Integration of Science and Christian Faith

                                                                                      Dr. Stephen C. Y. Liu

         In western tradition, universities and institutes of learning were patterned after Greek academies. Theology, philosophy and humanity were taught as subjects. Clergymen were sages and clerical staffs were educated people in the community. Churches were places of worship as well as centers of social life.  The cultural milieu was Christian monotheistic. The Bible was accepted wholeheartedly as the infallible Word of God, and the guide for practical daily living.  

         Modern sciences, such as astronomy, astrophysics, physics and mathematics were born in the 17 – 18th centuries.  Devout Christian scholars, Nicholas Copernicus (1473-1543), Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) and Galileo Galilei (1564-1642), and their experimental research greatly contributed to the birth of these modern sciences. Christian doctrines of monotheism, creation by God’s wisdom and eternity inspired these early scientists in their rational inquiries. They considered their research endeavor not in any way contradictory to their genuine faith in God and his creative activities. Instead, they thought of them as reinforcing their faith. Then, theology and natural sciences were taught as parallel disciplines in institutes of higher learning. Galileo and his famous metaphor was: “The Two Books, the Book of Scripture (Theology) and The Book of Nature (natural sciences)”. God is the same Author of the Two Books, therefore they should not contradict each other.  They are parallel in special revelation and general revelation.  

        The debate in cosmology in the 16th –17th centuries was known for its notoriety. Aristotelian geocentric universe (earth-centered) was prevalent and dominant in teaching and in research. Unfortunately, the Roman Catholic Church (RCC) accepted this scientific, empirical theory as an article of faith. Galileo submitted his heliocentric (sun-centered) universe, first to the universities and research institutes, then to the Holy See. Of course, the heliocentric principle should be accepted to replace the geocentric theory.  Regrettably, the heliocentric view was vehemently denied by the two hierarchies, academic and ecclesiastic. The condemnation of Galileo and his theory by the RCC was indeed one of the greatest mistakes ever made. An uproar of protest by scientists was seen in Continental Europe and England . With this historical misfortune, theology and natural science became polarized.  The Church and scientific community parted company, creating a schism in philosophy. The schism and dichotomy of theology and science were intensified by the rise of many schools of philosophies in Western Europe , Britain and America . Rationalism, skepticism, logical positivism, socialism, liberalism, humanism and many others gradually entered into the university teaching agenda, replacing Christian theology as the central theme. With the advancement of scientific knowledge and technological innovation in the last 5 decades, common folks consider science the only road to knowledge. Scientism is very much adored. Scientists have gained more and more recognition, moving from peripheral to the central arena of human society.  In the USA , evolution theory is taught to the exclusion of creation in the public high school curriculum. On the other hand, theology was weakened by incorporating liberal philosophical views in its content. With graduates educated in such way, the Church has failed to deliver the authentic saving message to the world. All in all, no one could have anticipated such a lopsided situation in our world today.  

      Encouragingly, there has been a warming trend, coming from both evolutionary-materialistic scientists and Christian scholars.  Prof. Kenneth R. Miller of Brown University , an evolutionary biologist, in his book Finding Darwin’s God: A Scientist’s Searching for Common Ground between God and Evolution (1999), states that “ evolution and religion could be compatible. The material world of evolution and the religious world of value and meaning do not have to be mutually exclusive. The evolution-creation debate in the struggle between Christianity and science is misleading and a dangerous oversimplification.”  The late Prof. Stephen Jay Gould of Harvard University , a diehard evolutionist and agnostic, wrote in his book Rocks of Age: Science and Religion in the Fullness of Life of 241 pages: “ I do not understand why the two enterprises should experience any conflict. Science tries to document the factual character of the natural world, and to develop theories that coordinate and explain these facts. Religion on the other hand operates in the equally important but utterly different realm of human purpose, meaning and value. … I propose that we encapsulate the central principle of respectful non-interference, accompanied by intense dialogue between the two distinct subjects, each covering a central facet of human existence. To summarize an old cliché, science gets the age of rocks, and religion the rock of ages; science studies how the heavens go, religion how to go to heaven.”  Prof. Keith Ward of Oxford University , in his 1998 book God, Chance and Necessity, insists that “ the theory of evolution is not in opposition to religious claim. On the contrary, it provides a new and exciting vision of the way in which the purpose of a divine Creator is worked in the cosmos.” In another book, God, Faith & the New Millennium: Christian Belief in an Age of Science, Dr. Ward affirms that “the hypothesis of God is the best available explanation of an evolutionary worldview. The third millennium of Christian existence will bring a new integration of scientific and religious thought, the development of a global spirituality.”  Sir Prof. John Polkinghorne, former President of Queen’s College of Cambridge University, a theoretical particle physicist and Canon Theologian of Liverpool, in his book Belief in God in an Age of Science (1997), affirms his conviction that  “science and theology are intellectual cousins, both contending with interpreted experience and with the quest for truth about reality. Scientific and theological inquiries are parallel.” Furthermore, he affirms emphatically in his book Faith, Science and Understanding (2000) the essential and ultimate unity of all knowledge: theology and science. Universities are the institutional expressions of this belief. A theological faculty is a necessary presence in a true university because the search for knowledge is incomplete if it does not include in its aim gaining knowledge of the Creator as well as gaining knowledge of the creature. 

       I affirm Christian faith and science, their complementarity and convergence, and their ultimate unity.”

科學與基督信仰的整合

劉傑垣教授

一、西方的傳統

1、    大學所教的科目

2、    教牧人員與教會的功能

3、    文化與聖經

二、現在科學的的誕生

1、    敬虔的科學家：哥白尼、克卜勒、伽利略

2、    信仰與科學研究的合一

3、    兩本書

三、地動說的爭議

1、    天主教與地球中心說

2、    神學與科學的脫節

3、    科學主義的興起

4、    自由主義與神學

四、新的整合

1、    演化論/唯物論學者的看法：Miller 與 Gould

2、    神本科學家的看法：Ward 與 Polkinghorne

3、    大學與神學