Philosophy in the Contemporary World

Volume 1, Issue 2, Summer 1994

Edward L. Schoen
Pages 33-40

The Methodological Isolation of Religious Belief

According to Langdon Gilkey, both religion and science are cognitive enterprises, but they are separated methodologically. As a result, science and religion are concerned with different, though related levels of truth. Against these claims, historical examples are used to argue that scientific and religious explanations cannot be so neatly separated. To the contrary, both fields frequently treat overlapping ranges of data in methodologically opportunistic ways.