Theology and the origins of customized science

Abstract

The American theologian Gordon H. Clark begins his book In Defense of Theology with the following assessment: “Theology, once acclaimed ‘the Queen of the Sciences,’ today hardly rises to the rank of a scullery maid; it is often held in contempt, regarded with suspicion, or just ignored” (2007, p. xxvii). This might be a little bit exaggerated and in need of qualification pending on circumstance and situation. But there is no doubt that theology has been marginalized over the centuries since the middle ages, when it first developed as an academic discipline in the medieval universities. When Uppsala University began in 1477, the first series of lectures was in theology and the teachers of the faculty of theology are still the first in the procession at the conferment ceremony in the university building. But this homage to tradition only exaggerates the new queen of the sciences, the natural sciences. The first place in the procession is about the only trace of significance of theology at the secular university.