Postmodernist vs. Modernist vs. Personal position on Faith :: essays research papers

Topic 1: Postmodernist vs. Modernist vs. Personal position on Faith Topic 2: What did you learn in this class? Written By: Angela Gonzalez Topic 1: Postmodernist vs. Modernist Position on Science and Religion We have all at one time or another asked ourselves the question â€Å"Should I believe this?† Doubt is simply another part of the human experience. When we doubt our faith, however, it can be more crucial than many other doubts we have, because of the believed consequences that come along with it. Where there is doubt people begin to look for ways to rationalize whether what they believe is more right than what someone else believes. Science and religion, two means in which knowledge is obtained from the world, are used by post modernist and modernist to justify faith or lack there of. In this paper I will discuss the contradicting views postmodernist and modernist have on the separation and overlap of scientific knowledge and religious knowledge. Whether you believe one view over the other boils down to personal choice and acceptance of the idea based on ones experiences, therefore I will also discuss my opinion on the connectivity among faith, rationality, objective truth an d ways of gaining and testing the truth of knowledge for both science and religion. Let’s begin by discussing the Enlightenment thought of modernist’s that only that which can be scientifically measured and quantified and reasoned through logically is true knowledge. We can have true knowledge about time in space, fitness, age or the power of your punch, but what, about things that can not be scientifically measured such as beauty, morals, and other matters of the spirit. It does not seem right to say that we can not obtain true knowledge of such things so we have inherited the modernist belief that such things are matters of opinion. In other words, they are subjective matters having only to do with the individual’s experiences and preferences. This modernist scientific mindset is devastating for religious beliefs. Though some religious beliefs can be empirically tested there are others, such as the nature of God and justification by faith which cannot be weighed or measured. These central elements of religious knowledge can therefore be said to be matters of personal opinion, or worse figments of imagination. This contradicting relationship between the scientific and religious approach of knowledge can have a tragic effect on a believer of faith because it is very easy for the individual to get caught up in providing for themselves the kind of impossible logical certainty for their beliefs a nonbeliever might demand.