I’m grateful to Joseph Kelly (whom I had the pleasure of meeting in person at SBL this year) for letting me know about the NPR science blog. Poking around I found a recent article by Ursula Goodenough which discusses knowledge, revelation, religion and science. Here’s a sample:
I would say that scientific understandings represent revelations of a second kind. Unlike those canonized in a religious tradition, unlike those entombed in whatever fundamentalism — left-wing or right-wing — that enthralls a populace at a given time – they not only come with errata sheets; they come with the promise of errata sheets.
Whether we elect to frame our quest as understanding nature or as understanding the intent of God, the acceptance that truth is provisional, the acceptance that each revelation represents but the next step in acquiring the next revelation, is the surest path towards anything that, in my book, might be called an un-veiling, not to mention wisdom and — dare I say it — salvation.
There are elegant truths in religious texts, in philosophy, in the arts, in histories. But none, I would say, merits the insult of being considered a Truth. Each merits the promise of being taken back to the lab, back to the inquiring mind and heart, for yet another round of probing, evaluation, integration, and yes, often amendment or flat-out rejection.
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In