The compatibility of science and theology

My position is that science and theology, properly understood, are fully compatible and need not be consigned to “separate spheres" of enquiry.  Christians need not be afraid of science and in fact science supports some key theological suppositions about the nature of the universe.

First, we need to recognise that science and theology are both rational systems of thought but they have different (not necessarily opposed) a priori assumptions. 

The fundamental assumption of Christian theology is that God reveals himself to us through his Word  - all subsequent logical or systematic theological reasoning proceeds from this.  An atheist may not agree with this assumption but it cannot be disproved.

The fundamental assumption of science is that the universe is observable - from this hypotheses can be developed and tested.  A scientific hypothesis can be disproved (falsified) through observation if it does not fit what is observed.  If someone wants to deny clear scientific observations they would need to disagree with the fundamental assumption of science and hold, for instance, that the universe is not what it seems to be.

Therefore at a high level if you believe that God reveals himself to us through his Word and that the universe is observable you can accept both theology and science.

So what does science tell us that is consistent with a Christian worldview?  I find two examples from cosmology to be particularly relevant:

1. The universe had a single beginning.  The current scientific understanding of the universe, from many highly accurate observations, is that the universe came into being about 14 billion years ago.  This is more profound than it first appears, as an alternative plausible observation could have been that the universe was somehow eternal, cyclical or perhaps without any clear origin.
2. Time was created at the origin of the universe.  Classical theology since Augustine has held that time is part of the created order and that God stands outside time.  Science supports this view of time and it is intrinsic to the theory of relativity - time is essentially an additional dimension of the existing universe and not something external to it.  This is very important as it is entirely consistent with the classical understanding of how God's nature relates to time and events.

Of course science has also revealed many observations that have been uncomfortable to different groups of Christians over time and even now:  the earth revolves around the sun, the universe is not 5000 years old etc.  But the Word of God is not a science textbook and none of these observations is inconsistent with our ultimate understanding of God. 

On the contrary, a God who created and sustains a universe containing a hundred billion galaxies each containing hundreds of billions of stars is omnipotent indeed.