Christian perspectives on the Sciences of Man C. Stephen Evans Wheaton College

The Problem The is a lot of tension between faith and reason, secular learning and Christian belief. Instead of them being problems they should be central points of concern for Christian educators, according to Evans. Science looks at the tangible and Theology looks at God who seems to be intangible to the scientist.

Possible Responses Scientism is the enemy and not social science. Three other likely responses are: – The unity of science thesis (all sciences employ the same basic methodology) – The completeness of science thesis(belief there are no areas of reality which are not amenable to scientific investigation) – The ultimacy of science thesis(science gives us ultimate truth about reality)

Capitulators Capitulators believe that this is a mechanistic universe. Believes human behavior is mechanistic There is no biblical justification that God determines the outcome of events. Say that man is created from part of the created order. Capitulators are negative.

Limiters of Science Believe all truths about humans are not scientific truths. Naturalistic scientific methods have definite limitations. Limiters do not tell the whole story – Territorialists Descartes is a territorialist Mind body dualism Nature and spirit

Limiters cont – Perspectivalism A thinker who denies the ultimacy of science. Science is limited not by the sorts of objects but by what can be said about the objects. Believes the bible is not a scientific textbook.

Limiters cont Humanizers – Discover and adopt methods to a particular subject matter thats under investigation. – Counter trends by Maslow third force – Maslow says that many sensitive people, especially artists, are afraid that science besmirches and depresses, that it tears things apart rather than integrating them, thereby killing rather than creating.