From a comment to a blog post at Evangelical Dialog following an article about evangelical theology and evolutionary science.
Theology and science are like ice dance partners. Both interpret the same music (ie the truth). Much of the time, they dance together in complete harmony holding hands and following the same path on the ice. Sometimes they dance alone, each doing their own thing, competing for our attention. They are both dancing to the same music, both are in harmony with the music, yet their dance is different. As the audience, we aren’t sure who to watch, which one is right, and wonder why their dance is different. Sometimes, they help each other dance. One may be stronger at times and lift the other, or spin them in a new direction, or help them up when they fall down. Yes, both dancers are imperfect and they will fall down or get out of synch with the music. Their partner is there to help them get back on track. When it comes time to judge the dance, we all give different ratings. We favour one over the other. We may gloss over some imperfections and become irritated at others. We may even wish there was only one dancer. Yet, the dance is made for a couple. We need to watch both partners. We need to accept that each partner is interpreting the music in a way that is true to their nature. We need to rejoice that there are two partners, providing us with two perspectives on the same music. And while our attention is often on the dancers themselves, we need to remind ourselves that it is the music that is important. The dance partners are there to help us understand and appreciate the music. The dance partners are not the music.