Science and Religion
In Our Time
BBC
4.6 • 9.8K Ratings
🗓️ 25 January 2001
⏱️ 43 minutes
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Summary
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the areas of conflict and agreement between science and religion.What space should science leave to religion? What ground should religion give to science? Do they need to give ground to each other at all? The American palaeontologist Stephen Jay Gould tackles the old problem in his book Rocks of Ages: Science and Religion in the Fullness of Life. In it he writes: “Science tries to document the factual character of the natural world, and to develop theories that co-ordinate or explain these facts. Religion, on the other hand, operates in the equally important but utterly different realm of human purposes”. In other words ‘science studies how the heavens go, religion how to go to heaven’. But do the two realms really exclude each other? Can religion and science be so easily divided?With Stephen Jay Gould, Alexander Agassiz Professor of Zoology and Professor of Geology, Harvard University; John Haldane, Professor of Philosophy, University of St Andrews and Stanton Lecturer in Divinity, Cambridge University; Hilary Rose, sociologist and Visiting Professor of Social Policy, Bradford University.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know. |
| 0:04.7 | My name's Linda Davies and I Commission Podcasts for BBC Sounds. |
| 0:08.5 | As you'd expect, at the BBC we make podcasts of the very highest quality featuring the most knowledgeable experts and genuinely engaging voices. |
| 0:18.0 | What you may not know is that the BBC makes podcasts about all kinds of things like pop stars, |
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| 0:29.7 | If you'd like to discover something a little bit unexpected, find your next podcast over at BBC Sounds. |
| 0:36.0 | Thanks for downloading the In Our Time Podcast. |
| 0:39.0 | For more details about In Our Time and for our terms of use, please go to BBC.co. UK |
| 0:44.3 | forward slash radio for. I hope you enjoy the program. |
| 0:47.0 | Hello what space should science leave to religion? What ground should |
| 0:51.8 | religion give to science? Do they need to give ground to each |
| 0:54.8 | other at all? The American paleontologist Stephen J. Gould tackles the old problem in his latest |
| 1:00.8 | erudite and odd adjective perhaps charming book, Rock of Ages, |
| 1:05.1 | science and religion in the fullness of life. In it he writes, |
| 1:08.4 | science tries to document the factual character of the natural world |
| 1:12.1 | and to develop theories that coordinate or |
| 1:14.2 | explain these facts. Religion on the other hand operates in the equally important but |
| 1:19.1 | utterly different realm of human purposes. In other words, science studies how the heavens go, religion, how to go to heaven, |
| 1:26.6 | the rocks of ages and the age of rocks. But do the two realms really exclude each other? |
| 1:31.6 | With me to discuss whether religion and science can be so |
| 1:34.3 | happily divided is Stephen Jagold himself, the Agazie Professor of Zoology and Professor of |
| 1:38.9 | Geology at Harvard University, the Roman Catholic philosopher John Haldane, professor of philosophy at the University of St Andrews, |
... |
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