Christian responses to the rise of science

• What is deism?

  Belief in an intelligent but impersonal creator - one who creates the universe then leaves it to its own free devices
• what does deism offer?

  a religious way of explaining the predictable nature of the universe
• why can deism not easily be challenged by science?

  because it doesnt depend on god doing anything in the world
• god created the universe with physical laws then…?

  left it to operate with no further intervention
• HOWEVER, deism doesnt fit with the God of classical theism, how?

  as it doesnt allow for a personal god
• Polkinghorne points out a limitation with deism, what is this?

  The Christian God is regarded as personal, someone with whom, through prayer, people can interact with and who is expected To care/provide for people
• an impersonal deistic God is…?

  just an intellectual idea, it is not the same as the Christian belief in a god with whom people might have a personal relationship
• what is existentialism based on the idea of?

  that humans create their own personal reality through the choices they make
• the world is NOT fixed/handed to them but is…? (existentialism)

  shaped by personal decisions, this approach is clearly very different to that of science
• Kierkegaard (earliest Christian existentialist) saw faith as what?

  a matter of personal commitment, not related to scientific facts
• what did Tillich suggest?

  Christian beliefs and symbols need to be understood in relation to existential questions concerning the meaning/purpose of life - if they’re to be relevant to peoples lives
• what do people choose to do?

  commit to religious beliefs and symbols for a sense of meaning and purpose
• what does belief in God express?

  existential commitments, and is NOT related to empirical fact
• Tillich believes that there is not a conflict between religion and science, why?

  because they’re in different categories
• what is christianity concerned with?

  existential questions, rather than with scientific questions - there is no conflict because religion and science are two different but equally valid ways of looking at the world