A theologian among scientists: Wisdom as interdisciplinary space for science and theology

This paper is an edited and expanded version of a public lecture given at the Emeritus Faculty of the Australian National University (ANU) on 16 March 2011. Based on the work of German theologian Jürgen Moltmann, the author explores the notion of wisdom as a possible point of contact between science and theology. After laying out some specific challenges common to both disciplines, the paper intimates that the interwoven complexity of existence points to oneness in the underlying fabric of reality. Provided science and theology enter the interdisciplinary space Moltmann calls “wisdom”, the intellectual resources of the two disciplines can enrich each other, although this has not been the popular perception for the last 150 years