No matter what view one takes of the relation between science and religion, examining that relation is unquestionably an important topic in the history of science and in the study of religion. In today’s age of “big science,” and under the demand for dialogue between science and the humanities, discussing the relation between science and religion has a particularly special significance.
It must be pointed out that the conflict and harmony between science and religion are not, first of all, something scholars have gone to great lengths to manufacture. Whether conflict or harmony, they are both real-world issues. Even as a purely objective inquiry, one cannot deny that there do in fact exist harmonious relations between science and religion—though, of course, one also cannot skip over their conflictual relations. Furthermore, the contemporary significance of studying science and religion is also part of what this topic hopes to address; I will discuss this further in the first part of the paper.
The topic I have chosen is “modern science and religion,” and I will concentrate the discussion mainly on the modern period, especially the relationship between science and religion in the twentieth century. Historically, other perspectives especially worth attention include ancient Greece, the Middle Ages, the rise of modern science, and so on, but these will not be addressed in this research course for the time being.
My choice of the perspective of modern science and religion is, first, because I have had somewhat more contact with modern science. I am especially interested in the development of modern new physics. New physics—especially quantum mechanics and modern cosmology—has undoubtedly had a major impact on and challenge for religion. Of course, biology, psychology, and so on have also had very important effects on religion. However, many scholars—mainly from religious circles—have tried to “find” God in modern science, for example by “assigning” God to the quantum realm. I think these efforts are often far too forced and far-fetched; Kant’s philosophy of religion had already leveled severe criticism at this fashionable natural theology long ago. In my impression, among the various efforts to find a place for God in modern science, “process theology” and Moltmann’s “evolution of creation” are the best done; if time permits, I will discuss them. However, I am more inclined to discuss the matter from the perspective of modern scientists. I have noticed that figures such as Planck, Einstein, Bohr, Born, Heisenberg, Schrödinger, and so on—the greatest frontier scientists of modern times, especially a considerable number of physicists—have all taken a tolerant, even admiring, attitude toward religion. If we note that physics is obviously one of the most “pure,” most foundational sciences, and that quantum physics is in turn the most frontier area, why is it that those great physicists are precisely so tolerant toward what is generally regarded as the most conservative “religion”? I believe this is not merely a coincidence; it is truly because there is, in fact, an intrinsic connection between the spirit of science and the feelings of religion.
On the other hand, “modern science” also refers to the place and situation of science as a human undertaking in modern society. Modern people’s lives have long been inseparable from science and technology, but precisely because science and technology matter so much to us, we need all the more to reflect and keep vigilant at all times. Has the flourishing of science and technology also brought some dangers or dilemmas? When we hope to reflect on science and examine its meaning and value, taking a broader perspective is clearly beneficial. And examining the relation between science and religion can help us understand science more deeply. I feel that modern science is striving to replace the social functions originally provided by religion, which makes science itself come to resemble a certain kind of religion—and science also seems to be the most dogmatic and authoritarian religion of all. I will examine and analyze the religiosity within modern science. Although science is after all not a religion, examining their commonalities will be very helpful for understanding science and for how we should approach the relation between science and religion. If time allows, I will also touch on some discussion of dialogue among religions. In fact, dialogue and exchange between different religions—for example, Christianity and Buddhism—may be even more difficult than dialogue between science and religion! Conversely, the beneficial experience of interreligious dialogue also has great reference value for how to coordinate the relation between science and religion.
The paper for this topic is preliminarily planned to be divided into five parts (including the introduction and conclusion):
Part One will discuss some characteristics of modern science and religion, briefly describe the roles science and religion play in modern society, and give a brief introduction to the background of the rise of modern science and the modern characteristics of religion. It will clarify the meanings of terms used in this paper, such as “modern science” and “religion,” and focus on why it is beneficial to pay attention to the relation between science and religion. It will also briefly mention various related views—such as conflict theory, irrelevance theory, complementarity theory, and integration theory. Part One is the “introduction” of the whole paper.
The references for Part One are briefly listed as follows:
Read:
Feuerbach: The Essence of Religion, Commercial Press
Hooykaas: Religion and the Rise of Modern Science, Sichuan People’s Publishing House
Russell: Religion and Science, translated by Xu Yichun and Lin Guofu, Commercial Press, 1982
David Lindberg: The Beginnings of Western Science, China International Translation and Publishing Corporation, 2001 edition
Wu Guosheng, Modernity’s Worries, SDX Joint Publishing Company, 1999
Luckmann: The Invisible Religion—The Problem of Religion in Modern Society, China Renmin University Press
Moscovici: Re-enchanting Nature, SDX Joint Publishing Company
Unread
Durkheim: The Elementary Forms of Religious Life, Shanghai People’s Publishing House
Liu Xiaofeng: Introduction to Theories of Modernity and Society, Shanghai Sanlian Bookstore
Ikeda Daisaku, B. Wilson: Society and Religion, Sichuan People’s Publishing House
Moltmann: God in the Secular World, SDX Joint Publishing Company
Simmel: Modern Man and Religion, China Renmin University Press
Moscovici: The Age of the Crowd, Jiangsu People’s Publishing House
A. D. White: A History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom, Guangxi Normal University Press
Part Two will unfold from the perspective of the latest developments in modern science, discussing some important advances in modern science, such as the three great revolutions in physics—relativity, quantum mechanics, and chaos theory—of which quantum mechanics is undoubtedly the most important—as well as advances in astronomy, evolutionary biology, molecular biology, and so on, and will examine the real and potential impact of these new sciences on religious views. It will also discuss what attitude the religious community should take toward these new scientific advances in order for this to be most beneficial. In addition, the rise of ecology is very important for examining the relation between science and religion, but limited by space, this will not be elaborated in detail for the time being.
The references for Part Two are briefly listed as follows:
Read:
Paul Davies: God and the New Physics, Hunan Science and Technology Press
Edited by David Ray Griffin: Postmodern Science—Re-presenting the Enchantment of Science, Central Compilation and Translation Press
David Ray Griffin: Postmodern Religion, China City Press
Holmes Rolston III: Genes, Genesis and God, Hunan Science and Technology Press
Fred Alan Wolf: The Spiritual Universe, Commercial Press
David Lindley: Where Does the God of Chance Reside?—An Analysis of Quantum Mechanics, Jilin People’s Publishing House
M. Klein: Mathematics: The Loss of Certainty, Hunan Science and Technology Press
Anthony Patrick Walters: The New Quantum World, Hunan Science and Technology Press
Cao Tianyuan: Does God Play Dice?—A History of Quantum Physics, Liaoning Education Press
James Gleick: Chaos—Making a New Science, Higher Education Press
Lewis Thomas: The Lives of a Cell, Hunan Science and Technology Press
Lynn Margulis and Dorion Sagan: Acquiring Genomes, Jiangxi Education Press
Stephen Hawking: A Brief History of Time, Hunan Science and Technology Press
Stuart Kauffman: At Home in the Universe, Hunan Science and Technology Press
John R. Gribbin: In Search of Schrödinger’s Cat—Quantum Physics and Reality, Hainan Publishing House
David Bohm: Wholeness and the Implicate Order—The Universe and Consciousness in the Unfolding, Shanghai Science and Technology Education Press
David Bohm: Causality and Chance in Modern Physics, Commercial Press
Edward Larson: Summer for the Gods—The Scopes Trial and America’s Continuing Debate over Science and Religion, Jiangxi Education Press
John B. Cobb Jr. and David R. Griffin: Process Theology, Central Compilation and Translation Press
Unread
Richard Dawkins: The Blind Watchmaker, Guangxi Normal University Press
Torrance: Theology in Science, China Renmin University Press
Thomas F. Torrance: God and Rationality, Central Compilation & Translation Press
William Dembski: Intelligent Design: The Bridge Between Science and Theology, Central Compilation & Translation Press
R. G. Collingwood: The Idea of Nature, Peking University Press
Bergson: Creative Evolution, The Commercial Press
Moltmann: God in Creation—An Ecological Doctrine of Creation, SDX Joint Publishing Company
Roger S. Jones: Physics as a Way of Life, Jiangsu People’s Publishing House
Capra: The Tao of Physics, Sichuan People’s Publishing House
The third part proceeds from the second part and examines the attitudes toward religion of scientists who have made outstanding contributions in those fields of modern science. First, one can briefly give an overall introduction—for example, there have been several important surveys of the proportion of religious believers among scientists. But this article still mainly focuses on case studies of great scientists. Among these great scientists, Einstein’s views on science and religion are obviously the most eye-catching, and of course I will also pay attention to his position. However, when discussing the relationship between science and religion, Einstein seems to have been cited too often, so much so that people begin to wonder whether Einstein is only a special case. Indeed, Einstein does not represent the truth, but as one of the greatest scientists, his opinions on religion are undoubtedly of important inspirational significance. Through relevant works, lecture records, and biographies, I will examine the positions toward religion taken by more modern scientists, and try to show the intrinsic connection between the scientific spirit and religious feeling. This is the key part of this project.
A brief list of reference works for the third part is as follows:
Read
Edited by Wu Guosheng: Reading for College Science, Guangxi Normal University Press
Edited by Wen Chi: A Brief History of the Universe, Xianzhuang Bookstore
Erwin Schrödinger: What Is Life?, Hunan Science and Technology Press
Edited by Brockman: The Third Culture, Hainan Publishing House
Schrödinger: Nature and the Greeks, Shanghai Scientific and Technical Publishers
Edited by Xu Liangying and Liu Ming: Writings of Einstein, Zhejiang Literature and Art Publishing House
Feynman and Weinberg: From Antiparticles to the Final Laws, Hunan Science and Technology Press
Roger G. Newton: What Is Scientific Truth?, Shanghai Scientific and Technical Education Publishing House
Bohm: On Creativity, Shanghai Scientific and Technical Publishers
Plato: Timaeus, Shanghai People’s Publishing House
G. E. R. Lloyd: Early Greek Science, Shanghai Scientific and Technical Education Publishing House
R. P. Feynman: The Pleasure of Finding Things Out, Hunan Science and Technology Press
Edwin Arthur Burtt: The Metaphysical Foundations of Modern Physical Science, Peking University Press
Gerald Holton: Science and Anti-Science, Jiangxi Education Publishing House
Poincaré: The Last Thoughts, The Commercial Press
A paper I wrote earlier, “Science—Viewed from the Perspective of Religion,” about 11,000 characters long and thematically related, may serve as reference. Of course, it will be substantially revised.
Unread
Feynman: The Feynman Lectures, Shanghai Scientific and Technical Publishers
Edited by H. S. Thayer: Newton’s Writings on Natural Philosophy, Shanghai Translation Publishing House
Edited by Jiang Xiaoyuan and Niu Weixing: The Rise of Man, Shanghai Education Publishing House
Edited by Ren Dingcheng: An Advanced Reader in Science and the Humanities, Peking University Press
Steven Weinberg: Facing Up: Science and Its Cultural Adversaries, Shanghai Scientific and Technical Education Publishing House
Watowski: Conceptual Foundations of Scientific Thought, Qiushi Press
Andrew Ross: The Science Wars, Jiangxi Education Publishing House
The Philosophical Writings of Niels Bohr, The Commercial Press
Kreger: The House on the Beach: Exposing the Scientific Myths of the Postmodernists, Nanjing University Press
In addition, I will selectively read the scientist-biography series in Shanghai Scientific and Technical Education Publishing House’s “Philosopher’s Stone Series,” and will not list them one by one here.
The fourth part will take over the final argument of the third part, namely that the good spirit of scientific inquiry is in fact also a religious feeling that seeks the sacred. We will see that even those scientists who strongly attack religion—such as Weinberg, Dawkins, and so on—the reasons they give for why science is worth loving are also based on this special disposition of seeking the sacred in scientific exploration. However, science is after all not religion, and in terms of endowing people’s lives with a sense of sanctity and fullness, science cannot compare with religion. For every believer in religion can feel the sacred, and every person can experience in life the fullness and satisfaction that comes from pursuing ultimate meaning; but scientific inquiry can only be the privilege of a minority. Great scientists may of course obtain supreme delight in their exploratory activities as they approach the mysteries of nature, but what is the meaning of ordinary people’s lives?
I believe that the proper way to preach is not to spread the faith by ostentatiously advertising such “benefits” as “curing illness and warding off disaster” or “getting rich and having children,” but rather to inspire in people, through transformation, an inward yearning for the sacred, to attract them to convert from the heart, and to urge them to practice the faith through a good life. True religion can provide devout believers with a spiritual support for meaning. Scientists may indeed place their hopes for meaning in scientific exploration, but when science needs to be popularized among the public, it often more closely resembles the spread of superstition, namely by displaying science’s power and compelling submission. Modern science seems to have become a new religion, extremely dogmatic and authoritarian.
In the fourth part, I will begin by discussing the topic of whether science is, and whether it can possibly, replace the functions that religion performs, and I will try to show that science ultimately cannot replace religion. I will also discuss cultural pluralism to some extent. The discussion may touch briefly on such topics as the demarcation of science, science and mysticism, and religion and mysticism.
A brief list of reference works for the fourth part is as follows:
Read
Hans Poser: Science: What Is Science?, Shanghai Sanlian Bookstore
Edited by Wang Hongbo and Ma Jianbo: Crossing the Chasm—Science in a Cultural Perspective, Fujian Education Press
Jean Ladrière: Science and Technology as Cultural Challenges, The Commercial Press
Roger G. Newton: What Is Scientific Truth?, Shanghai Scientific and Technical Education Publishing House
Hanbury Brown: The Wisdom of Science—Its Relation to Culture and Religion, Liaoning Education Press
Ikeda Daisaku and Toynbee: Choose Life: A Dialogue, International Cultural Publishing Company
Li Kehte: “Cultural Science and Natural Science,” The Commercial Press
David Ray Griffin: “Postmodern Spirituality,” Central Compilation & Translation Press
Stephen Best Douglas Kellner: “The Postmodern Turn,” Nanjing University Press
Wu Guosheng: “Let Science Return to the Humanities,” Jiangsu People’s Publishing House
Wu Guosheng: “Reflecting on Science,” New World Press
Liu Huajie: “Not Everything Enshrined in the Hall Is a Buddha,” Jiangsu People’s Publishing House
Carl Sagan: “The Demon-Haunted World—Science as a Candle in the Dark,” Jilin People’s Publishing House
Unread
Alan Chalmers: “What Is This Thing Called Science?,” Hebei Science and Technology Press
John McQuarrie: “Twentieth-Century Religious Thought,” Shanghai People’s Publishing House
Paul Knitter: “Models of Religious Dialogue,” China Renmin University Press
Sandra Harding: “The Cultural Pluralism of Science,” Jiangxi Education Publishing House
Don Cupitt: “After God,” Religious Culture Press
Arnold Gehlen: “The Human Mind in the Age of Technology,” Shanghai Science and Technology Education Press
David Hess: “Science in a New Era,” Jiangxi Education Publishing House
John Polkinghorne Michael Welker: “A Dialogue on Belief in God,” China Renmin University Press
Hayek: “The Counter-Revolution of Science—Studies on the Abuse of Reason,” Yilin Press
John Horgan: “The End of Science,” Faraway Press
J.D. Bernal: “The Social Function of Science,” Guangxi Normal University Press
Jin Baili Patton Benjamin Hoye: “Traces of Witchcraft,” China Renmin University Press
Gerald Holton: “Einstein, History, and Other Passions—The Rebellion Against Science at the End of the Twentieth Century,” Nanjing University Press
The final fifth section will be the conclusion of the whole text, in which I will briefly review the main arguments of the essay as a whole. I will also offer some thoughts on the future of science and religion.
In addition, I believe that Kant has already described, with regard to the relationship between science and religion, a way of getting along that is not very realistic, but is very ideal. Some time ago I wrote an essay of about 14,000 characters, “Under the Same Starry Sky—Kant’s Views on Science and Religion,” which is related in content and may be taken as a reference.
The main reference books for this entire research project are as follows:
Read
Ian Barbour, “When Science Meets Religion,” SDX Joint Publishing Company
John H. Brooke: “Science and Religion,” Fudan University Press
Alister E. McGrath: “An Introduction to Science and Religion,” Shanghai People’s Publishing House
Edited by Zhou Jianzhang: “A Dialogue Between Science and Religion,” Xiamen University Press
Qian Shiti: “Science and Religion—Their Relationship and Its Historical Evolution,” People’s Publishing House
Edited by Ted Peters, Jiang Pisheng, and Gemmon Benard: “The Bridge: Science and Religion,” China Social Sciences Press
Pang Sifen: “The Tree of Philosophy,” Guangxi Normal University Press
Kant: “Kant on God and Religion,” China Renmin University Press
Unread:
Ian Barbour: “Science and Religion,” Sichuan People’s Publishing House
Whitehead: “Science and the Modern World,” The Commercial Press
The title of this research course is rather broad; in fact, the five parts into which it has been divided could each stand alone as a separate topic. But these topics are obviously interconnected, and there are clear transitions and links between each part, so it is worthwhile to study them together. That does not mean, however, that I will slack off on the specific topics. I hope to engage each of the subtopics in a relatively in-depth manner, rather than merely speaking in generalities.
In the actual research process, I may adjust the emphasis of the study according to real circumstances, and I may also discover new topics. The plan listed here is only the overall framework and the initial clues.
As for the method of research, the main thing will first be reading. The unread references listed above were formulated only on the basis of my current preliminary impression. As reading and research deepen, not all of the books listed above will necessarily prove useful, and I will also need to seek out other books and materials. While reading, I will make notes, and frequently record my impressions and ideas, and then, at the end, gather them together for sorting and rewriting. Important books already read will be read more than once. Some books—for example, biographies of scientists—will be read selectively, meaning that I will not read them straight through from beginning to end, but will choose relevant chapters as references.
April 16, 2006
Translated from the Chinese original with AI assistance. The original text is authoritative.
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