Worldviews, Philosophy and Theology

"The word god is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of honorable, but still primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish. No interpretation no matter how subtle can (for me) change this", Einstein wrote.

Although, neither Einstein nor his parents were religious people, he did in fact attend the Catholic primary school. But at the age of 12 he was already questioning the truth of the stories written in the Bible. "The consequence was a positively fanatic orgy of freethinking coupled with the impression that youth is being deceived by the state through lies; it was a crushing impression", Einstein wrote.

Einstein may have not believed in God, but he felt that faith was a must.

God does not throw dice",

This belief in faith is probably also why his position towards religion was often misinterpreted.

Like other great scientists he does not fit the boxes in which popular polemicists like to pigeonhole him.

I. Bernard Cohen’s book, Revolution in Science, section IV, pages 197-269

it is an attempt to analyze parallel movements that lead to the radical shift in the way men understand the universe and a radical shift in the scientific enterprise.

a radical discontinuity and change

an understanding of Kuhn’s use of “revolution” must be understood before one can comprehend Kuhn’s thesis

revolution” as a principle of radical discontinuity of one science for change into another understanding of science lies at the foundation of Kuhn’s book

Kuhn seeks to defend his position that science changes in a revolutionary fashion rather than in an evolutionary fashion

John Draper's History of The Conflict Between Religion and Science (1874).

Colin Russell, Cross Currents; Interactions between Science and Faith (1985).

Is reconciliation between 'scientific method' and 'Christian faith' possible?

A fundamental question is: can those of us who have made a fundamental commitment to Jesus Christ live a consistent life in the context of a secularistic scientifically oriented world?

Science cannot provide answers to questions of ultimate meaning, purpose and primary causes and (2) there are insights into reality that cannot be obtained by scientific by scientific investigation.

Renaissance

It created the cultural soil out of which humanism would emerge as a vital competitor for Christian truth claims and ethics.

Reformation – Christendom continued to fragment with the advent of the Protestant Reformation

the “Church’s pathological pattern of responses to these events—responses that undermined the Church’s credibility and distanced the people from her witness. . . The Church’s behavior (i.e. in relationship to Science mentioned above? Made it appear to be the enemy of thought, rationality, and truth” (p. 29). 

This killed Christendom as a political unity.  War led ultimately to disillusionment with the Church’s God. 

Science challenged Christendom’s prescientific assumptions about the universe and human life.  The Church’s pigheaded refusal to acknowledge the legitimate truth claims of science (such as the position of the earth in the universe system) caused the Church to lose credibility with the thinking world.

Enlightenment escalated the secularization process.  It is such a big part of secularization that many writers treat it like the only cause.  The Enlightenment mood taught that people were intrinsically good and reasonable, but environment makes them less good and reasonable.  Is this the breeding ground for the current tidal wave of “victim mentality?”

Urbanization is the migration of people from the rural, farming community to the mass of people joined in the “secular city.”

Rise of Nationalism

Church’s failure to respond properly to those events. 

Martin Marty suggests that secularity as “the schism between the Church and western culture has taken at least three different forms.”

Controlled Secularity – This form is characteristically found in the United States where Christianity has been distorted into a folk religion which typically deifies traditional American values.  

Kierkegaard, who said, “When everybody is a Christian, nobody is a Christian.”  (p. 33)  

Christian movement’s first three centuries, four objectives had to be achieved in order for Christianity to be communicated:  (1)  People needed to be informed and educated as to the Church’s truth claims;  (2)  In the midst of a hostile populace, people had to be influenced;  (3)  In the midst of a diverse religious atmosphere, people had to be convinced that at the last Christianity was plausible and at the best true; (4)  Since people have to willingly choose to enter the Kingdom, people had to be invited to adopt the Christian faith as their own (p. 35).