自近代以来，科学和宗教一直是影响人类的两种“普遍”力量，它们都是对人类经验的不同方面的表达和阐释，满足人类不同方面和层面的需要，未必互相排斥，可以互相补充整合。两者的关系问题始终是人们关注的重要话题。科学和宗教传统上被认为是冲突的，人们对科学与宗教各自的内在结构及其相互关系有了新的视角；其中二十世纪中后期科学哲学的“历史学”、“社会学”转向以及科学实在论与反实在论之争，更是促进人们对科学本身以及其与宗教的关系进行再认识。后现代主义思潮的兴起，也毫不例外地提出了重新认识和反思科学、宗教及其二者关系的任务。建设性的后现代思潮试图实现“（前现代）宗教”（正题）——“（现代）科学”（反题）——“（后现代）科学＋宗教”（合题）这样一个否定之否定的辨证统一。伊安·巴伯的开创性研究是在科学与宗教关系上，他在上述背景下，吸收过程哲学和后现代主义的观点，提出了科学与宗教的对话整合观。其对话整合观也是了解巴伯整个思想乃至当今西方对科学与宗教关系主流观点的一个窗口。其对话论强调科学和宗教在预设、方法和概念方面的相似性，因而揭示了宗教和科学之间可以存在一种具有建设性的对话关系。不过，巴伯在肯定对话的同时，还指出科学和宗教间的一种更密切的关系，即整合关系。历史上的自然神学是其一种形式，但巴伯本人更倾心于构建一种“关于自然的神学”，即从基督教信仰出发，又根据现代科学的成就来重新阐发某些历史教义，从而使基督教信仰与时俱进。他把过程哲学当作达成这种综合世界观的途径。巴伯是以自然科学家和宗教学家的双重身份来研究宗教和科学的关系的，可以说，他从科学转向了宗教，更是站在基督教的立场上来切入科学与宗教的关系的，这也是其对话整合观的显著特点。当然，巴伯的观点有还可以拓展的空间，比如对科学与宗教关系的静态描述倾向、研究对象的单一性，但通过其理论，我们可以了解到被西方社会广泛接纳的持宗教立场的科学家是如何看待科学与宗教的关系的。与其他西方学者侧重于描述科学和宗教在历史上的实际互动不同，巴伯侧重于从哲学和神学的角度构建宗教和科学的理论关系。在一定意义上，探寻与我们国内研究角度很不同的学者的思维脉络对我们反观自身的研究是大有裨益的。

In the recent centuries, as two “universal forces”, science and religion have always played an important role on human being. As the expression and interpretation to the diverse dimensions of human’s experience, satisfying human’s needs, science and religion appear to be a trend of integration rather than that of conflict. Their relation is an important issue people concerned all the time. In the traditional context, science and religion are incompatible as fire and water. However, along as the advancement in the human cognition to nature, society and culture, people have gradually been affected to think about the respective intrinsic structure of science and religion and their relationship in a new perspective; as the “historic turn” and “sociological turn” in the philosophy of science as well as the debate between scientific realism and anti-realism in the late 20ths century, people have also been promoted to re-think the science-religion relationship. Later the post-modernism also follows this trend: it brings forward the mission of re-thinking the relationship and tries to realize the dialectical unification of science and religion after they experience a process of negation of negation in the period of post-modernism. In the above background, Barbour does the pioneering research on the science-religion relationship by absorbing the idea of process philosophy and post-modernism, then puts forward the view of dialogue and integration--an approach to know the mainstream view on science and religion in the contemporary Western society. The constructive relationship of dialogue, due to the emphasis on similarity of presupposition and method and concept in theory of dialogue, is revealed in the relationship between science and religion. Moreover, Barbour also recommends the theory of integration when he emphasizes the theory of dialogue. Compared to natural theology, Barbour, with the belief in Christianity, prefers to construct “ theology of nature” to promote Christianity to keep pace with the times through the re-elucidating of some religious doctrine according to the achievements of modern science. Process philosophy is regarded as the approach to shape this comprehensive worldview. Possessed the dual identity as the natural scientist and religious expert, Barbour has implemented his research on the science-religion relationship. Actually, from the standpoint of Christianity, he states his viewpoint. This is a significant feature of Barbour’s view of dialogue and integration as well. Of course, there are some limitations in Barbour’s viewpoint, such as the inclination of static description, the simplification of researching object. However, his theory has an important significance of enlightenment for the domestic philosophy of science. We can know the idea from the accepted scientist who holds standpoint of religion. Contrast with the fact that other Western scholars focus on describing the practical interaction between science and religion in the history, Barbour emphasizes particularly on construct the their relationship from the perspective of philosophy and theology. In some sense, the exploration to the contrary thinking skeleton can benefit our own research on the science-religion relationship.