Adequately answering this question would be at least its own blog post, but here’s a gesture at a response:
In the 1600s, there was a debate over whether natural philosophy should be structured like math (‘rationalists’) or whether it should be based on sense & memory (‘empiricists’). The empiricists won one of the most lopsided victories in the history of philosophy and empirical science was born.[1]
Joseph Smith & the Book of Mormon have a wildly more empirical approach than any of the religions at the time.[2] Alma 32′s ‘experiment on the word’. Moroni 10 is even framed in terms of falsifiability, a full century before Karl Popper introduced it to the philosophy of science.
Yes, observations can be theory-laden, but that doesn’t mean that we should abandon the empirical project—in theology any more than in other fields.
This is less relevant for you than for other people on this site, but I should maybe note that I don’t think that the evidence visible from outside the church is sufficient to ‘prove the existence of God’ or something like that. I do think that it is sufficient to justify a serious investigation, and that the empirical evidence builds up over time as you build a personal relationship with God.
See Shapin & Schafer’s Leviathan and the Air Pump (book review) for more details. Despite being postmodernists, the authors have done substantial historical work.
Parts of Protestantism have since become more empirical, emphisizing personal experience with the Spirit over systematic theology. I think that this reflects Pentecostal influence, but am not familiar enough with the history to be sure.
Adequately answering this question would be at least its own blog post, but here’s a gesture at a response:
In the 1600s, there was a debate over whether natural philosophy should be structured like math (‘rationalists’) or whether it should be based on sense & memory (‘empiricists’). The empiricists won one of the most lopsided victories in the history of philosophy and empirical science was born.[1]
Joseph Smith & the Book of Mormon have a wildly more empirical approach than any of the religions at the time.[2] Alma 32′s ‘experiment on the word’. Moroni 10 is even framed in terms of falsifiability, a full century before Karl Popper introduced it to the philosophy of science.
Yes, observations can be theory-laden, but that doesn’t mean that we should abandon the empirical project—in theology any more than in other fields.
This is less relevant for you than for other people on this site, but I should maybe note that I don’t think that the evidence visible from outside the church is sufficient to ‘prove the existence of God’ or something like that. I do think that it is sufficient to justify a serious investigation, and that the empirical evidence builds up over time as you build a personal relationship with God.
See Shapin & Schafer’s Leviathan and the Air Pump (book review) for more details. Despite being postmodernists, the authors have done substantial historical work.
Parts of Protestantism have since become more empirical, emphisizing personal experience with the Spirit over systematic theology. I think that this reflects Pentecostal influence, but am not familiar enough with the history to be sure.
Joseph Lawal on YouTube also has some good epistemology arguments, but I don’t remember which video they were in.