REL 305
Honors Religion and Science: The Spiritual and Secular in Dialogue About Nature

Dr. Catherine Roach
e-mail: croach@nc.ua.edu

Prerequisite
As this is an Honors course, students must have a minimum GPA of 3.3 or membership in a University Honors program. Furthermore, as the course is an advanced undergraduate course that builds on previous academic experience, students must have at least sophomore standing, or have the permission of the instructor.

Course Description
What is nature? Is it the sacred creation of a divine being? A physical reality explainable in scientific, secular terms? Or both? The two realms of religion and science offer differing narratives about nature. This course critically considers some of these narratives, with the purpose of examining the consonance and dissonance between religious and scientific discourse.

The course focuses on Christianity, but also gives some consideration to Judaism and Goddess traditions. Within the sciences, it includes writings on cosmology, ecology, and molecular and evolutionary biology.

Some environmental scientists argue that humans are causing world-wide ecological degradation at an alarming pace, although others dispute the interpretation of this data. Some cosmologists and molecular and evolutionary biologists are producing accounts of nature that respond to environmental degradation with a plea for nature's protection and that also draw on, or are compatible with, religious views. Ecotheologians, for their part, tell us that the world is God's good creation and that our religious duty includes its care. Furthermore, historians of Christianity debate whether Christian worldviews may have contributed to human destruction of the environment and whether other Christian notions may now ground an environmental ethic. What emerges when these scientific and religious views about nature engage with one another? To what degree are these views compatible? What critiques do each pose to the other? How are we to judge the competing truth claims and narratives about nature within science, within religion, and in the interaction of the two?

Environmental destruction seems to be an area in society today where both science and values-based appeals such as those made in religion are equally needed. In order to effect changes in human behaviour, we may need something more, or something different, than scientific explanation alone. This need arises because behaviour is influenced at the level of values, and the study of values lies in the province of religion, theology, moral reasoning, or ethical reflection. While science reflects implicit values (e.g., about rationality, objectivity, progress, and control), it does not typically study these values. One popular formulation suggests that science studies facts while religion studies values. The course examines whether this distinction is true. Environmental science provides needed data, but do we also need ethical reflection on such data in order to make good decisions about environmental problems? Is there a role, then, that religion or spirituality can play in lessening environmental damage by changing the attitudes underlying behaviour (e.g., through theological or ethical reflection, sacred scripture, ritual, liturgy, etc.)? To what extent do religious attitudes shape attitudes and behaviours toward nature? And does concern for the environment constitute a bridge or "ethical overlap" between religion and science?

This course design is a work-in-progress. It is open to change, based on student suggestion (which I actively solicit), serendipitous opportunities, and the lessons of experience as we proceed together through the term.

Syllabus (pdf)