In this introduction to religion and science, William Chalker outlines the nature of knowledge involved in claims about science and about religion and delineates a compatible relationship between these two fields of understanding. According to Chalker, both science and theology have their proper realms. While science and theology are different in several crucial respects, they are not incompatible. Science, he explains, is a human intellectual activity whose aim is to produce knowledge claims that will maximize utility. Theology, in contrast, is a human intellectual activity whose aim is to produce knowledge claims about ultimate purpose. The two areas of knowledge are grounded in two very basic and very different kinds of human needs. Through explaining the differeneces in the nature of truth claims in science and theology, Chalker hopes to dissolve the seemingly intractable conflict between scientific and theological ways of thinking. Written accessibly and engagingly, Science and Faith will be welcomed by both the general reader and by students in undergraduate and seminary classes.
