Messer’s Typology: An Investigation into the Relationship Between Science and Christian Theology Submitted by Ellen Grace Lesser, to the University of Exeter as a thesis for the degree of Masters by Research in Theology and Religion, June 2019. This thesis is available for Library use on the understanding that it is copyright material and that no quotation from the thesis may be published without proper acknowledgement. I certify that all material in this thesis which is not my own work has been identified and that any material that has been previously submitted and approved for the award of a degree by this or any other University has been acknowledged. (Signature) …………………………………………… 2 Acknowledgements To paraphrase John Donne, no one is an island. There are so many without whom this thesis would not exist, and each deserve my heartfelt thanks. Professor Christopher Southgate and Dr Jonathan Hill have been amazing supervisors throughout the two years I have been studying for my Masters by Research. Their advice and help have been truly invaluable and I am incredibly grateful to have had the chance to work with them over the past two years. I am also grateful for those who have taken the time to sit with me and discuss my ideas, especially Dr Rebekah Welton, Dr Lindsey Askin, Dr Daniel Pedersen, and Professor David Clough. I would also like to thank Dr Susannah Cornwall for facilitating my development as a researcher and a teacher during my time preparing this thesis. Other academic assistance has come from the fantastic PGR community at the University of Exeter, both within and without my home department of Theology and Religion. I cherish each and every friendship I have made and wish the best for everyone in their research, their careers, and their entire lives. I would especially like to thank Hatty Walker and Isabelle Mutton for kindly proof- reading this thesis. Their thoughts and suggestions have helped my editing immensely. I would also like to thank the Researcher Development team of the University of Exeter Doctoral College whose sessions have proved extremely helpful in my personal development as a researcher. I give a special shout-out to Dr Catriona Ryan for her workshop on planning and writing research papers which I have found incredibly useful. I also thank the Academic community on Twitter for providing a space to share experiences of research across disciplines, fields of study, universities, and geographical boundaries. I am very lucky to have been given the opportunity to speak at several conferences during my time preparing for this thesis and I would like to thank the committees for each and every one of those events for giving me the opportunity to share my research and to hear other amazing research which is happening across my own discipline and the wider Humanities. I would also like to thank the editorial team at Question Journal for giving my first academic publication a home while I was preparing this thesis. 3 I would also like to thank those outside of academia for their support. Hannah Alderson has been particularly helpful in her role as Anglican chaplain, as have Simon Taylor (Baptist chaplain), and Kate Cramer (Quaker chaplain). I cannot thank my family and friends enough for the support they have given me: emotional, mental, and financial. Without them, I would not be writing these words, and so I dedicate them to all those amazing people who deserve so much more. Finally, I thank Jesus Christ for everything. There is too much to say and not enough room in either this thesis or this life to say it. 4 Abstract Several thinkers in the field of science and theology have categorised the various views on the relationship between science and Christian theology in typologies. These typologies are often descriptive and are intended to make describing the positions of individual thinkers and/or schools of thought easier and simpler. One typology is that of Neil Messer and is unique in that it categorises different views on the relationship between science and theology in terms of the relative importance given to science and theology by that thinker/school of thought. In this thesis, I shall look at three of the five Types on Messer’s typology with the aim of discerning which is the most satisfactory formulation of the relationship between science and Christian theology in the context of the contemporary West. I shall undertake this this task by focusing on one of the three chosen Types in each chapter and investigating how satisfactorily an example of that Type formulates a relationship between science and Christian theology. This investigation shall be facilitated using analogies from works of speculative fiction which portray a relationship between magic and electronic/mechanical technology – relationships which will be compared and contrasted with the relationship between science and Christian theology as it is presented by the thinkers/schools of thought. Ultimately, I shall conclude that of the three Types I have discussed from Messer’s typology (Types 1, 4.5, and 3 respectively), Type 3 as is the most satisfactory formulation of the relationship between science and Christian theology in the contemporary West. This is because it provides an account where science and Christian theology both exist within and contribute to our understanding of the same ‘ultimate’ reality. 5 Contents Title Page ......................................................................................................... 1 Acknowledgements ......................................................................................... 2 Abstract ............................................................................................................ 4 Contents ........................................................................................................... 5 Introduction ..................................................................................................... 8 Methodology ................................................................................................. 27 Chapter 1 – Richard Dawkins’ Numidium .................................................... 33 Introduction .................................................................................................. 33 The Story of the Dwemer .............................................................................. 37 Dawkins’ Numidium ...................................................................................... 40 Discovering the Heart of Lorkhan ............................................................. 40 Constructing the Numidium ...................................................................... 41 Inevitability of Pseudo-Religion .................................................................... 45 A discussion of Dawkins on religion in society .......................................... 47 On replacing religion with New Atheism ................................................... 57 Conclusion ................................................................................................... 59 Chapter 2 – Intelligent Design Theory and the Thor of the Gaps .............. 61 Introduction .................................................................................................. 61 Intelligent Design Theory’s Teleological Tradition ........................................ 65 Thor and the MCU ........................................................................................ 67 Michael Behe and Irreducible Complexity .................................................... 72 William Dembski and the Design Inference .................................................. 77 Intelligent Design and the God of the Gaps ................................................. 82 The Traditional Refutation ........................................................................ 83 The Ultimate God of the Gaps .................................................................. 86 Conclusion ................................................................................................... 89 Chapter 3 – John Polkinghorne, Final Fantasy XV, and the Ultimate Reality ......................................................................................................................... 91 Introduction .................................................................................................. 91 Final Fantasy XV .......................................................................................... 92 Polkinghorne and the Ultimate Reality ......................................................... 94 Polkinghorne and Non-human Animals ...................................................... 104 Soul-Language ....................................................................................... 109 Conclusion ................................................................................................. 116 6 Conclusion ................................................................................................... 118 Bibliography ................................................................................................ 125 7 “Blasphemer! How dare you bring logic into God’s house?” - Reid Harrison, “Faster, Princess! Kill! Kill!” Disenchantment. Directed by Ira Sherak. 2018. Los Angeles, California: Netflix. “I’m sick of magical worlds with no technology. I want fairy run coffee shops where you can get a latte with a shot of charisma, because you’ve got a big presentation you’re worried about, or witches working