Historical and Philosophical Science-Engaged Theology (HPSET)

The purpose of this panel is to consider what it looks like for theologians to engage with science responsibly and critically. Science-engaged theology (SET) emerged out of a recent move away from the overly essentialist and totalizing methodological projects of Science and Religion. It has encouraged greater specificity, an end to methodological stalling, and attention to the entanglement between theology and science. SET, however, has been plagued by complaints that it is methodologically naive and prone to scientism. This panel seeks to articulate and develop a path forward for SET, one that makes use of the History and Philosophy of Science to give theologians better critical tools to engage with science responsibly and to interrogate the historical and conceptual foundations of scientific theories. We call this project Historical and Philosophical Science-Engaged Theology (HPSET).