Teologi som vetenskap

Abstract

This essay is based on a lecture which the author gave when he retired from his chair in Studies in Faiths and World Views at Uppsala University. When scholars do research on religions they meet in the religious doctrines pretensions to give knowledge about human beings and the world, knowledge which can enter into competition with scientifically based knowledge.The main part of the essay contains a discussion of how these religious knowledge claims shall be handled in a scientifically responsible way by the scholar who deals specifically with the doctrines of religion, i.e. the theologian. The author argues that the knowledge claims must be taken seriously and the theologian must discuss and analyse the possibility of human beings having other means of getting insight into the real world than scientific methods. A fruitful theology cannot solely be a descriptive activity. An important task for a theologian at a university is to create a cognitive worry in the scientific world. It is argued that the theologian can use ordinary analytical and hermeneutical methods to develop models which theoretically unite our scientific knowledge and such insights that religions, morals and art may give. Theology can be a constructive task using scholarly methods to open up new perspectives of the human situation without confusing religious doctrines and scientific theories. Constructive theology is necessary for the churches, but it is also of great importance for all human beings who search for a reliable interpretation of our situation in the world.