Science and Religion: Christian and Muslim Perspectives

Commentary: Science and Religion in the Classical Christian Tradition

Commentary Science and Religion in the Classical Christian Tradition EMMANUEL CLAPSIS General Remarks As the Christian Church expanded its mission to the Hellenistic world, it had to develop the language and system of thought necessary to make Christianity comprehensible to those who did not operate within a Judaic frame of mind. Those who had studied Greek philosophy and science and desired to give Christian orientation to their philosophical thinking and rationality undertook this task. While these thinkers repudiated the theological implications of some Hellenistic cosmologies, at the same time they acknowledged elements of truth in them that provided either support or illustrations for an expanded and coherent interpretation of the Christian cosmogony. The most notable attitudes in Christian tradition toward the relationship between faith and science had already emerged in the second and third centuries . Because the faith of the Church about the origins, the nature, and the future of the world was primarily informed by its interpretations of God’s revelation, some thought that speculation, no matter how deeply concerned with the quest for truth, could add nothing to what God had revealed. They stressed exclusively the novelty of Christianity and denigrated pagan philosophy . Others suggested that philosophers had borrowed whatever was true and valuable in their thinking about the world from scripture. St. Justin Martyr (ca. 100–ca. 165) provides a significant pattern of integrating faith with philosophical and scientific knowledge. He argued that whatever element of truth could be found in philosophical thought was the residue 81 82  texts and commentaries of a revelation. Instead of saying that all truth came from revelation, he admitted that human reason had access to truth even though, being human, it often fell into error. Through the Stoic notion of logos spermatikos, the ‘‘seminal word,’’ Justin acknowledged that the universe was wholly permeated by a cosmic reason, logos. This logos, disseminated among all men at all times, was a kind of fragmentary anticipation of and participation in the whole truth, which was revealed in the Logos made flesh. St. Irenaeus (ca. 130–ca. 200), writing a generation after Justin, presents a different view on how theology relates to philosophical thought. He was convinced that human thinking, valuable and truthful though it may be, cannot know God and his dispensation. For Irenaeus, salvation was only to be attained through faith in what God had revealed, and, more important still, in what he had done. Human reason and divine revelation were, so to speak, in different dimensions. Man’s intellectual quest, no matter how far-reaching, can never become God’s own self-communication in revelation, nor can it be a substitute for it. According to Irenaeus, the relationship within the Christian mind of human thought and faith can only be grounded on complete, unreserved , and unconditional acceptance of revelation and of its preeminence over human reasoning and philosophical speculation. Once that is assured, total freedom is granted to Christian thought to draw on any philosophical or other kind of insight to deepen its understanding of what it believes by faith. The three classical texts to be discussed here were written by St. Basil of Caesarea (ca. 330–379); his brother, St. Gregory of Nyssa (ca. 335–394); and St. Augustine of Hippo (354–430). They reflect mostly the Irenaean view (faith seeking understanding) and in some instances, the view of Justin. They illustrate the patristic pattern of relating revelation to demonstrative reason and experience. The narrative of Christian cosmogony is primarily characterized by faithfulness to the basic precepts of the biblical story and extensive use of the scientific and philosophical reasoning of Hellenistic thought. These passages are representative samples of how three major Christian theologians related their theology of Creation to philosophical and scientific reasoning. While Basil and Gregory have shaped the ethos and theology of Eastern Christianity, Augustine is considered among the most influential representative thinkers of Western Christianity. All three belong to the undivided tradition of the Christian church. All were men of faith with formal training commentary  83 in philosophy and science. For their time, they make skillful use of their philosophical and scientific knowledge to illustrate the dynamic nature of the created world. It is their mission as pastors and theologians to give a credible and intelligible account of their faith for God’s glory. The three texts were written for different purposes. The text from Basil is from a Lenten...