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| S.Augustin, by Louis Comfort Tiffany Lightner Museum |
By studying the history of science, one fact becomes evident: while other civilizations reached remarkable technical, mathematical, or astronomical heights, within European Christendom germinated a systematic, accelerated, and extraordinary scientific development, incomparable to that of any other civilization, past or present. Why this spectacular difference? The answer is not a matter of chance, but of worldview. Science and faith are not adversaries, but pieces of a puzzle designed with astonishing precision.
The supposed war between science and faith is a false diatribe fueled by nineteenth-century prejudices. While science deals with the material and experimental world, philosophy and faith deal with being and purpose. The error of scientists like Stephen Hawking was to declare that philosophy is dead and then, immediately afterward, propose theories (such as model realism or the multiverse) that are philosophical speculations.
Almost all first- and second-generation
civilizations embraced a cosmology incompatible with a scientific development
similar to that of the West: cyclical cosmology, which considers the history of the universe as a
repetitive process where the same things happen once and again, and the same
people are born and die many times (metempsychosis). Cyclical
cosmology gives rise to pessimism and defeatism, incompatible with
progressive scientific advancement, as expressed in the Book of Ecclesiastes,
chapter 1, verses 7 and 9:
All rivers
flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full; The waters have flowed through
the same channels that once carried them… but what will happen is what has
already happened, and everything that will be done has already been done. There
is nothing new under the sun!
Only one second-generation civilization was not
swept away by cyclical cosmology, although it was influenced by it, as proved
by the quote from Ecclesiastes. The Hebrew people adopted a unique cosmology: a linear concept of history with a beginning and
an end. However, Hebrew culture did not experience scientific development and
had little philosophical activity, except in aspects related to religion.
Christianity, the theological successor of the
Hebrew people, from whom it inherited the linear view of history, adopted from Greco-Roman culture Greek
philosophy and Roman law
and synthesized two very different cultures, although its genesis was a
consequence of a special historical event: the Incarnation of God in Jesus Christ,
his death, and his resurrection.
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| Francisco José Soler Gil |
Saint Augustine, for instance, asserted in The City of
God (Book XII,
Chapters XI-XX) that perpetual recurrence would be inevitable if the world were
perpetual, but if there was a beginning of time, it makes no sense to believe
that everything repeats itself. Francisco José Soler Gil and I agree with this idea in an article published in magazine Theoria. Saint Augustine achieved an excellent synthesis
between the Christian faith and Greek philosophy, represented by the ideas of
Plato and the Neoplatonism of Plotinus, and was followed several centuries
later by Saint Thomas Aquinas, who started from the philosophy of Aristotle.
The Islamic civilization shared the linear view of
history and the influence of Greek philosophy. During the first centuries of
its existence, it made significant scientific advances in astronomy,
mathematics, medicine, and alchemy. However, it eventually stagnated, likely
because it lacked the historical fact of the Incarnation, as Muslims do not
accept that God became man.
The Incarnation is an unprecedented, unique,
unrepeatable historical event. Although other religions, such as Hinduism,
admit the possibility of God becoming incarnate in a human being (remember the
avatars of Vishnu), these are not historical events. Christ, on the other hand,
lived in the time of Pontius Pilate.
The Incarnation of God in Jesus Christ raised the
dignity of humanity and creation, and fostered the advancement of Western
science, which has led us to the Industrial Revolution and the Information
Revolution. Humanity has attained the astonishing dignity of God becoming one
of us. Consequently, the cosmos cannot be an illusion, an insignificance, as
cyclical worldviews maintain, but rather a work worthy of its Author's Incarnation
in this world.
Christianity has made possible the explosive
development of science, because the following two assertions play a fundamental
role in our worldview:
1.
God has created the universe. Logically, He has created a comprehensible
universe, subject to laws.
2.
Human beings can discover and understand the laws with which God
has endowed the universe.
To achieve this, we must experiment. This is what has unleashed the scientific
revolution in which we are still living.
The modern world and Western civilization seem to
have abandoned Christian convictions. What does this tell us about the future
of science? If its development began thanks to the impetus of Christianity, we
can ask ourselves whether it will withstand the loss of its roots, or will
suffer the same fate as all other civilizations, which, after achieving a
certain level of scientific development, stagnated forever. I’ll deal with this
in the next post.
Thematic Thread on Science and History: Previous Next
Manuel Alfonseca
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