By: Panagiotis Konstantatos
The history of science and Religion reveals that they are not always enemies.
By: Panagiotis Konstantatos
The so-called conflict thesis, which is the rather common view of science and religion as implacable opponents, has indeed taken deep root and continues to linger in the minds of many individuals even today as we speak.
This common notion of religion and science representing two incompatible ways of understanding the world has been a rather long-standing narrative with origins tracing back to a great plethora of texts of the nineteenth century. more particularly those of John William Draper and Andrew Dickson White. Draper’s History of the Conflict between Religion and Science (1874)1 and White’s A History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom (1896)2 have cemented this image of a turbulence between the two factions one that still plays in our minds. Even today, it continues to be greatly reinforced by our own culture, since this turmoil has been continuously repeated in schools and popular public media; as a result, this conflict has evidently become more of a mental shortcut we tend to return to without questioning.
Nevertheless, although the presented conception is widely accepted nowadays, there have also been certain occasions throughout our vast history, more precisely during the 16th and 17th century, when science and religion were not in conflict but instead worked in ways where both parties greatly benefited from one another.
To begin with, both religion and science share common intellectual foundations from the medieval ages. In fact, during the Middle Ages science, which was then called natural philosophy, and religion were not seen as separate pursuits; rather, they were considered part of the same search for truth, aiming to understand both God and the natural world order. A prime example of the fact that these two were indeed embedded within a single framework are the medieval universities. Institutions such as the University of Paris3 and Oxford3 emerged from cathedral schools and were established with the protection and patronage of the Catholic Church. Within these universities, the so-called scholastic method3,which is characterised as a rather dialectical approach to resolving intellectual disputes through the examination of opposing viewpoints. Although this method was first utilised for theological debates, the skills it offered were later repurposed for scientific investigation and research, and they are stillbeing used today.
Following this, we must not forget to mention that, as stated before, many religious institutions have indeed been great patrons of scientific research. A great example of this is the Society of Jesus4, more commonly known as the Jesuits, a religious order of clerics regular founded in 1540 by Ignatius of Loyola with the approval of Pope Paul III5,9. Even though they were priests and clerics, the Jesuits still had a deep connection with science and were engaged in many scientific discoveries. This can be exemplified by the many Jesuit mathematicians, such as Christopher Clavius 2
whose mathematical expertise contributed to the reformation of the Gregorian calendar in 15825, and Giovanni Battista Riccioli6, who is best known for publishing the Almagestum Novum6 in 1651, a massive encyclopedia of astronomy in which he coined many names of lunar features that are still used today. In addition, the Jesuits contributed to many more advancements in other scientific aspects, namely in navigation and cartography. For instance, they collaborated with Chinese scholars to develop a world map7 that incorporated European geographical knowledge with Chinese, this map helped spread accurate geographic concepts across cultures and updated European maps with new regional data gathered by those missionaries.9
In addition, many theologians such as Thomas Aquinas8, who was not only an Italian Dominican friar and priest but also a proponent of natural theology and the father of a school of thought, drew on Aristotle’s 8 natural philosophy to explain Christian doctrine. Such interplays were the ones that fostered the methodological discipline later inherited by modern scientists. Consequently, the presented view of knowledge as ordered and structured with overarching truths prepared the ground for the later scientific revolution.
Subsequently, we must now turn to what is known as the Scientific Revolution of the sixteenth and seventeenth century. During this period the catholic clergy assisted a plethora of scientists to arise and perfect their theories, many of which are still studied nowadays. For instance, the famous De revolutionibus orbium coelestium9, or on the revolutions of the heavenly spheres as it is known in English, was a book written by Nicolaus Copernicus in 1543, where he advanced the heliocentric model. This book was not only was presented to Pope Paul III9 but also its earliest audience included many Catholic clerics who often supported and defended his work. Similarly, the case of Galileo Galilei10, whose trial in 1633, has been continuously presented as evidence of religious resistance to science, is lot more complex than this simple narrative suggests. For a long part of his career Galileo enjoyed support from members of the church and the eventual conflict did not arise solely from scientific questions but also from personal rivalries, and disputes over how scripture ought to be interpreted.
Overplus, when we turn to the Protestant world, we clearly see that religion and science also advanced side by side. For example, the famous Robert Boyle11, who is remembered by most as one of the founders of modern chemistry, regarded his experiments to express his faith and even personally financed the translation of the Bible11. Moreover, there were many more Protestant scientists such as Johannes Hevelius12, an astronomer based in Gdańsk, who worked closely with scientists from the Jesuit order, proving that collaboration in the pursuit of knowledge could indeed take place across even confessional boundaries.
Furthermore, this cooperation between religion and science was not only founded in Christian Europe but also appeared within the Arabic world, mainly during what the 3
Islamic Golden Age13, which lasted from the 8th up to 14th century. During this era, there have been many documented scholars who used scientific research to honour their religion. One of these scholars is Ibn al-Haytham14, a man often characterised as the father of modern optics, carried out groundbreaking research while grounding his work within a theological outlook that viewed scientific research as a means of better understanding God’s creation.
This collaboration of faith and knowledge can also be seen in Islamic hospitals, observatories, and libraries. Institutions among the lines of these, were primarily built in tandem with mosques or financed through religious donations, known as waqf15, ensuring that religious devotion and science would grow alongside one another.
To sum up, the relationship between science and religion is much more complex than the common idea of a constant conflict. From medieval universities to the works of Jesuit scholars, and Muslim scientists, the interaction between faith and reason, that not only shaped both modern theology and scientific pursuit but also helped mankind many times to move forward and progress rather than held it back.
To see science and religion only as opponents, is just to ignore the many centuries of collaboration that allowed both to grow. Nevertheless, understanding this complexity not only challenges the idea of conflict but also reminds us of that knowledge, in all its forms, always is strongest when approached with true openness.