Posted: December 2nd, 2016

How would you reconcile the authority of biblical tradition with the values and insights of philosophy and science?

As the inheritor of two distinct and contrasting traditions-Jewish and Greek- early Christianity struggled to assimilate two ostensibly incompatible approaches to knowledge—divine revelation and human reason, creating a tension that exists until this day. According to the Jewish biblical view, true wisdom is available only through supernatural revelation of God’s will, as expressed in scripture. In contrast, the Greek emphasis on rational inquiry–the basis of contemporary science–assumes that human intellect, properly disciplined, can achieve a valid understanding of the cosmos. Are these two worlds really incompatible? How would you reconcile the authority of biblical tradition with the values and insights of philosophy and science?