Church and Science. What is the relationship between our faith and the knowledge of our world that we gain through science?

Transcription

1 Church and Science What is the relationship between our faith and the knowledge of our world that we gain through science?

2 Introduction to the Issue The Church teaches that Creation means that God is not a part of the universe or the totality of the universe In creating God gives an independent existence to things In the being of each thing, God is present, but not as the thing

3 Antagonistic Model Unfortunately the most common model for the relationship between Religion and Science is the Antagonistic Model Most people believe that you must choose between the two. If one is right the other is wrong.

4 Antagonistic Model The antagonistic model does not represent the long history of Science and Religion. This model comes from two books written in the late 1800s A History of Conflict between Science and Religion, by John William Draper, A History of Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom, by Andrew Dickson White, 2 Volumes, The major flaw in both works is the failure to recognize that even into the 1860 s many of the thinkers were both theologians and scientists. These two books also set up the myth that science is a religion or can substitute for a religion. As religion recedes science advances (and replaces religion) But the reality is that science starts in the West because of the Western Religions and Philosophies.

5 Catholic Church s View 159 Faith and science: Though faith is above reason, there can never be any real discrepancy between faith and reason. Since the same God who reveals mysteries and infuses faith has bestowed the light of reason on the human mind, God cannot deny himself, nor can truth ever contradict truth. Consequently, methodical research in all branches of knowledge, provided it is carried out in a truly scientific manner and does not override moral laws, can never conflict with the faith, because the things of the world and the things of faith derive from the same God. The humble and persevering investigator of the secrets of nature is being led, as it were, by the hand of God in spite of himself, for it is God, the conserver of all things, who made them what they are.

6 Catholic Church s View The Vatican Observatory on Mount Graham, Arizona "The scientist's condition as a sentinel in the modern world, as one who is the first to glimpse the enormous complexity together with the marvelous harmony of reality, makes him a privileged witness of the plausibility of religion, a man capable of showing how the admission of transcendence, far from harming the autonomy and the ends of research, rather stimulates it to continually surpass itself in an experience of self-transcendence which reveals the human mystery". Pope John Paul II, 7/17/85

7 Four Points of the Catholic View St. Augustine set down four points for understanding the relation between Scripture (Religion) and Science The Doctrine of the Unity of Truth Two Books of God s Self-Revelation Both Books need to be carefully interpreted Religion has primacy but science assists true religion

8 First Point of the Catholic View The Doctrine of the Unity of Truth Truth does not contradict or cancel another truth. Truth is ultimately harmonious. If there is a conflict it is found in our knowledge or language and not in how reality really is.

9 Second Point of the Catholic View Two Books of God s Self-Revelation Scripture and Nature both reveal God to us. A painting and a biography can both reveal the artist to us. Together they reveal even more of the artist.

10 Third Point of the Catholic View Both Books need to be carefully interpreted Both science and religion tell us that the world is not what it appears to be. Failure to conform interpretations to certain knowledge opens Christianity to ridicule. Augustine believed that the literal meaning of the six days of creation was that the six days was symbolic of longer periods of time. Literally they were not literal days.

11 Fourth Point of the Catholic View Religion has primacy but science assists true religion Science was made for human beings, but human beings are not made for science Religion has primacy because a human being has primacy Also, science tells us how the heavens go, not how to go to heaven!

12 Set Up for Galileo The Catholic Church recognizes the difference between God and the world and thus the difference between science and religion While these two disciplines have separate fields of study, they overlap when it comes to our understanding of the human person Correctly understanding the light and insights that the harmony of these two disciplines can give to deepen our understanding of what it is to be human. It is the trial of Galileo that will help us see this.