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This chapter places spirituality and the scientific enterprise historically. Enlightenment and science as the heritage of enlightenment was born out of the struggle against doctrine and religion. Historically, modern Western science grew out of the original scholarly activities of monasteries, and the first universities came into being. Originally spirituality and the quest for knowledge were rather similar, and in the very first attempts at formulating a new theory of science by Roger Bacon, spirituality and empirical science were one. Natural science was developed and the notion of experience evolved from Bacon onwards. The movement of mystical theology outsourced the notion of inner experience from theology into personal piety, excluding spirituality and spiritual experience from European academia. The process of enlightenment was mainly directed against the dogmatism coming from the Church, and hence spirituality, linked with the dogmatic strivings for power of religious institutions, was simultaneously excluded. Science has received its freedom through this process of emancipation, but has left out the important questions that are relevant for people, such as the purpose of life, task in life, and values, ethics, and morals. The notion of scientism as a religious form of believing in science is explained and shown to be the main opponent of a liberal and non-dogmatic search for truth, both in science and in religion.

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-09345-1_3

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