ABSTRACT
This chapter shows how the methodological debates by scholars of science and religion over the last four decades reflect larger intellectual changes in the twentieth century. It describes three intellectual developments necessary for the rise of these methodological proposals: the general concern for method in the Western tradition, the history of using science to support theological inferences, and changes in the philosophy of science after the work of the historian Thomas Kuhn. The first necessary assumption for science and religion scholarship is the idea that there is some unique characteristic of science—commonly identified as the scientific method—that explains why scientific research is successful. A second reason for the rise of methodological scholarship among scholars of science and religion is that Christian theologians have always looked to science for support for theological claims. Thomas Kuhn's work was a turning point moment for all scholars who reflect upon the nature of science, including those from the field of science and religion.
