Science and Religion in the Thomistic Tradition

The Thomist 65 (2001): 441-63 SCIENCE AND RELIGION IN THE THOMISTIC TRADITION1 WILLIAMA. WALLACE, 0.P. University ofMaryland College Park, Maryland The topic "Science and Religion" continues to be much discussed in the present day, particularly in the context of an opposition or warfare between the two.2 It is a commonplace that in the past those interested in such discussions have inclined more to the side of science than they have to the side of religion. On the religion side, it seems that Catholics rarely get excited about the subject, whereas for Protestants it is a topic of ongoing, and in some cases intense, interest. Indeed, among historians of science it is not unusual to find persons who turned away from a career in science, to which they had first aspired, to study history-to set the record straight, as it were, on the relationship between science and religion. The fruits of labors of this type are now apparent in a volume that has just appeared bearing the title The History ofScience and Religion in the Western Tradition: An Encyclopedia.3 It may seem odd that a topic such as this should have a history, but if it has been around for a century or so it seems inevitable that it would 1 This essay is based on a lecture given at St. John's University, Jamaica, NewYork, on 16 October 1996, as part of a series on Science and Religion. 2 The best-known exposition of the warfare thesis is that of Andrew Dickson White, A History ofthe Warfare ofScience with Theology, 2 vols. (New York: Appleton, 1897). This was preceded by the also well-known work ofJohn William Draper, History ofthe Conflict Between Religion and Science (London: 1874; reprint, New York: Appleton, 1928). 3 Gary B. Ferngren, ed., The History ofScience·and Religion in theWestern Tradition: An Encyclopedia (New York and London: Garland Publishing, Inc., 2000). 441 442 WILLIAM A. WALLACE, O.P. take on a life of its own and so become deserving of historical treatment. It is not our intention here to review this multifaceted work. Suffice it to note that there are some serious omissions in the essays, over a hundred in number, that make up the volume. With regard to the two main terms, there is no clear-cut definition of what constitutes a religion and how one religion is differentiated from another, nor is there any serious treatment of the term "science " and the various meanings it has taken on from Aristotle to the present day.4 Perhaps more serious, there is no essay on faith, and there are only seven references to that term in the almost six hundred pages that make up the volume. Again, there is no essay on theology, nor is the term even mentioned in the index.5 Among Catholics, as suggested above, the general attitude toward this topic seems to be lack of interest.6 This is especially true of those who identify in some way or other with the Thomistic tradition. If they are knowledgeable about the origins of Thomism in the works of Albert the Great and those of Thomas Aquinas, they see a complementary relationship between science and what now passes under the name of religion. At the same time they are aware that there are important differences between scientia and fides.7 Among contemporary philosophers 4 There is an essay entitled "The Demarcation of Science and Religion" (ibid., 17-23), but this is essentially a reworking of arguments for and against a demarcation between science and metaphysics, or between science and non-science, which for positivists degenerated into their distinction between science and nonsense. 5 There is. however, an entry for a book entitled The Theology ofElectricity, by Ernst Benz (trans. Wolfgang Taraba [Allison Park., Penn.: Pickwick, 1989]), which explores seventeenth and eighteenth century debates on electricity. This is not the sense of theology that is here intended 6 Perhaps this serves to explain why there is a minimal Catholic presence in the volume. Only two Catholic priests are among the contributors, Stanley L. Jaki, who wrote an essay on "God, Nature, and Science" (Science and Religion in the Western TTadition...