When did Theology Last add something to Human Knowledge?

by cofty 92 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  Ucantnome

  'Theology has had to adapt to changing social mores.' 'Why is theology still being taught at respectable universtities'

  my daughter has a degree in theology which i have mentioned on this site before maybe you read this in one of my posts. i know she has been taught by a variety of professors and lecturers with very different veiwpoints regarding God and Christianity. she has spent many hours at the british library and other libraries reading history and philosophy so as to understand the time period she is writing about and how this has influenced the politics of the day and is a new look at certain people in this time period.

  i think there is something to be gained by understanding the past more clearly and studying theology has helped her to understand the viewpoionts of the people involved.
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  cofty

  I didn't know that ucantnome.

  Obviously a study of history, literature or philosophy can't ignore theology. What though is the value of theology? Does it still contribute to the sum of human knowledge?
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  Ucantnome

  Are you saying that a study of history and politics adds nothing to human knowledge?
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  cofty

  No just theology
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  Ucantnome

  Well as you say you cant ignore theology although you questioned why universities teach it
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  Ucantnome

  when my daughter rites she will write as a theologian and what she writes will be add to the existing knowledge if it wasn't new it would add nothing
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  Seraphim23

  Just a quick reply to this interesting thread:

  Theology to me is defined by the question of does God exist? So if God doesn’t exist, theology doesn’t exist in the sense that is corresponds to anything real from the perspective that ultimately God is responsible for the systems in existence. If theology is real on the condition that God is real, then science and everything else is also theology.
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  latinthunder

  At a surface level theology and science seem to be in conflict but a deeper look into both reveals their ultimate complimentary nature. Theology and Science will approach the same phenomenon completely differently. Take the concept of Synchronicity for example. Theology has done wonders in helping explain this phenomenon, but so has Science. Both approaches bring something to the table. There is no reason to exclude theology as a explanatory method. However, it's the same in the reverse as well. If you ignore science in favor of theology you are robbing yourself of vital information about yourself and your environment. A good analogy would be a group of travelers lost in a jungle after a plane crash. Theology can help give them an extra motivational push to survive and Science provides the practical tools necessary for survival.
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  70wksfyrs

  To answer your OP question. I would say less than 50 yrs ago. Thats is based on what Julia has said she has learnt, and I am assuming she learnt it less than 50yrs ago, and I am assumning she is a human.
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  adamah

  Many non-scientists think the endeavor of science is non-creative, unimaginative, as if scientists are concrete-thinking simpletons who can do no more than mindlessly parrot back facts and figures. Laypeople are revealing their own ignorance of how science operates.

  Whether the speaker realizes it or not, when they talk about multiple (n th +1 ) dimensions, planes of existence, etc they're actually suggesting hypotheses to explain how the World works. That's fine, but it's the lazy person's way to approach answering unknowns, since they often fail to take the next more-important (and harder) step: figuring out a method to TEST and verify (confirm/disprove) their hypothesis. Since they DON'T, they're trapped in a rut of the 'hypotheses generation' stage, and cannot prove their ideas. Hence, devoid of facts or confirmatory evidence, they're doomed to squander their lives arguing with others (who also lack any evidence to argue either way) about how many angels can dance on the heads of pins, rather than figuring out a method of: 1) proving angels exist 2) measuring the minimum-required area angels need to dance 3) calculating how many angels can fit on the surface area of the head of a pin.
  Adam