Confession and the Scientist-Theologian

The very title of the »After Science and Religion« project suggests that all is not as it should be with the current shape of Science and Religion as a scholarly discipline. The project presses the need to de-essentialise the discipline's understanding of the 'science' and 'religion' categories, and it critiques the current state of the relationship between the modern sciences and theological enquiry. In this article, it is argued that the project has adopted too distant a stance with respect to the modern sciences, and is therefore unable to account for the sincere 'confession' of the scientist- theologian in the modern professional sciences, a confession which shows that positive theological engagement with the sciences is possible in spite of the caution of the »After« project. The details of this confession are introduced through Philip Hefner's commentary on the personal contributions of John Polkinghorne, and are then expanded through a special focus on Charles Coulson's classic (but largely forgotten) book of 1955, Science and Christian Belief. Coulson's 'act of reflection' provides a means for recognising the rich theism that can flourish in scientific practice, to such an extent that we might follow him in speaking meaningfully of 'science as a religious activity.'