TY - JOUR
T1 - BEYOND WISHFUL THINKING
T2 - RECONCILING FAITH AND SCIENCE IN CRISES OF HOPE
AU - Constantino, John N.
AU - Baumel, W. Thomas
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors gratefully acknowledge Fr. Gary Braun for his leadership of the Catholic Student Center at Washington University in St. Louis, where regular promotion of formal and informal discussion of the interface between science and spirituality served as a significant motivation for this work. The authors also gratefully acknowledge Abbott Gregory Mohrman O.S.B., Rev. Laurence Kriegshauser O.S.B., and three anonymous peer reviewers for their input on earlier versions of this manuscript; acknowledgment of their extremely helpful input is not to imply their endorsement of the views expressed in this work. The Scripture quotations contained herein are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States. Used by permission. All rights reserved. A children's version of the parameterization of freedom-of-will, mortality, and identity described in this article is presented in the form of an 11-minute digital video story that can be accessed at https://vimeo.com/109202496.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 The Authors. Zygon® published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Joint Publication Board of Zygon.
PY - 2021/12
Y1 - 2021/12
N2 - Steady advances in neuroscience have shaped understanding of brain and mind, in ways that challenge spiritual belief and can amplify misconceptions about biological determinism. The inability to reconcile spirituality and science risks faith being construed as “out of touch” with reality, and in worst-case scenarios engendering clinical-level crises of hope. The latter typically involve three central issues: the free will problem, desperate perceptions about mortality, and the constraint of individual identity. Here, we synthesize contemporary scientific and philosophical understanding to propose a reconciliation of faith and science of particular relevance to preservation of hope. In this approach, we review the compatibility of natural causation and human freedom, parameterize “meaning” on the basis of specific opportunities for decision-making within the timeframe of a lifetime, and articulate a model of self-transcendence predicated on these principles and on observed characteristics of human love. This model resides within “common ground” for faith and science by avoiding unnecessary dichotomization of the material and the Divine.
AB - Steady advances in neuroscience have shaped understanding of brain and mind, in ways that challenge spiritual belief and can amplify misconceptions about biological determinism. The inability to reconcile spirituality and science risks faith being construed as “out of touch” with reality, and in worst-case scenarios engendering clinical-level crises of hope. The latter typically involve three central issues: the free will problem, desperate perceptions about mortality, and the constraint of individual identity. Here, we synthesize contemporary scientific and philosophical understanding to propose a reconciliation of faith and science of particular relevance to preservation of hope. In this approach, we review the compatibility of natural causation and human freedom, parameterize “meaning” on the basis of specific opportunities for decision-making within the timeframe of a lifetime, and articulate a model of self-transcendence predicated on these principles and on observed characteristics of human love. This model resides within “common ground” for faith and science by avoiding unnecessary dichotomization of the material and the Divine.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85119473070&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1111/zygo.12741
DO - 10.1111/zygo.12741
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85119473070
SN - 0591-2385
VL - 56
SP - 820
EP - 845
JO - Zygon
JF - Zygon
IS - 4
ER -