A Theological Study Informed by the Thought of Paul Tillich and the Latin American Experience: The Ambivalence of Science (Distinguished Dissertations)

A number of studies have been undertaken since the 1960s, under the designation of "the sciences of science", that have altered the general understanding of the scientific endeavour. The picture of science has been naturalized and "desacralized", meaning that the privileged position once occupied by science among other cultural productions has been removed. In order to provide a clearer understanding of what is at stake by such a change, the concept of ambivalence is used in this study.The core of Eduardo Cruz's argument is that, by the very same reasons why science is so successful, noble and civilization-fostering, it is also bound to failure and to refusal by those who benefit from its advance. A number of analyses and insights are examined, including Paul Tillich's "theology of culture" and are applied to a specific situation where science has a particularly strong missionary bent - Latin America. The resistance of popular culture against modernity, and the syncretic appropriation of new advances in science and technology are discussed in detail.