Ian Barbour
Ian Barbour was an influential figure in the dialogue between science and theology, born on October 5, 1923, in Beijing, China. With a background in physics, having earned degrees from institutions such as Swarthmore College and Duke University, Barbour's career spanned both scientific and religious studies. He challenged the perception that science and religion were mutually exclusive, advocating for a middle ground where both fields could inform and enhance one another. Throughout his career, he authored sixteen books, including the notable "Issues in Science and Religion," which was among the first to frame these disciplines as interconnected rather than in conflict.
Barbour founded an interdisciplinary program at Carleton College and served as its first professor of science, technology, and society, striving to promote understanding between science and faith. His contributions earned him the Templeton Prize in 1999, which he partially donated to support theological education related to the natural sciences. Barbour's legacy continues to influence discussions on the relationship between religion and scientific advancements, providing a framework for exploring ethical considerations in an age of rapidly evolving technology. He passed away on December 24, 2013, leaving behind a significant impact on both academic fields.
Ian Barbour
Physicist, theologian, philosopher
- Born: October 5, 1923
- Place of Birth: Place of birth: Beijing, China
- Died: December 24, 2013
- Place of Death: Place of death: Minneapolis, Minnesota
Education: Swarthmore College; Duke University; University of Chicago; Yale Divinity School
Significance: Ian Barbour created a dialogue between science and theology. He founded an area of study that allows scholars in both fields to consider the significance of work in each other's areas of interest.
Background
Ian Barbour was born in Beijing, China, on October 5, 1923, the middle child of three brothers. His Christian parents—an American mother and a Scottish father—taught at Yenching University. The family moved between China and England. When Barbour was fourteen, the family settled in the United States.
Barbour attended Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania and graduated in 1943 with a degree in physics. He opposed war due to his knowledge of Quaker ideals. During World War II, he was a conscientious objector. He battled forest fires in Oregon and worked with the mentally ill in North Carolina. He earned a master's degree in physics from Duke University in 1946. Barbour moved on to the University of Chicago, serving as a teaching assistant for physicist Enrico Fermi, a premier Manhattan Project scientist. He earned his doctorate in 1949.
Barbour moved to Michigan, where he taught physics at Kalamazoo College. He was very interested in the ethics of scientific advances and the religious aspects of such discoveries. He used a Ford Foundation fellowship to attend Yale Divinity School. He studied ethics, philosophy, and theology, and in 1956, he earned a divinity degree.
Following graduation, he taught physics and religion at Carleton College in Minnesota. He founded the school's religion department in 1960. Barbour began to write on topics that interested scholars of both religion and science.
Life's Work
Barbour's diverse interests grew from the dichotomy he experienced as a man of faith and science. Many people and scholars see science and religion as mutually exclusive, meaning they operate separately and differences cannot be rectified. Barbour sought knowledge and tried to bridge the gap. During the 1950s, he was alone in trying to help scientists and theologians find reasons to consider one another's fields. He did not believe that scientists had to choose between science and faith—for example, if one believes in evolution, one may still believe in God, and vice versa. Barbour believed individuals could find a middle ground between faith and facts.
In 1972, Barbour helped Carleton College found an interdisciplinary program. The program fulfilled his goal of exploring the common ground of religion and science. In 1981, he was named the school's first professor of science, technology, and society.
Barbour wrote frequently about the relationship between religion and science. Throughout his career, he published sixteen books. His 1966 tome Issues in Science and Religion is one of the first books to view the fields as related, rather than in conflict or unrelated. It became well known because many colleges used it as a textbook. His Myths, Models and Paradigms, published in 1974, was nominated for a National Book Award. This work contrasts ideas and strategies used in exploring religion and science.
Barbour remained active after retiring from teaching at Carleton in 1986. His two-volume set Religion in an Age of Science (1990) and Ethics in an Age of Technology (1993) is based on the Gifford Lectures series, which he presented at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland from 1989 to 1991. The American Academy of Religion bestowed its book award on the works in 1993. The books cover a number of issues and questions regarding how religion affects environmental issues and how scientific theories, such as the theory of evolution and the big bang model, affect theological ideas. Barbour also explores the religious and ethical issues related to scientific advances in medicine, technology, and other areas.
The author and educator received the Templeton Prize in 1999. He donated $1 million of the $1.24 million prize to the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences. The nonprofit educational organization is affiliated with the Graduate Theological Union of the University of California, Berkeley.
His 2000 work, When Science Meets Religion: Enemies, Strangers, or Partners?, was translated into fourteen languages. This book explores areas in which science and religion seem to conflict, but Barbour instead explains how this is not necessarily the case. At various times he cites examples such as cloning, in which science explores what may be accomplished and religion examines whether it should be done. Barbour maintained that the Bible should be read and taken to heart, but should not be interpreted literally. In his view, religious texts explain the universe in terms that could be understood at the time they were written, long before science had advanced to make sense of things.
Following a stroke, Barbour died on December 24, 2013, at a hospital in Minneapolis.
Impact
Barbour worked to explore the ways in which religion and science seemed at odds. He felt these areas were equally important and that both deserved attention. He articulated and examined four views of the connection between science and religion. These views were that religion and science were in conflict at a basic level, they were separate, that divine influence is apparent in the intricacy of science, and the two areas interact with one another.
Barbour's views on the interaction between science and religion continued to be discussed in the decade plus after his death. His ideas were part of numerous classroom philosophical discussions, lectures, and academic papers.
Personal Life
Barbour met Deane Kern at Duke University. They married in 1947 and were married for sixty-four years until her death in 2011. They had two sons, David and John, and two daughters, Blair and Heather. Barbour was also survived by three grandchildren and a great-grandson.
Bibliography
"An Appreciation of Ian G. Barbour (1923-2013)." National Center for Science Education, 7 Jan. 2014, ncse.ngo/appreciation-ian-g-barbour-1923-2013. Accessed 30 Sept. 2024.
Barbour, Ian G. When Science Meets Religion: Enemies, Strangers, or Partners? San Francisco: HarperOne, 2000. Print.
Waston, W., Yusuf Olawale Owa-Onire Uthman, M. Mahmudulhassan, and M. Muthoifin. "Ian G. Barbour's Thoughts on Science and Religion." Journal of World Thinkers, vol. 1, no. 1, 2024, journal.walideminstitute.com/index.php/jwt/article/view/80. Accessed 30 Sept. 2024.
Woo, Elaine. "Ian Barbour Dies at 90; Academic Who Bridged Science-Religion Divide." Los Angeles Times, 1 Jan. 2014, www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-ian-barbour-20140102-story.html. Accessed 30 Sept. 2024.
Yardley, William. "Ian Barbour, Who Found a Balance Between Faith and Science, Dies at 90." New York Times, 12 Jan. 2014, www.nytimes.com/2014/01/13/us/ian-barbour-academic-who-resisted-conflicts-of-faith-and-science-dies-at-90.html. Accessed 30 Sept. 2024.