Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Christian theology is not an isolated system of knowledge. The theological phenomena of revelation and inspiration are related to human knowledge of self, community and the world, yet it would be insufficient to think that their conceptual content comes only from human natural experience. This truth is expressed in the doctrine of “theological places”, which is most often associated with the Spanish Dominican Melchior Cano because of its systematic presentation. In this contribution, I present the hypothesis that science (in the modern sense) can be understood as a “theological place”, not only from the perspective of direct assimilation of concrete and detailed scientific data, but also at the level of imagination. Imagination turns out to be one of the essential components of the scientific method, of course, differently at different stages of the history of science. At the same time, today, theology itself is increasingly appealing to the imagination. In this perspective, one of the main tasks facing theology is the reception of the scientific imagination at both levels of its functioning: as a paradigm of thinking and a specific set of information that makes up the modern scientific picture of the world. Scientific imagination, not only that which comes from art, literature and philosophy, can significantly stimulate the theological imagination.
Source: Religions
DOI: 10.3390/rel16040467
Author: Robert J. Woźniak
Institution: Pontifical University of John Paul II in Kraków
Language: English
Subfield: Philosophy
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $2,172
OpenAlex ID: W4409267307