Wholeness: Faith & Reason

Modern science clearly impacts daily life.  At the same time, spirituality or religious tradition shapes experiences for many of us.  Yet the worlds of science and religion are often at odds.

There is a history to this antagonism.  By the sixteenth-century “the creativity of the West was now situated primarily in the scientific inquiry…” and not in the religious traditions, notes Thomas Berry the cultural historian (The Sacred Universe, p.6).  Berry writes that “…traditional religion, alienated from the modern world, has reached a spiritual impasse” (p.14).

The message of wisdom always seems to be one of wholeness.  Take everything that is, and work with it.  Don’t throw out discoveries of science.  Similarly don’t dismiss traditions of religion.  Let them mold each other.  See how they can inform and teach each other.

I agree with Berry that there is hope in efforts to allow modern realities to add “new vigor” to old traditions (p.17).  Science and religion need each other.  Without spirit, reason can grow egocentric and meaningless.  Lacking reason, spirituality can become removed from the realities of here and now.  They need to evolve together.

Further, the either-or debate of science or religion reflects the dualistic nature of many arguments and fields of study.  We can learn from this by seeing the need for more integration of academic fields, more acceptance of difference – the need for greater wholeness in ourselves.  Making connections and seeing the wider field, the bigger picture is the way forward for science and religion, for academic study, and for communities.