and:
"In short, Bacon was a strong proponent of a type of naturalism
that supported a theistic meta-viewpoint. This, in my opinion,
is precisely the way that ECs view the mechanistic world."
These are interesting comments, because Steve's earlier posting
about Bacon was expressing his concern that YEC spokesmen were
over-influenced by Baconian philosophy. Now the focus is on ECs.
My reason for commenting is that I have noted something similar
with the UK TE leaders. There is a general feeling on this side
of the Atlantic that Bacon's influence on the development of
science has been almost wholly positive. There is not much talk
of a "Baconian compromise"!
A recent example comes from the pen of Professor R.J. Berry.
"God and the biologist" was published in 1996 by Apollos (an
imprint of Inter-Varsity Press). Chapter 2 has the title
"Reason" and is a brief historical run through the rise of modern
science. Bacon gets only a passing mention, but a footnote draws
attention to his importance:
"Francis Bacon (1561-1626) was an exemplar of the death of
scholasticism; he explicitly rejected the deductive logic of
Aristotle and the Greeks, and stressed the importance of
experiment and inductive reasoning, that is, that humans are the
servants and interpreters of nature, that truth is not derived
from authority and that knowledge is the fruit of experience".
(p.12)
Contemporary TEs like Bacon partly because of the "Two Books"
demarcation. The Scriptures and Science are two complementary
and compatible perspectives on the world, and theories of origins
that are 100% driven by natural law can be harmoniously
integrated with theism. This extends to the origin of the first
living cell and even further back to the Big Bang itself.
So Baconian ideas are alive and well in many circles within the
Christian community! That is one reason why I feel it important
to encourage critical debate about the significance of Bacon.
Best wishes,
*** From David J. Tyler, CDT Department, Hollings Faculty,
Manchester Metropolitan University, UK.
Telephone: 0161-247-2636 ***