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Progress in Theology: Does the Queen of the Sciences Advance? book cover

1st Edition

Progress in Theology Does the Queen of the Sciences Advance?

Edited By Gijsbert van den Brink, Rik Peels, Bethany N. Sollereder Copyright 2025
    336 Pages
    by Routledge

    This volume explores the intriguing relationship between theology, science and the ideal of progress from a variety of perspectives. While seriously discussing the obstacles and pitfalls related to the notion of progress in theology, it argues that there are in fact many different kinds of progress in theology. It considers how this sheds positive light on what theologians do and suggests that other disciplines in the humanities can equally profit from these ideas. The chapters provide tools for making further progress in theology, featuring detailed case studies to show how progress in theology works in practice and connecting with the role and place of theology in the University. The book rearticulates in multiple ways theology’s distinctive voice at the interface of science and religion.

    PART I Situating the Debate

    1 Progress in Theology: An Introduction

    Gijsbert van den Brink, Rik Peels, Bethany Sollereder

    2 The Metaphysics of Progress  

    René van Woudenberg

    3 Brother Juniper’s Experiment – and Five Better Ways of Seeing Progress in Theology

    Gijsbert van den Brink

     PART II Dimensions of Progress

     4 Epistemic, Moral, and Religious Progress in Theology

    Rik Peels

    5 Synchronic Progress in the Understanding of Doctrine: A Marian Perspective

    Michaël Bauwens

    6 Finetuning the Sources of Theology

    Hans van Eyghen

    7 Theology and the Hermeneutics of Testimony: Progress in Theological Interpretation?

    Adriani Milli Rodrigues

    8 Christian Theology as Comparative Theology: Going Comparative as Highway towards Progress

    Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen

    9 The Paradox of Progress: Theology and the Divided Brain

    Oskari Juurikkala

     PART III Case Studies

     10 Freedom and Foreknowledge: A Case Study in Progress in Theology

    Katherine Rogers

    11 Epistemic Progress in the Divine Action Debate

    Ignacio Alberto Silva

    12 Theological Anthropology Progressing through Artificial Intelligence

    Marius Dorobantu

    13 Progress as Overcoming Theological Dissensus: Two Strategies in Ecumenical Dialogue

    Cody Warta

    14 Progress, Theology, and Climate Change: Creating Pandaemonium when Working for Paradise

    Bethany Sollereder

     PART IV Progress and Theology’s Place in the University

     15 Epistemic Norms in Theology and Science

    Helen De Cruz and Johan De Smedt

    16 The Future of Protestant Theology – An Epistemological Vacuum

    Katrin Gülden Le Maire

    17 The Place of Theology in the Secular University

    Paul A. Macdonald, Jr.

    Index

    Biography

    Gijsbert van den Brink is Full Professor of Theology and Science in the Faculty of Religion and Theology at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

     Rik Peels is an Associate Professor of Philosophy and Religion & Theology at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

     Bethany Sollereder is a Lecturer in Science and Religion at the University of Edinburgh, UK.

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