Christianity and science

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Science and Religion are portrayed to be in harmony in the Tiffany window Education (1890).

Most scientific and technical innovations prior to the Scientific Revolution were achieved by societies organized by religious traditions. Ancient Christian scholars pioneered individual elements of the scientific method. Historically, Christianity has been and still is a patron of sciences.[1] It has been prolific in the foundation of schools, universities and hospitals,[2][3][4][5][6] and many Christian clergy have been active in the sciences and have made significant contributions to the development of science.[7]

Historians of science such as Pierre Duhem credit medieval Catholic mathematicians and philosophers such as John Buridan, Nicole Oresme and Roger Bacon as the founders of modern science.[8] Duhem concluded that "the mechanics and physics of which modern times are justifiably proud to proceed, by an uninterrupted series of scarcely perceptible improvements, from doctrines professed in the heart of the medieval schools".[9] Many of the most distinguished classical scholars in the Byzantine Empire held high office in the Eastern Orthodox Church.[10] Protestantism has had an important influence on science, according to the Merton Thesis, there was a positive correlation between the rise of English Puritanism and German Pietism on the one hand, and early experimental science on the other.[11]

Christian scholars and scientists have made noted contributions to science and technology fields,[12][13][14] as well as medicine,[15] both historically and in modern times.[16] Some scholars state that Christianity contributed to the rise of the Scientific Revolution.[17][18][19][20] Between 1901 and 2001, about 56.5% of Nobel prize laureates in scientific fields were Christians,[21] and 26% were of Jewish descent (including Jewish atheists).[21]

Events in Christian Europe, such as the Galileo affair, that were associated with the Scientific Revolution and the Age of Enlightenment led some scholars such as John William Draper to postulate a conflict thesis, holding that religion and science have been in conflict throughout history. While the conflict thesis remains popular in atheistic and antireligious circles, it has lost favor among most contemporary historians of science.[22][23][24] Most contemporary historians of science believe the Galileo affair is an exception in the overall relationship between science and Christianity and have also corrected numerous false interpretations of this event.[25][26][27][28]

  1. ^ Rodney Stark, For the Glory of God: How Monotheism Led to Reformations, Science, Witch-Hunts and the End of Slavery, 2003, Princeton University Press, ISBN 0-691-11436-6, page 123
  2. ^ Den Heijer, Alexandra (2011). Managing the University Campus: Information to Support Real Estate Decisions. Academische Uitgeverij Eburon. ISBN 9789059724877. Many of the medieval universities in Western Europe were born under the aegis of the Catholic Church, usually as cathedral schools or by papal bull as Studia Generali.
  3. ^ A. Lamport, Mark (2015). Encyclopedia of Christian Education. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 484. ISBN 9780810884939. All the great European universities-Oxford, to Paris, to Cologne, to Prague, to Bologna—were established with close ties to the Church.
  4. ^ B M. Leonard, Thomas (2013). Encyclopedia of the Developing World. Routledge. p. 1369. ISBN 9781135205157. Europe established schools in association with their cathedrals to educate priests, and from these emerged eventually the first universities of Europe, which began forming in the eleventh and twelfth centuries.
  5. ^ Gavroglu, Kostas (2015). Sciences in the Universities of Europe, Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries: Academic Landscapes. Springer. p. 302. ISBN 9789401796361.
  6. ^ G.A. Dawson, Patricia (2015). First Peoples of the Americas and the European Age of Exploration. Cavendish Square Publishing. p. 103. ISBN 9781502606853.
  7. ^ Wright, Jonathan (2004). God's Soldiers: Adventure, Politics, intrigue and Power: A History of the Jesuits. HarperCollins. p. 200.
  8. ^ Wallace, William A. (1984). Prelude, Galileo and his Sources. The Heritage of the Collegio Romano in Galileo's Science. N.J.: Princeton University Press.
  9. ^ Lindberg, David C.; Westman, Robert S., eds. (27 July 1990) [Duhem, Pierre (1905). "Preface". Les Origines de la statique 1. Paris: A. Hermman. p. iv.]. "Conceptions of the Scientific Revolution from Bacon to Butterfield". Reappraisals of the Scientific Revolution (1st ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 14. ISBN 0-521-34804-8.
  10. ^ The faculty was composed exclusively of philosophers, scientists, rhetoricians, and philologists; Tatakes, Vasileios N.; Moutafakis, Nicholas J. (2003). Byzantine Philosophy. Hackett Publishing. p. 189. ISBN 0-87220-563-0.
  11. ^ Cohen, I. Bernard (1990). Puritanism and the rise of modern science: the Merton thesis. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press. ISBN 978-0813515304.
  12. ^ Gilley, Sheridan (2006). The Cambridge History of Christianity: Volume 8, World Christianities C.1815-c.1914. Brian Stanley. Cambridge University Press. p. 164. ISBN 0521814561. ... Many of the scientists who contributed to these developments were Christians...
  13. ^ Steane, Andrew (2014). Faithful to Science: The Role of Science in Religion. OUP Oxford. p. 179. ISBN 978-0191025136. ... the Christian contribution to science has been uniformly at the top level, but it has reached that level and it has been sufficiently strong overall ...
  14. ^ L. Johnson, Eric (2009). Foundations for Soul Care: A Christian Psychology Proposal. InterVarsity Press. p. 63. ISBN 978-0830875276. ... . Many of the early leaders of the scientific revolution were Christians of various stripes, including Roger Bacon, Copernicus, Kepler, Francis Bacon, Galileo, Newton, Boyle, Pascal, Descartes, Ray, Linnaeus and Gassendi...
  15. ^ S. Kroger, William (2016). Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis in Medicine, Dentistry and Psychology. Pickle Partners Publishing. ISBN 978-1787203044. Many prominent Catholic physicians and psychologists have made significant contributions to hypnosis in medicine, dentistry, and psychology.
  16. ^ Baruch A. Shalev, 100 Years of Nobel Prizes (2003), Atlantic Publishers & Distributors, p.57: between 1901 and 2000 reveals that 654 Laureates belong to 28 different religions. Most (65.4%) have identified Christianity in its various forms as their religious preference. ISBN 978-0935047370
  17. ^ Harrison, Peter. "Christianity and the rise of western science". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 28 August 2014.
  18. ^ Noll, Mark, Science, Religion, and A.D. White: Seeking Peace in the "Warfare Between Science and Theology" (PDF), The Biologos Foundation, p. 4, archived from the original (PDF) on 22 March 2015, retrieved 14 January 2015
  19. ^ Lindberg, David C.; Numbers, Ronald L. (1986), "Introduction", God & Nature: Historical Essays on the Encounter Between Christianity and Science, Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, pp. 5, 12, ISBN 978-0-520-05538-4
  20. ^ Gilley, Sheridan (2006). The Cambridge History of Christianity: Volume 8, World Christianities C.1815-c.1914. Brian Stanley. Cambridge University Press. p. 164. ISBN 0521814561.
  21. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Beit-Hallahmi was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  22. ^ Cite error: The named reference Russel, C.A. 2002 7 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  23. ^ Cite error: The named reference Shapin1996 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  24. ^ Cite error: The named reference Brooke1991 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  25. ^ Finocchiaro, Maurice A. (2014). "Introduction". The Trial of Galileo : Essential Documents. Hackett Publishing Company, Incorporated. pp. 1–4. ISBN 978-1-62466-132-7. ..one of the most common myths widely held about the trial of Galileo, including several elements: that he "saw" the earth's motion (an observation still impossible to make even in the twenty-first century); that he was "imprisoned" by the Inquisition (whereas he was actually held under house arrest); and that his crime was to have discovered the truth. And since to condemn someone for this reason can result only from ignorance, prejudice, and narrow-mindedness, this is also the myth that alleges the incompatibility between science and religion.
  26. ^ Jules Speller (2008). Galileo's Inquisition Trial Revisited. Peter Lang. pp. 55–56. ISBN 978-3-631-56229-1.
  27. ^ John Lennox (2009). God's Undertaker. Lion Books. p. 26. ISBN 978-0-7459-5371-7.
  28. ^ McMullin, Ernan (2008). "Robert Bellarmine". In Gillispie, Charles (ed.). Dictionary of Scientific Biography. Scribner & American Council of Learned Societies.