What do Christians understand by revelation? 4KU What is the religious method ? 4KU

1. What do Christians understand by revelation? 4KU • What is the religious method? 4KU

2. What do Christians understand by revelation? 4KU Communication from God of certain information to individuals or groups – especially as recorded in the Bible. •  God believed to be revealing himself to people in special ways. •  Revelation can be interpreted as either a “direct communication” from God or something that has been “communicated by God” and filtered through the minds of human beings. • Two types of revelation •  General – open to anyone and can be by experiences of the natural world, conscience, reading scriptures, personal experiences etc. •  Special – in a particular event, dream, “miracle” eg Moses at the burning bush.

3. What is the religious method? 4KU

4. Homework for Tuesday • Read pages 9-31 • Complete questions 4-23 p31

5. The Scientific Method

6. Beginnings • Aristotle • (384 BCE-322 BCE or BC) ancient Greek philosopher

7. Aristotle was so famous that his work influenced thinking in the Western world from his time to the present. • This was fine when he was right. But he was so influential that his mistakes were never noticed.

8. Aristotle and his contemporaries believed that all problems could be solved by thinking about them. • Sometimes this worked, other times it did not. • For example, Aristotle thought that heavy objects would fall faster than lighter ones.

9. Now that does seem reasonable at first. And this is how “science” was done in ancient times. • But what did Aristotle not do? • He never tested his ideas! • The world would have to wait almost 2000 years for that to happen.

10. Galileo Galilei • 1564-1642 AD or CE • Is considered to be one of the first true scientists. • Why???? • Because he actually did the experiment.

11. Aristotle said that heavy objects fall faster than lighter ones. • So Galileo asked, “How much faster?” • So he sent students up to the top of a building and had them drop a heavy ball and a lighter one off at the same time. He had other students waiting below to measure the difference in time between the two hitting the ground.

12. Today of course we know what happened. Much to everyone’s surprise both balls hit the ground at about the same time! • This shows that it is much preferred to test your ideas rather than merely think about them.

13. Scientific Method Steps • State the problem. • Make a hypothesis. • Conduct the experiment. • Record/analyze data. • Make a conclusion. • Report findings to others so they can repeat the experiment.

14. The Stages • Observation: information and data is collected • Hypothesis: scientist will predict about what may happen in their observations • Experiment: the scientist tests their hypothesis. All the conditions have to be controlled and standardised as far as possible. • Deduction: from the results of the experiments (research) the scientist will review her earlier hypothesis. From this she will develop a theory. The more her experiments are shown to be consistent, the more likely the hypothesis will be accepted. This is called • Verification- Checking their results to make sure the theories hold true. If the results fail to hold true then this theory is shown to be false. This is called • Falsification.- Other sciencists will then try to repeat the experiments to see if they get similar results. This is: • Independent Verification.

15. Theory • Has a very different meaning in science than in everyday life. • “The detective has a theory about who robbed the bank.” This is a guess. • When scientists use the word theory it is not used as a guess.

16. So the THEORY of gravity, THEORY of electricity, the germ THEORY of disease, and the THEORY of evolution are tested, accepted explanations for events that occur in nature. • Theories can really never be completely proven, only disproven. When new evidence comes along, we must modify our theory or at times even get rid of it and start over again.

17. The Scientific Method • The scientific method is summed up in the phrase ‘Only Hippos Eat Dead Vultures For Interest’. • Observation Hypothesis Experiment Deduction Verification Falsification and Independent Verification. • Science is based on evidence and experiment and seeks to challenge and assess all truth claims. It relies on collecting evidence using our senses and tries to draw conclusions based on a number of observations. • It presupposes that the world is intelligible and orderly. • Scientists also use inductive and deductive reasoning • However, scientific theories are ONLY acceptable until other theories succeed them.

18. The Scientific Method- Strengths • Scientific enquiry is based on empirical evidence – this means findings are gathered through what we can observe under controlled circumstances • The Scientific Method is reliable – answers to scientific questions are gathered through a reliable process of Observation, Hypothesis, Experiment and Verification whereas religious questions can not be answered or tested by observation • Statements are supported by facts– scientific enquiry is grounded in fact and proof whereas Christian revelation is grounded in faith and beliefs which you can not describe as fact or as with proof • Science is impartial– science begins from a neutral standpoint and stays objective whereas Christian revelation is subjective • Science is cautious - this means theories have to be backed up with sound evidence and reasoning. All scientific knowledge and theories are subjected to the full scrutiny of others and, although error is always possible, they stand the test of application in, for example: safe journeys to the Moon and back.

19. The Scientific Method - Limitations • Science is provisional. This means that old theories only last until new data becomes available and new explanations arise. Science can therefore be viewed as “unfinished business”. No theory is certain for all time. • Science is fallible. This is because the scientist is human and may make mistakes. Trusting evidence from our senses does not allow for the fact that our senses can be tricked. • Science is not completely objective. We assume that the scientist begins from a neutral standpoint. However, the scientist’s existing knowledge, previous expectations and future expectations will affect how they see things. • The scientific method is based on assumptions and contains guesswork. You can never establish absolute certainty. No matter how often you flick the switch and the light comes on, you can not be absolutely certain the same thing will happen the next time you do it. The fact that, as far as we know, every human being that has ever lived has eventually died, makes it pretty certain that we will die too. But maybe we are wrong. One of us might be the exception. • There is more to the world than the observable. The idea that the knowledge acquired through scientific methods is the only kind of knowledge worth having represents a very narrow view of life, ignoring the spiritual and emotional aspects of life.