ATLANTA (ABP) — There are paths between science and theology, and both can find value in interaction, noted author and professor of science and theology Robert Russell told an audience at Mercer University’s McAfee School of Theology.
Russell, founder and director of the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences and a professor at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, Calif., addressed common historical misconceptions about the roles of science, philosophy and religion.
“Philosophy mediates between theology and science,” Russell said. “Science doesn’t prove God, but it does show that life is very much at home in this universe.
“This is not a proof of God, but an invitation to take the universe and give it a sense of purpose and value in a way that the science I grew up with did not.”
Russell is an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ, and he has written or edited numerous books on science and theology. He holds a Ph.D. in experimental physics from the University of California, Santa Cruz, a master of divinity and a master of arts in theology and science from the Pacific School of Religion and a master’s degree in physics from the University of California at Los Angeles. As an undergraduate at Stanford University, he triple-majored in physics, religion and music.
One example of philosophy influencing science, he said, surrounds the “big-bang” theory about the creation of the universe. Russell said some theorized a single event beginning the universe, while physicists said this created the philosophical paradox: “How could the universe have a beginning?”
A competing theory, called the steady-state or ever-expanding-universe theory, was rejected by Albert Einstein in 1927 and called “an abomination.” But in 1931, after reviewing the theory and considering his own position, Einstein changed his mind and called his original opinion his “greatest blunder.”
“In my opinion,” Russell said, “this shows that philosophy can play a creative role in science” because evidence can be proven false as part of the scientific process.
The big-bang theory and the steady-state theory still are being debated today, Russell said, and philosophical and theological considerations influence theory choice.
“Science provides confirmation for theology, and science and theology are in consonance with each other,” he said.
“Science plays a secondary role in Christian faith, which primarily has its basis in Scripture, tradition, reason and experience.”