Cornel du Toit's Science and Religion contribution in the Lens of the Divine Action Project: The advantage of limited aims and epistemological diversity

Abstract

Cornel du Toit is the doyen of the science and religion debate in South Africa. He has led this debate by organising the South African Science and Religion Forum, and its conferences and publications, since 1993 to the present. Over the same time period, the Divine Action Project (DAP) was a signpost series of conferences, focussing the effort of a significant section of the religion and science community on establishing common ground in one area of research. This paper notes appreciatively the contribution in the standardisation of vocabulary and identification of the different options in this field this series has made. It also attempts to identify and critique the shared assumptions behind the project as ultimately confined to the fundamental assumptions of modernity, thereby constraining its results to the aporia the conference does, in the end, result in. Some suggestions are developed from the aporia observed. This critique is used as a lens to appreciate the epistemological diversity in Du Toit’s contribution to the Science and Religion debate. His more modest aims and his greater recognition of the diverse modes of legitimate perception and thinking could enhance the international debate, if taken seriously