Köprü Anasayfa

Bilim ve Din

"Kış 2005" 89. Sayı

  • Religion and Science

    Editorial

    Human being tries to know him and his surrounding. For this sake, he analyzes and questions them according to the basics of his creation. "Who am I? Where do I come from? Where do I go?" are some of the many questions for those he tries to find an answer. During his deterioration of the existence, he confronts with two definitive areas as the rational data and revealed data.

    The discussion between the science and religion entangles exactly at this point. What kind of a relationship should be constructed between the systematic knowledge/science which people acquire through the reading of existence and the revealed knowledge from God? Are these two kinds of knowledge contrasting with each other or do they support each other?

    Discussions going around the search for an adequate answer to these questions generate a number of philosophical schools and beliefs through the history of humanity. From the medieval era on, the relationship between these two lines has been seceded structurally. This leads to the emergence of many conflicting political, social and economic systems. As a consequence, every segments of the society have been influenced from this conflict. Individual has been impacted from this conflict at most.

    As all over the world, this secession leads not only to the conflicts between institutions, ideologies and personalities, but also ends up with the changes of systems. The torments coming out of these conflicts tell us the weakness of the definition of the existence only in the material realm, and therefore much more holistic approaches appear.

    At this point, the approach of Bediüzzaman Said Nursi in terms of the comprehension of the existence in the integrity of the reason and revelation abates the conflict between science and religion and offers the humanity with a new perspective and solution. For the sake of the future of humanity, these solutions should be pinpointed so that they would become alternative ways in this discussion.

    In the II. National Congress of Risale-i Nur the subject "Science and Religion" has been discussed in order to ask similar questions and to turn our attention to the contribution of the Risale-i Nur into our thought. In the congress organized by the Institute of Risale-i Nur on 26th and 27th of March 2005, the common texts emerged as a result of seven workshops have been shared with audience. We aim in this issue to publish the papers and conclusion proceedings of this congress so that these valuable pieces would reach wider audience and become more perpetual.

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    We would like to leave you alone with our journal and wish to meet again in the next issue.