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To: cornelis
One of the features of a true liberal education is an integrated understanding of all the sciences, including theology.

Theology, while one of the most honorable of the schools of thought, is not science. Scientific theories today must be phrased in such a fashion that they are disprovable. Otherwise, they are not considered as valid theories. (A nice side debate might be made, then, on whether the theory of evolution is scientific because it does not conform to that pattern, but that is a separate debate.)

Science mainly consists of using specific techniques - hypothesis, experiment, and theory - to enable use to understand the world around us. One cannot validate or invalidate a hypothesis unless one can phrase it in such a manner that it can be invalidated, i.e. disprovable. Once a hypothesis has been repeatedly hammered by experiment, and as it evolves in response to such experiment, then it becomes a theory. (Hey, look, I used evolve in a sentance. Wanna argue about it?)

It can be argued that certain branches of science fit this conceptual model better than others, and it can be argued that the theory of evolution is no theory at all. But that is not the point here. The point here is that Theology is not science.

13 posted on 10/01/2002 7:39:09 AM PDT by dark_lord
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To: dark_lord
The point here is that theology is a science.

Perhaps you want to say it is not specifically a science of matter (or whatever else you reserve for the label).

14 posted on 10/01/2002 7:40:42 AM PDT by cornelis
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To: dark_lord
Theology as it has been understood in the Christian sense for centuries is and always has been a science. One can prove or disprove ones theological statements or constructs by examining them according to the data of Scriptural statements.

You can reject the validity of the underlying data, but that doesn't change the methodology used to interpret it.

19 posted on 10/01/2002 7:49:55 AM PDT by The Man
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To: dark_lord; cornelis
Theology, while one of the most honorable of the schools of thought, is not science.

Tell it to St. Thomas.

Whether those things that are of faith can be an object of science ?

147 posted on 10/03/2002 9:02:33 AM PDT by Aquinasfan
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