'Wissenschaft und Theologie' oder 'Wissenschaft in der Theologie'? Neue Wege der Begegnung von Theologie und Naturwissenschaften

This article surveys some recent changes and developments in the field of science and theology. Older accounts like that of Ian Barbour, which mapped the field in terms of different kinds of relationship between ‘science’ and ‘religion’ (or ‘theology’), have been criticized in recent years for giving an over-simplified and misleading impression of the complex and varied encounters between particular scientific and theological discourses. In place of Barbour’s schema, I propose a more nuanced way of thinking about how particular theological enquiries might engage with relevant scientific disciplines. One important debate in science and theology, concerning divine action in the natural world, is used to illustrate the proposed approach. The use of this example reveals how new paths have opened up in recent years in this particular debate, in addition to new possibilities for understanding the field as a whole.