These are my terms
Vestruskaftafellssysla, Iceland (photo from trekearth.com)
Preface
My MPhil and PhD theses work has included the study of philosophical theology, philosophy of religion, Biblical studies, empirical theology, social research methods and statistics.
Empirical theology
Leslie J. Francis explains that an element of practical theology is the use of empirical data. Francis (2005: 1).
William Dean reasons that empirical theology begins with a particular speculative view of life, which in turn leads to the use of the empirical method. Dean (1990: 85-102).
Clive Erricker, Danny Sullivan and Jane Erricker comment that empirical theology questions how theology relates to social sciences. Erricker, Sullivan and Erricker (1994: 6-7).
Empirical theology is better known in Europe and the British Isles than in North America, but consists of using social research methods and statistics to come up with empirical data concerning theological concepts. My MPhil and PhD theses both contain the use of questionnaires and sections which include statistical analysis of the data.
Interestingly, I have found that within philosophy of religion and social research/statistics the same terms are sometimes used, but not with the exact same meanings. This can make remembering terms tricky, as for my work I need to remember some terms in two contexts, and occasionally more.
Here are two examples:
Empiricism
Bryman mentions the classic and philosophical use of the term, which I have found in philosophy and philosophy of religion. This a general approach to reality, which suggests knowledge is only knowable through sense experience. Other forms of knowledge would not be acceptable. Bryman (2004: 7).
Bryman then defines the term more specifically in regard to social research and statistics and states that ideas must be subjected to testing before they can be considered knowledge. This would be considered an accumulation of facts. Bryman (2004: 7).
Empirical theology would view findings from questionnaires as at least possible actual theology, and some would consider the findings equal with Scripture. I have rejected this approach and still reason that theological deductions based on Scripture are more important in developing doctrine than are findings from questionnaires.
Although questionnaires can be helpful in discerning the theological mindset of those surveyed, as God has inspired his Scripture through historical persons his theological views take precedence as truth over any contrary views found statistically. Empirical theology can point out weaknesses in how theology is perceived and presented. My findings for both my MPhil and PhD theses demonstrate that Reformed views concerning God and his sovereignty in regard to the problem of evil are not properly understood within the majority of the Christian Church.
Positivism
Blackburn writes that within philosophy this view holds that the highest or only form of knowledge can be known through sensory perception. This is a version of empiricism. It focuses on optimism from the hopes of science and originated in the 19th century and relates to evolutionary and naturalist theory. Blackburn (1996: 294).
Bryman writes that within social research and statistics, positivism advocates the use of methods of natural sciences for the study of social reality and beyond. This concept can include only knowledge confirmed by the senses. Bryman (2004: 11).
Logical positivism, which is also known as logical empiricism, accepts empiricism, but also allows for the power of formal logic to describe the structures of permissible inferences. Blackburn (1996: 223). Richard A. Fumerton explains that some positivists have allowed for the idea that a proposition can be meaningful if it is likely to be true. Fumerton (1996: 445-446). Fumerton notes that a strict positivism leads to a rejection of religious and moral philosophy. Fumerton (1996: 445). A view that combines the need for empiricism as a method of finding truth and allows for non-empirical rational philosophical propositions that are also considered a form of truth, because the rational philosophical propositions are logical and cannot be reasonably contrasted by superior counter propositions, would be a view that would work with a Christian worldview. Perhaps a form of logical positivism could offer this reasonable compromise position between empirical science and related views and philosophy of religion and theology.
Rationalism is the view that unaided reason can be used in finding knowledge without the use of sense perception. Blackburn (1996: 318). Christian theology uses philosophical reasoning, and a priori knowledge in deducing the existence of God, and this could be considered a form of rationalism and some logical positivists could accept rationalism in conjunction with an acceptance of empirical science. A priori knowledge can be known without the use of sensory experience in the course of events in reality. Blackburn (1999: 21). A posteriori knowledge can be known through the use of some sensory experience, and if something is knowable A posteriori it cannot be known A priori according to Blackburn. Blackburn (1996: 21).
I realize the Francis link now appears dead, but I used the information from the page within my PhD.
BLACKBURN, SIMON (1996) Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy, Oxford, Oxford University Press.
BRYMAN, ALAN (2004) Social Research Methods, Oxford, Oxford University Press.
DEAN, WILLIAM (1990) ‘Empirical Theology: A Revisable Tradition’, in Process Studies, Volume 19, Number 2, pp. 85-102, Claremont, California, The Center for Process Studies.
http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=2791.
ERRICKER, CLIVE, DANNY SULLIVAN, AND JANE ERRICKER (1994) ‘The Development of Children’s Worldviews, Journal of Beliefs and Values, London, Routledge
FRANCIS, LESLIE J. and Practical Theology Team (2005) ‘Practical and Empirical Theology’, University of Wales, Bangor website, University of Wales, Bangor.
http://www.bangor.ac.uk/rs/pt/ptunit/definition.php.
FUMERTON, RICHARD A. (1996) ‘Logical Positivism’ in Robert Audi (ed.), The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
