Christian faith has often been labelled anti-intellectual and even un-scientific. This has sometimes been substantiated with a quote from Tertullian who asked what Athens and Jerusalem had in common, what the academy with the church. When one looks, however, at the general thrust of the Christian faith one notices no opposition to intellectual endeavors, since the Christian faith is a thoughtful faith. Faith does not summon to obedience, but to discerning trust. Even Tertullian did not categorically reject knowledge, but he did not want to mix Christian faith and philosophy. What is then today the place of theology in the academy? A university is a community which strives for knowledge. Yet what is the connecting element in that striving? Since we have no longer a common curriculum for university studies, one can easily eliminate one discipline after another and still claim that the quest for knowledge is pursued. Whenone considers theology as science of God, then - at least for theology - such a place in the academy is essential in order that the university remains a community striving for knowledge. The reason for this is that theology is science of God who is the all-determining reality which impinges on everything real. This does not mean that theology would interfere in other scholars' fields of expertise, but it serves as the connecting bracket which ties everything together. It is not without significance that high-level scientists such as Einstein, Hawking, and Heisenberg have thematized God as the integrating factor. How should we know what a human being is, for whom ultimately all knowledge is relevant if we have no idea from whence that person comes and whither it goes. Theology therefore has a significant integrative power which is important for the academic world as is noticeable in the USA where the religious factor is thematized in virtually all universities and colleges.

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Personen: Schwarz, Hans

Schlagwörter: Glaube Theologie Naturwissenschaft Hochschule