과학기술의 발달로 인간의 삶은 편리해졌고 수명도 길어졌다. 이는 인간이 그리던 유토피아의 단면이다. 하지만, 그에 따른 부작용을 간과해서는 안된다. 성경 창세기에 신은 만물을 창조하셨다. 그 만물을 다스리는 힘은 인간에게 주 어졌지만, 인간은 행복을 추구하기 위하여 과학기술을 발달시켜오면서 오만함 으로 신의 능력(힘)을 과학기술 다음으로 두었다. 종교적인 신념은 다윈의 법칙 과 과학의 원리를 내세워 점차 인간과 멀어지는 단계로 접어들 즈음 그러한 인 간의 오만함을 경계하는 이들도 등장하였다. 인간의 삶을 위협하는 기상변화는 발달된 과학기술도 어쩔 수 없을 정도로 더 강해지는 극한 상황에서 인간은 구 원의 한 줄기 빛을 기대한다. 그것이 과학기술과 종교 사이의 대립이며 또한 성 찰이다. 본고는 미국 소설가 워튼이 1차 세계대전 중 집필한 여름을 과학기술의 발달과 신의 숭고함의 대립적 양상을 고찰해 본다.

This thesis deals with SF narratives about changes to religious life through the development of science & technology. I study the expansion of space-time and the emergence of new religious beings due to the development of science & technology as found in “The Fire Balloons” and “The Man” by Ray Bradbury, and “Ready-made Bodhisattva,” and “At A Tourist Destination,” by Sung-hwan Park. Religious experiences, which are often considered to be a direct encounter with God or a mysterious experience, can be expanded in the age of science and technology. I discuss how religious experience in the scientific & technological age appears in SF narrative based on the subject’s religious perceptions and reflections but not necessarily encountered through religious objects. This ultimately demonstrates the necessity of religious experience of reflexivity on the subjects themselves who live in the science & technology age.

The vast writings on the Reformation and the Modern science have produced in terms of either-or. In other words, the relations between the Reformation and the Modern science have interpreted either in negative way or in positive way. The negative interpretations hold that the Reformation would have had little effect on modern scientific revolution. On the other hand, the positive interpretations argue that specific doctrines or attitudes affirmed by the Reformers and their followers contributed directly or indirectly to the growth of modern science. After brief discussion of each of these interpretations, this paper will claim that the correlationship of the Reformation and the Modern science would be explained more clearly when interpretations of their relation are explored in terms of Calvin’s principle of accommodation. For Calvin, accommodation is related to his understanding of God. According to Calvin, God reduces or adjusts to human capacities in order to reveal the infinite mysteries of his being. Because his mysteries are beyond the powers of human being to grasp. The paper will try to reveal the importance of Calvin’s accommodation theory through his understanding of nature. For Calvin, the world of nature represents traces of God’s handiwork. The world is a “mirror”, in which God may be viewed. Therefore, Calvin was intensely interested in exploring of nature. The attitude of Calvin toward nature enabled science to able to penetrate more deeply into the secrets of divine wisdom. Consequently, the paper shows that complexities of relation between the Reformation and the rise of modern science appears to be many-sided. In addition, this paper demonstrates that it is noteworthy to note the relations of religion and science in the Reformation era as an important instance historically.