Science and Religion

Paper Summary:

In this article, the writer points out that the history of human thought from the beginnings up to the modern era betrays an essential and permanent need for interpreting and giving meaning to our world. The writer also notes that both science and religion have attempted different quests and inquiries into the nature of our universe and especially into its origins. The writer maintains that it would be hard for science alone to explain the complex relations between human beings and the universe, or such things as its very need for myths, archetypes and rituals. The writer concludes that the existence of consciousness and of archetypes is but a proof of the fact that the relation between man and the universe justifies the mythical tradition.

From the Paper:

"One aspect which is interesting to notice is that there are different stages in the history of thought that bring scientific and religious truth claims closer or increase the gap between them. Neither science nor religion can totally prevail in human thought, so as to give the final answer to the mystery of the universe, and throughout history the well-known religious persecutions of science as heresy prove the struggle that existed at times between these two distinct modes of thought."
"One of the first things that the scientific modes of thinking have in common with the mythical or religious modes, is their main purpose- to interpret or explain the universe and our own existence in it, or to give meaning to the world in order to escape chaos, as Mircea Eliade observed. Mythical structures and symbols could be an indicative of the human fear of chaos. Also, the existence of the sacred in the world has the same function- the world is seen by the religious man as a divine creation, therefore as something ordered, harmonious and meaningful."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Eliade, Mircea (1963) Myth and Reality. New York: Waveland Press
• --- The Sacred and The Prophane (1983). New York: Vintage Books
• Koestler, Arthur (1999) The Sleepwalkers. New York: The Universal Library
• Mcgrath, Alister (1999) Science and Religion. New York: Blackwell Publishing

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