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ABSTRACT
Through a small-scale qualitative study based in a UK Anglican parish, this article seeks to explore whether science might be regarded as a sacrament, and whether such a framing helps a re-envisioning of both science and sacrament. Participants took part in real and virtual visits, with follow-up seminars which were audio-recorded. Close readings of transcripts were compared and contrasted to existing literature, with an attention to the concept of a ‘sacramental universe’, and whether existing constraints around sacraments might be expanded. Definitions of the terms ‘science’ and ‘sacrament’ were examined more thoroughly, with additional material concerning beauty, awe and wonder. The quality of discussion and the engagement of personnel suggest that this approach was successful in developing a cognitive and affective appreciation of both science and faith; furthermore, that the juxtaposition of science and sacrament expanded theological thinking around the concept of a ‘sacramental turn’, and potentially developed the range of traditional ecclesial sacraments.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank all those who took part – the main speakers and those who participated in seminars, and reviewers.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
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Notes on contributors
David Nixon
David Nixon is an Anglican priest who has worked in parishes, university chaplaincy, and theological education. He is currently Rector of St Thomas Exeter, in the County of Devon, UK. He is an honorary Senior Research Fellow in the University of Exeter, and his recent work includes a theological reflection “What Does God Think About Brexit?”
Ian Totterdell
Ian Totterdell studied Natural Sciences at Cambridge, eventually specialising in theoretical physics but including a biology course and a chemistry course; then after a detour into fluid mechanics in the applied maths department of Bristol University, he completed his PhD in solid-earth geophysics at Cambridge. From 1991 until his retirement in 2020 he worked on Earth System models, and the chemistry and biology of the ocean, first at the Oceanography Centre in Southampton and latterly at the Met Office. He was a member of an active Christian Fellowship at the Met Office, where issues of science and faith were regularly discussed and considered; the membership is drawn from a wide range of Christian denominations.