The Church, the Schools and EvolutionConant, J. E. (Judson Eber)
Religion
The Church, the Schools and Evolution
Conant, J. E. (Judson Eber)
Evolution; Religion and science
This means that the man who is truly scientific will never interpret
discoveries in the natural realm in such a way as to deny or even throw
doubt upon those fundamental truths in the spiritual realm which have been
forever secured by scientific demonstration. In other words, he will not
seek to bring the Bible into harmony with man's interpretation of
scientific facts, but he will seek to bring every scientific discovery into
harmony with the Bible, withholding final conclusions from all discoveries
that will not so harmonize until he has light enough so they will.
We have now reached the point where we can sum up all the requirements
which the really scientific man will meet in order that he may be able to
proceed with scientific accuracy in his researches in the realms of truth.
He will separate the natural and the spiritual realms of truth from each
other. He will investigate natural truth with the intellect and spiritual
truth with faith. He will distinguish truth that can be demonstrated to the
experience from that which must be accepted on testimony alone. And he will
accord primacy to the spiritual realm over the natural.
It only remains to be said that the man who will not meet these
requirements is a total stranger to the scientific spirit. "The Standard
Dictionary" says that science is "knowledge gained and verified by exact
observation and correct thinking," and the man who will not meet
requirements that are absolutely necessary for exact observation and
correct thinking in the gaining and verifying of knowledge does not have
the first qualification of the scientific investigator. For he is really
not open to truth at all, and is therefore in no position to maintain
either the unity between the realms of truth or the primacy of primary
truth, and exact observation and correct thinking are out of the question
under such conditions. He cannot verify anything with scientific accuracy
when he will not even classify the different realms of truth and the
faculties of investigation, or give the realms their respective places in
the sphere of truth. And so it is futile for one who refuses to do this to
talk about being in harmony with the scientific spirit.
When an investigator meets these requirements, on the other hand, he is
then ready to meet the next demand made upon the scientific inquirer, which
is--
II. =Truth Must Be Investigated Scientifically.=
Accepting the self-evident accuracy of the classification we have just
outlined, we will now give attention to what the scientific spirit will
require of us at those two places where the Church and the Schools have
parted company. For if we can get together here, we can both proceed and
arrive together in our investigation of truth, and that will end the
controversy.
1. =Faith= Must Be Given Precedence over =Reason=.
Let us see what it will mean to give precedence to faith over reason when
we are working in the realm of spiritual truth.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account