SCIENCE & RELIGION

June 1999
		Ian Barbour, a Carleton College professor emeritus, was awarded the 1999 Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion in recognition of efforts to create a dialogue between the worlds of science and religion. He answers your questions about his work.

Forum introduction Where does science end and religion begin? Can theologians embrace science? Can biblical literalists be brought into the discussion? Can scientific questions be reconciled with religious faith? How can religion and science be reconciled with other disciplines?     May 28, 1999 Elizabeth Farnsworth interviews 1999 Templeton Prize winner Ian Barbour. May 17, 1999 Prof. Barbour's Templeton Prize acceptance speech. Prof. Barbour's biography. A history of the Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion.     The John Templeton Foundation Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences Carleton College Yale University Duke University Swarthmore College

Ron Bansak II of New York, NY, asks: The foundation of science is a questioning of the natural world, the only world we know exists. History is overrun with examples of the unknown being attributed to the supernatural, only to one day be explained by science. How is it you are able to reconcile this intrinsic questioning of science with the essential unquestioning nature of faith? Prof. Barbour responds: Yes, many unexplained events once attributed to supernatural forces (lightning and thunder, for example), have been explained by science. The "God of the gaps" has retreated as successive gaps in our knowledge have been filled by science. Even the great Newton thought God must intervene occassionally to readjust the planets, but Laplace showed they don't need readjustment! I believe God respects the integrity of the created order and works through it, rather than intervening intermittently from outside. While faith is sometimes viewed as "unquestioning" and as opposed to reason, scripture calls us to love God with mind as well as heart. In the Middle Ages and in modern times, rational reflection on religious beliefs has been extensively pursued. Traditional ideas of God and of human nature have throughout history been challenged and in some cases reformulated in the context of changing cultural contexts.