Authors: Looy, Heather; Reimer, Kevin; Seybold, Kevin

Journal of Psychology & Christianity, Vol. 24(2), Sum 2005, pp. 101-104

Abstract:

Scientific studies of religion often lead to reductive, materialist explanations for religious phenomena. Yet this reduction is not necessary. Religion is a multi-leveled reality, and any particular definition or method of study can capture only some aspects. Science cannot be used to prove God’s existence or reveal God’s nature, but it can illuminate the embodied and embedded character of religion; how it is expressed within and through our bodies, over history, and within our communities. Rather than reduction, science provides various points of entry or perspectives on religion, and ultimately cannot ever fully capture its complex, communal, dynamic, and transcendent character.