Reflections on the potential for a dialogue between theology and sciences

1. Entity type Lemma
2. Original titleReflecţii asupra potenţialului de dialog al teologiei cu ştiinţele
3. Language term Romanian
4. lemma author Stavinschi, Alexandra
5. lemma category Various approaches to the problem of correlation between science and theology - Concepts of knowledge and modes of reasoning > Mysticism and Orthodox spiritual experience - Orthodox theological tradition and practice > Status of theology
6. Publication date 3-2-2017
7. lemma work Memelis, Gabriel [Author]. Reflections on the potential for a dialogue between theology and sciences
8. lemma manifestations A new representation of the world. Inter and transdisciplinary studies vol 5
9. Keywords interdisciplinary dialogue - faith and knowledge - scientific knowledge - limits of human knowledge - epistemology
10. Citations
    1. 51-67
11. Lemma body

    1. The article shows a clear-headed and severe analysis of the problems that need to be overcome, particularly on the part of theology, in order to make possible a dialogue between theology and science.

       The author believes that unless theology learns how to overcome "this arrogant insularity of a systemic self-sufficiency”, it will not be able to participate in mapping the current territory of knowledge, which is achieved against the backdrop of an open and complex epistemology (Edgar Morin), involving the transfer of knowledge and methods between disciplines and even beyond. The author credits an important part of Orthodoxy with many serious shortcomings that thwart the dialogue; he cites many distressing signs of clinging to a stiff and fossilized vision that predisposes to inflexibility and intolerance towards the new representation of the world that comes from science. Therefore, in order to avoid repeating the mistake of scholastic theology, theology has to retrieve today an open and dynamic perspective intended to eliminate "the convenient ideological Orthodoxist clichés, the liturgical isolationism, the apology of stagnation and glorified history" in favour of a spiritual refreshment that could enable it "to react positively, not simply defensively, to the 'pressure of history', proving the vitality of its resources", as Ioan Ica jr put it.

       According to Memelis, Christian theology must remember the duty to address primarily the people who make history, including the history ideas, not just those who are subject to it. The author uses the Kuhnian paradigm, whose use is confirmed by how theology has developed throughout history. He argues that things have now reached maturity and this opportunity for a dialogue should be used without delay; he’s quoting Ioan Ica jr who claimed that it is time for a "real openness" in the current scientific and cultural context that requires a more substantial response from theology.

       Memelis closes his study with a systematic analysis of the the intrinsic limits of the cognitive process, caused primarily by four factors; these fall into the logical, psychological, physical and systemic category, and are examined in great detail.