PAPER PRESENTATION

SUBJECT: Science and Religion

TOPIC:The Christian roots of western science
LECTURER: Dr. Akatoli Chishi
PRESENTERS: Vilinoto, Royali, Kihoi, Tingmei, Lijano, Toni, Yulhung Esther, Livi.

Introduction

Science began with the Greeks in the Western Civilisation. The Western Science was much
influenced by the Greek thought. The Greeks possessed one priceless insight, that is the belief in
reason. They believed that the world made sense, and that rational thought could discover it’s
secrets. Obviously this belief is of fundamental importance if any science is to be possible at all.
They were fascinated by mathematics and Greek geometry which is still the basis of modern
geometry is an example of their achievement.1

The beginning of modern science is the sixteen and seventeen centuries caused changes in men’s
thinking about the universe. The fact is that for centuries the church in Western world not only
preached the Christian message, but also saw it as her duty to preserve and to develop the Greco-
Roman scientific heritage. Thus, we can trace the history of Christian roots in the Western
Science. 2

Christianity and the Foundations of Science in the West

Belief in Personal Creator

Justification for the foundations presuppositions of Science cannot be provided wholly by

Science itself. It came partially from Christianity. Christian beliefs can be a justification of the
general characteristics of Western Science. A number of authors have argued that belief in
personal creator was, if not a prerequisite for the rise of Western Science, at least an enormous
aid to that rise. It was in Western Europe with its strong Christian tradition that modern science
emerged. Some ancient Greeks tended to view the material world as not worthy of study. In other
ancient pagan cultures nature was seen as deity, which made experimenting inappropriate or
even hazardous. Many Eastern cultures saw reality as ruled by rigid necessities, making
empirical investigation superfluous. Other saw chance or chaos as the ruling principle and
inevitably unsuccessful. But Christians saw the world as a creation of a creator who had created
freely, thus requiring empirical investigation unconstrained by our prejudices and expectations
thus requiring open-minded investigation. So the basic characteristic of Western Science grew to
be what one could expect from a Christian outlook. That is not to say that one could deduce the
basic outlines of a scientific method from Christianity but that those outlines fit well with
Christian doctrine.3

1
Hab Good, Religion and Science (Great Britain: Richard Clay and Company Ltd, 1964),
2
Ian G. Barbour, Religion in an age of Science (Scotland: The Gifford, 1991),
3
Del Ratzsch “Science and its limits: the Natural Science in Christian Perspective” (USA: Intervarsity Press,
2000),

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The Crusades

The story of the Western origin of science postdates the Crusades. Before the Crusades,
Christendom was in its “Dark Age”. In the 4th Century, state and Church came together in the
Roman Empire. Ironically, this Christian Dark Age coincided with the Islamic Golden Age. In
the sharp contrast to the book-burning traditions of Christendom, the Abbasid Caliphate had set
up the Baghdad house of Wisdom by the early 9th century. Quite naturally, prior to the Crusades,
Europeans regarded the Arabs as knowledgeable. To learn mathematics, Gerbert turned to the
Islamic Arabs in Cordoba, not to Greek Christian sources in Byzantuim. Hence the numerals he
imported are today known as ‘Arabic Numerals’. So the Greek origin of all science did not exist
in Europe prior to the Crusades.

Apart from the contrast in Knowledge, there was also the striking contrast in wealth between
Christendom and Islamic Arabs. The Crusades were undoubtedly a time of great religious
hysteria. The contrast between Arab wealth and European poverty must be regarded as a key
cause of the Crusades. An increase in Church wealth and power was the direct consequence of
the Crusades, which also helped to expand church influenced into wealthier Islamic areas. The
Crusades, won or lost, Church wealth and power increased. Also the Church kept trying to
expand its influence in Islamic areas. During the proto-Crusades-probes which preceded the
official” Crusades-Toledo and its magnificent library came under Christian control in 1085.

This library, instead of being burnt, was preserved. By now, the usefulness of non-Bible
knowledge had been accepted at the highest levels of the Church. During Crusades, secular
knowledge was gathered with great difficulty by spies like Adelard of Bath. The dark age of
Christendom began with the burning down of the Great Library of Alexandria. However it ended
with the mass translation of Toledo library, from Arabic to Latin. The ultimate motive of the
Crusade was to make knowledge seem theologically correct. Euclid and Claudius Ptolemy are
two grand concoctions here. The appropriate knowledge was reinterpreted to make the contents
theologically correct. The Concoctions of this period include the revolutionary discoveries
attributed to Copernicus and Newton. Another perspective was to appeal to the theologically
correct understanding of mathematics or science as the only legitimate one. The philosophy of
science based on the Western perspective would then be attributed to Christian’s Crusade.4

Scientific Revolution
Scientific revolution saw an unprecedented fusion of Science with theology, resulting in more
secular forms of piety. In the creation of our modern world-view, few periods of Western history
have been decisive followed by the publication, in 1543, of Copernicus’ Sun-Centered
astronomy. During that period, what had been an earth-centered Cosmos exploded into an
infinite universe. The Scientific Revolution emphatically overthrew earlier system of belief.5

Copernicus’ purpose was to support the church in its understanding of cosmology based on
planetary prediction to reform the Old Aristotle-Ptolemy model of geocentric understanding of
the universe. Further, Johannes Kepler’s understanding of the Holy Trinity and the arrangement

4
K.C. Raju, Is Science Western in Origin? (Malaysia: Multiversity & Citizens International, 2009), 20-22.
5
John Hedley Brook, “Science and Religion Some Historical Perspective” (Australia: CUP, 1991), 52.
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of the universe led him to the idea of his three laws of planetary movement which entirely
rectified the Greek’s postulation of circular motion of the heavenly bodies by establishing the
planet move in ellipses, not in circles which changed human’s perception. Again Galileo, a
devoted catholic who lived on a firm believe that the author 0f the Bible and the creator of the
universe understands the marvelous world. Newton’s 1687 principia formulated the laws of
motion and universal gratitude and also taught scientific theory should be complete with rigorous
experimentation, which became the keystone of modern science. His inspiration came from his
perception of the God as the infinite in space, intelligent, omnipresent and a living one. His work
was later appreciated and acknowledged by Stephen Hawking testifying to its credibility as the
most ever important work published and the physical science. Science is the work of many hands
together. They represent the collegial, peer-reviewing, competitive and collaborative community,
which builds a new understanding of the world. Had it not been for the rise literal interpretation
of the Bible and the subsequent appropriation of the Biblical narratives by early modern
scientists, modern science may not have different understanding. The Bible and its literal
interpretation have played a vital role in the development of Western science.6

In The Recent Centuries

The most comprehensive and delaited treatment of the history of science was given posterity by
a distinguished physicist and mathematician Pierre Duhem (1861-1961) in his 10 volume
Magnum Opus. Dr. Peter E. Hodgson has to say about Duhem’s work: “The work of Duhem is
of great relevance today, for it clearly shows the Christian roots of modern science, thus
decisively refuting the alleged incompatibility of science an Christianity still propagated by the
secularist establishment. Science is an integral part of Christian Culture, a lesson to be learned
even within the Christian Church.” Duhem’s study and documentation of the Christian origin of
modern science has been crucial in the study of science and religion.

St. Augustine in his ‘City of God’ states that God is the author of “all major form and order of all
size, number and weight. He is the source of every nature…” this view has been echoed by
Kepler, Galileo and Newton. It reflects Galileo’s famous line, “God does not play dice.” In a
nutshell, modern science owes much to its Judeo-Christian roots. Western Science indeed was
developed from conceptions of reality that were essentially religious.

Post Colonial Critique of Western Science and Christian’s Ethical Response

As a matter of fact, western science was manufactured and developed in Europe and it has been
always Eurocentric in its contents and methods. A post colonial critique of science is a primarily
critique of the influence of modern western science on other cultures. Post-colonial critiques of
science, namely, Chinua, Achebe, Ashcroft, Griffiths and Tiffin, Edward Said and so on. Within
science, the post-colonial critiques argue that western science has results in partial and distorted
accounts of nature and social relations. Modern science and technology has dislocated the so
called ‘third world’ societies destroyed traditional cultures and played havoc with the
environment of these nations.7

6
Rodinmawia Ralte, The Interface of Science and Religion: An Introductory Study (New Delhi: Christian
World Imprints, 2017), 8.
7
Rodinmawia Ralte, The Interface…, 195-196.
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Despite of Criticisms, there are a number of attitudes required to do science properly, and
Christianity supports those well. For instance, our respect for nature must reach the pitch of
worship, an attitude that would effectively bring science to a positive aspect. There are also
moral principles essential to science. If scientists lacked honesty towards their fellow scientists,
integrity concerning their work, humility before the results of their investigation, generosity with
the information they gain, self-control in the face of frustration, perseverance through
experimental failure, patience in times of slow progress and so on, there would be little effective
science. But scripture points to those virtues, offers help in moving toward them and give them a
foundation in God’s law and commandments. We must keep in mind that objectivity in science is
protected in part by the communal nature of science.8

Conclusion
It is undeniable that science is a creation of the West. Indeed there was a close affinity between
science and theology. Western science owes the sizeable debt to Christian scholars. It is
imperative to quote Wade Rowland, “To the extent that the foundation in faith defines religion,
science is every bit as much a religion as Christianity.” In conclusion we remark that such great
minds played crucial roles in the development of modern science.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Barbour, Ian G. Religion in an age of Science. Scotland: The Gifford, 1991.

Good, Hab. Religion and Science. Great Britain: Richard Clay and Company Ltd, 1964.

Ratzsch, Del. “Science and its limits: the Natural Science in Christian Perspective”. USA:
Intervarsity Press, 2000.

Raju, K. C. Is Science Western in Origin? Malaysia: Multiversity & Citizens International, 2009.

Ralte, Rodinmawia. The Interface of Science and Religion: An Introductory Study. New Delhi:
Christian World Imprints, 2017.

8
Del Ratzsch, “Science and its limits: the natural science in Christian Perspective” (USA: Intervarsity Press,
2000), 139.
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