Forskningens engagemang. Ett teologiskt perspektiv på vetenskap, intresse och nytta

Abstract

“The Commitment of Research. A Theological Perspective on Science, Interest and Usefulness”

There is an ongoing debate on the usefulness and social relevance of academic research. This debate is dominated by economic arguments. The academy harbors several self-interpretations of its own relation to society. This article delineates two important models of self-interpretation, which I call ‘the indirect model’ and ‘the distanced model’. These models are roughly related to an idea of enlightenment and truth (the indirect model) and to ideas about an economic raison d’etre of science (the distanced model). I argue that these two models stand in conflict, but in this conflict there is also a cunning division of labor between them, leading to an unsatisfactory situation. In opposition to this, I suggest a third model, ‘the direct model’, molded on insights from the situation of theology and religious studies. In order to suggest a different way of being academically responsible in society, I draw on Friedrich Schleiermacher’s understanding of theology as a so called positive, or practical, academic discipline.