I am happy to share some happy news with Sacred Space Astronomy readers: The publication by Aleteia of a seven-part series of articles on the Church and Science. This series covers those two Big Stories from history that are often seen as illustrating a conflict between Church and Science, namely Galileo and evolution, along with a lesser-known, but equally important Church-and-Science story, the problem of the two Great Lights.
If you read Sacred Space Astronomy (SSA) regularly, you will probably recognize much of what is in the Aleteia series. Many ideas found in the series are ideas I developed here at SSA. Ditto if you have read When Science Goes Wrong: The Desire and Search for Truth, the book by Br. Guy Consolmagno and me that Paulist Press published in the fall of 2023. Everything in the series has roots in that book, which itself has roots in SSA.
The central argument in the Aleteia series is that, from its early days, the Church has been attentive to Science and willing to accommodate scientific discoveries, even when those discoveries contradict a plain reading of Scripture. Of course, this is contrary to stereotypes of churchmen asking scientists “to give up convictions … forged on the basis of painstaking scientific observations and brilliant deductions, only because they appeared to contradict some sacred, ancient, vague, poetic texts” (as Mario Livio put it in his 2020 book Galileo and the Science Deniers, page 115). However, the historical evidence shows that because the Church holds Scripture in high regard, and holds certain concepts from Scripture in high regard (like all humankind being of one family, created in God’s image), the Church has been at pains to be sure the science is solid before accommodation is made. One nineteenth-century Jesuit stated that the church cannot be working today to accommodate scientific ideas that will be cast aside tomorrow. The evidence also shows that the Church’s processes for addressing scientific discoveries have been (surprise!) imperfect. And finally, the evidence shows that imperfect as they are, the Church’s processes regarding science are needed, because science is imperfect and can go wrong — sometimes in terrible ways.
I recognize that the idea that those Big Stories of the Church and Science represent something that is needed for both Church and Science, something that is a good thing (such that the bad that we associate with it, like the treatment of Galileo, is owed to its bungled execution by imperfect people), is a real departure from what you usually hear about these stories. Usually these stories are seen to illustrate something like science denial — a thick-headed refusal by the Church to deal with reality. I am quite surprised to find myself making this new case. But I think that the historical record shows that this is indeed the case.
I thank Aleteia for being willing to publish, for a broad audience, something that is such a departure from the usual — and to publish something so lengthy. But if there is a short way to tell this new story, I have not figured it out yet. It is no simple story.
Again, this new story has its roots here in Sacred Space Astronomy. So, thank you to those of you who support the Vatican Observatory through SSA and that “SUPPORT” tab at the top right of this page. It is a good thing both for Church and for Science for the Church to be knowledgeable about science and about science history. You are part of that with your support. I think this Aleteia series is a clear example of how that support bears fruit in a broad sense.
Below are links to the series, to each article in this series, and to a PDF of all the articles that also includes some extra figure material that Aleteia did not include.
Series on Church and Science (all articles — CLICK HERE).
- Catholic Church and Science: St. Augustine and great lights
- The Church and evolution, and just one book it condemned
- Why would the Vatican meddle in science? To correct it?
- Did (and does) the Church oppose the science of evolution?
- A new look at the Galileo case, from the Vatican Observatory
- The real reason the Church opposed Galileo
- Church and science: What’s to be made of the history? The future?
CLICK HERE to download the PDF version of the Series on Church and Science.
