Science and Religion in Meta-Perspective – Part III

Abstract

A meta-theory was developed that brought together implicit premises or world views that constantly re-surface in human thought. Although these elements have long been part of the scholarly activity of humankind, a comprehensive synthesis has been lacking. An integrating perspective redressed this shortcoming and was shown to account for a repeated pattern of basic approaches in human thought, across disciplines, cultures and traditions of thought. The scholarly evidence supports the existence and ongoing dynamic of four paradigmatic or root intellectual orientations, namely: the objectivist-empyrean or metaphysical (type I); the objectivist-empiricist or scientific (type II); the subjectivist-empiricist or narrative-interpretive (type III); and, the subjectivist-empyrean or pragmatic (type IV). The first section of the current paper (Part III) discusses the subjectivist-empiricist (type III) tendency in the S-R field as represented by Philip Hefner (theologian), Karl Peters (theologian) and Ursula Goodenough (biologist). The second section focuses on the pragmatic (type IV) orientations of Hefner, Peacocke, Grassie and Pederson.

DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n20p2313