship with him; in other Ancient near Eastern accounts, humans are either inconsequential or created to be slaves of the gods.