Religion and science: the search for a likely story

Abstract

This paper is centred on a consideration of issues surrounding two of the biggest questions posed by current cosmological thought: cosmic origins (essentially, why is there something rather than nothing?) and order (why does the universe appear everywhere to be ordered by the laws of physics?). In exploring these issues, particularly in how they relate to arguments for the existence of God, David Fergusson cautions that we need to recognise the limitations of human understanding and, following Plato, suggests that we should not look for more than a likely story when seeking explanations in such difficult territory. His paper begins by considering how best to characterise the nature of the current relationship between science and religion, and concludes by rejecting the position that theology’s conversation with science is one that is not worth having.