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David Munchin Is Theology a Science? The Nature of the Scientific Enterprise in the Scientific Theology of Thomas Forsyth Torrance and the Anarchic Epistemology of Paul Feyerabend (Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2011), vii + 298 pp., €110.00/US $151.00, ISBN 9789004194595.

David Munchin Is Theology a Science? The Nature of the Scientific Enterprise in the Scientific... ‭This book, which began as a doctoral thesis at Heythrop College, aims to illustrate that truth matters, so that “the search for truth and human flourishing are ultimately coincident” (ix) and that faith and science should not be opposed. Munchin, an Anglican parish priest, chose the work of Paul Feyerabend (1924–1994), a philosopher of science whose philosophy ranged from a kind of realism to a type of relativism. Simply expressed, the main theme of his developed “epistemological anarchism” (21) is that because realism has been hijacked so often by political and social forces to the detriment of human flourishing, we must use as our criterion of truth the ethical standard of whatever it is that leads to human flourishing. This led Feyerabend to praise “liberation theology,” which elevated praxis over theory and echoed his “own overarching pragmatism” (170). But Munchin rightly believes that this is merely a “strategy of avoidance” since Feyerabend does not offer a sustained rational argument in favor of his epistemology but rather elicits “our liberal humanitarian sympathies as cover” in order to support “a suspect epistemological relativism” (150–151).‬ ‭Thomas F. Torrance (1913–2007), a Professor of Christian Dogmatics at the University of Edinburgh, wrote extensively http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Journal of Reformed Theology Brill

David Munchin Is Theology a Science? The Nature of the Scientific Enterprise in the Scientific Theology of Thomas Forsyth Torrance and the Anarchic Epistemology of Paul Feyerabend (Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2011), vii + 298 pp., €110.00/US $151.00, ISBN 9789004194595.

Journal of Reformed Theology , Volume 8 (1): 109 – Jan 1, 2014

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Publisher
Brill
Copyright
Copyright 2014 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands.
ISSN
1872-5163
eISSN
1569-7312
DOI
10.1163/15697312-00801014
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

‭This book, which began as a doctoral thesis at Heythrop College, aims to illustrate that truth matters, so that “the search for truth and human flourishing are ultimately coincident” (ix) and that faith and science should not be opposed. Munchin, an Anglican parish priest, chose the work of Paul Feyerabend (1924–1994), a philosopher of science whose philosophy ranged from a kind of realism to a type of relativism. Simply expressed, the main theme of his developed “epistemological anarchism” (21) is that because realism has been hijacked so often by political and social forces to the detriment of human flourishing, we must use as our criterion of truth the ethical standard of whatever it is that leads to human flourishing. This led Feyerabend to praise “liberation theology,” which elevated praxis over theory and echoed his “own overarching pragmatism” (170). But Munchin rightly believes that this is merely a “strategy of avoidance” since Feyerabend does not offer a sustained rational argument in favor of his epistemology but rather elicits “our liberal humanitarian sympathies as cover” in order to support “a suspect epistemological relativism” (150–151).‬ ‭Thomas F. Torrance (1913–2007), a Professor of Christian Dogmatics at the University of Edinburgh, wrote extensively

Journal

Journal of Reformed TheologyBrill

Published: Jan 1, 2014

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