In what Sense Can the Scientifically Driven Theology Be Considered as a Continuation of the Doctrinal Tradition?

Abstract

The central goal of the presented article is to show that the type of rationality proper to the method of the contemporary sciences yields a unique conceptual environment in which the spirit of rationality instilled to the theological thought by its encounter with the Greek philosophy finds its natural expansion. At the outset, the origins of the Greek rationality in the Ionian school of philosophy are briefly discussed in order to illuminate their adequacy for the exposition and defense of doctrine in the times of the early Church Fathers. Next, the specificity of the scholastic method of St. Thomas Aquinas briefly surveyed to indicate the nature of the unique harmony between faith and reason achieved by the Angelic Doctor. In the following step, the role of rationality in theology is gleaned through negative examples of its elimination as evident in nominalism and the subsequent Lutheran intervention. This is followed by a short discourse into of the origins and the specificity of the contemporary scientific method with particular emphasis on the method’s unique potential to expand and deepen the Greek rationality. Finally, a case study of the evolutionary theology is offered in which the implementation of the dynamic (evolutionary) picture of the Universe as the conceptual foundation opens up new and profound ways of understanding the Universe’s meaning and the meaning of man in particular. Thus the spirit of the hellenistic rationality in theology is not only preserved but also significantly enhanced.