Cornel du Toit's Science and Religion contribution in the Lens of the Divine Action Project: The advantage of limited aims and epistemological diversity
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Authors
Tonsing, Detlev
Issue Date
2013-08
Type
Article
Language
en
Keywords
Alternative Title
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
Description
Peer reviewed
Citation
Studia Historiae Ecclesiastica, vol 39, Supplement, pp 7-21
Publisher
Church History Society of Southern Africa
License
Journal
Volume
Issue
PubMed ID
DOI
ISSN
10170499