Showing posts with label Science-Intelligent Design-Darwinism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Science-Intelligent Design-Darwinism. Show all posts

January 31, 2014

Orthodox Bishop Answers 4 Questions on Science and the Theory of Evolution


Metropolitan Nicholas of Mesogaia and Lavreotiki studied Physics at the University of Thessaloniki where he received his Bachelors in 1976, and after serving in the army he continued his studies at Harvard and M.I.T. where he received his Masters of Arts and Masters in Science, and then in a combined program of Harvard and M.I.T. (HST = Health-Sciences-Technology) he received his Ph.D in Biomedical Engineering. Upon completing his studies he worked simultaneously for New England Deaconess Hospital, NASA and Arthur D. Little. After teaching at Harvard and M.I.T., he went on to teach at the School of Medicine at the University of Crete as well as at the University of Athens. He then went back to Boston where he received both a Masters in Theological Studies and a Masters in Theology from Holy Cross School of Theology, and a doctorate from the University of Thessaloniki in Bioethics. In 2008 he received an Honorary Doctoral Degree from the University of Athens School of Theology in Science and Religion.

The following questions on science and the theory of evolution were presented to His Eminence Metropolitan Nicholas of Mesogaia and Lavreotiki:

November 22, 2013

C.S. Lewis on Scientism, Darwinism and Design (Documentary)


Today, November 22, is the 50th anniversary of the death of C.S. Lewis in 1963. There have been attempts in recent years to turn Lewis into one of those all-purpose good guys who always fronted the tenured status quo; for example, claims that he was a good Christian Darwinist. In fact, he wasn't. Here are researched facts on the subject.

Below is a documentary inspired by the book The Magician's Twin: C.S. Lewis and the Case against Scientism:







October 14, 2013

Metropolitan Hierotheos Answers 19 Questions of Orthodox Youth


Students of the 7th General High School of Kallithea in Greece recently interviewed His Eminence Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou, asking him 19 questions about contemporary ecclesiastical issues, as well as personal questions in their search for guidance on difficult questions. The questions and answers that were published in their school paper are below.

1. Question: Is there a definition for the soul?

Answer: The soul is a creation of God that took place by His energy; it is living, immortal by grace, distinct from the body, but united with it. Man consists of soul and body and each of these by themselves do not constitute a person. The Church does not believe in the preexistence of the soul without the body, nor in the preexistence of the body without the soul. The soul is the spiritual component of man's existence that gives life to the body. It is amazing for one to come to know the soul of a person and not only focus on their body.

2. Question: What led you to become a Priest?

Answer: I became a Priest because of the ecclesiastical lifestyle I lived from a young age, and my love for God and people. It was the natural outcome of an ecclesiastical life and I feel very good about it. As a young child I loved the Sacred Temple and I was connected with it. I was inspired by people who had a love for God and the Church. I became a Priest out of love and not because I had nothing else to do. Now I am not only happy, but free. I do not care about "being" but about the "quality of being", I do not struggle for happiness but for freedom. There is a big difference between the two.

3. Question: How do you feel about your position and what is your relationship with God?

Answer: As a Bishop I feel I have a responsibility for Christians, for Clergy, for the youth and for the aged. I am a servant of all and whenever they want I am their father and healer. Of course, when one liturgizes and prays, they feel the presence of God. God is not an idea, an impersonal being, a value albeit a most perfect one, but eros and desirable, and as eros He moves towards people and as desirable He attracts to Himself those worthy of eros.

4. Question: Why have people, especially the youth, distanced themselves from the Church?

Answer: They distance themselves because they feel the Church to be something it is not, they feel it is like a religion, like a souvenir shop, like a nursing home, etc. We are all to blame for this, us Clergy for having not shown what the Church truly is and the youth who do not seek the deeper "being" of the Church. To find something deep you must love it, feel pain for it and search it. The Church is not a place of rebellion against all incumbents and all hypocrisy, but a spiritual beacon that illuminates and guides.

5. Question: What is and what should be the role of the Church in today's crisis?

Answer: Her role is always the same, which is to unify and heal. When there is a sensitive Priest in a Parish, he can organize it and operate it as one spiritual therapeutic community. The Church is the mother of all, and receives all without discrimination and offers to them meaning in life.

However, I must say when I speak of the Church I do not speak of an established institution, of a Synod of Bishops and a group of Priests, but of a union of Clergy and laity who are baptized and live according to the words of Christ. You are also members of the Church. Do not separate yourselves from the Church.

6. Question: How does the Church use its wealth?

Answer: First, it is an intricate myth that the Church has a lot of wealth. It is the so-called myth of immense wealth. The Church currently has 4% of its original property from which it occasionally gives for the establishment of hospitals, schools, universities, institutions, etc. And now, what it has available, it gives for philanthropic purposes. Often the Church has helped restore the State so that it does not go bankrupt. This is a truth that no one should ever forget. Further, the real wealth of the Church is her theology, her worship and her members, the Christians.

7. Question: Should the Church be modernized on some issues and which ones?

Answer: The Church has a tradition which has the ability to adapt to every age without losing her essence. There is no need to secularize it, to make compromises, but it invites people to search. It is a place that is similar to true eros, which is not trivialized, but invites people to seek the inner beauty of another. The beauty of people is not only external, but internal. This happens with the Church as well. On some issues there can be modernization, when it is connected with the provision of truth and not the loss of her life.

8. Question: What do you have to say about the corruption of Priests?

Answer: They do not exist to the extent that others indicate. In every country fallen situations are observed to reveal the human element. The majority of Priests begin with a good purpose of voluntary sacrifice and offering. Along the way some have lost their objective due to many factors. However, the branch of Priests is among the best in our society. Others led us to the current economic crisis, not Priests struggling to help people and balance the society, to comfort the afflicted.

9. Question: What is your opinion of atheists and those of other religions?

Answer: I cannot make a distinction between atheists and religious people based on external criteria. I do not think there are atheists, because those who proclaim themselves atheists believe in something and to this they give divine characteristics. There may exist atheists who believe, and Christian atheists. Atheism is not only an ideology, but practical life. Besides, perfect atheism is a step below perfect faith, in a paradoxical way. Those of other religions have their own tradition, which is a component of every culture. We should all take care not to be fanatical, racist, violent. Religious fanaticism is equal to the worst form of schizophrenia.

10. Question: How does God judge the good person and the bad Christian?

Answer: I cannot know. I can't enter into the mind of God. However, I like to say that I rejoice that I will be judged by God and not by people, because God sees within our soul, our intentions, and is a lover of people, while people judge externally and are very cruel. I fear much the heartlessness of people.

11. Question: How is the relationship between Orthodox and Catholics today?

Answer: There are different traditions, theological differences, as well as cultural, social and psychological differences. The theological dialogues made today, when they are done honestly and without agendas, can benefit the well-intentioned who are seeking the truth.

12. Question: In school we spoke about the Mystery of Marriage. What do you think about the decision to allow same-sex marriage? How about political marriage?

Answer: The Church has her own theology about marriage. Marriage is the union according to Christ of a man and a woman to become a family and create a space of love and peace. The teaching of the Church does not adopt marriage between people of the same sex. This cannot happen. But the Church is not responsible for those who want to live outside of her tradition and want to have a political marriage.

13. Question: Should only the Orthodox faith be taught in schools or should others?

Answer: There is a lot of discussion about this issue. Many plans have been proposed and opinions voiced. In every proposal there are pros and cons. Beyond the right educational program that meets the purpose of education, I think the matter depends on the professor who teaches and the pupils who seek and thirst. It troubles me when someone teaches without believing and when people listen mechanically, indifferently, without a desire to search.

14. Question: What is the relationship between fasting and Holy Communion?

Answer: Holy Communion is the pinnacle event of ecclesiastical life; it is a communion, mixing, union and love. And any event like this requires a sincere approach with appropriate preparation. Fasting is a way of preparing by those who are able to fast, but participation in Holy Communion is based on the conditions exclaimed by the liturgist: "With the fear of God, faith and love, come forth." What is required is fear of God, faith and love.

15. Question: What is the importance of Confession?

Answer: Confession is the mystery of dialogue with God through the Priest. We are used to doing monologues with ourselves, shutting ourselves in sunless interior basements and we do not have the strength to open the closed compartment of ourselves, so there is darkness within us and mildew. By Confession we stop the tragic monologue and partake in a dialogue with God, leaving the world of illusion and opening ourselves up to the light of truth.

16. Question: What is sin?

Answer: Sin is sickness, death, termination of the relationship with God and our neighbor; it is a sickness of self-love and selfishness.

17. Question: What happens to the soul after death during the first forty days?

Answer: With death man is not led to the "absolute zero", as some claim. When the soul is separated from the body, it lives and will return again to the body, which will be raised. I have not encountered in any patristic writing that the soul remains with us for forty days after the death of the body and then it goes somewhere else. The soul is immaterial, and upon exiting the body it continues in the life it had here, according to its desire.

18. Question: Some believe that the Second Coming will take place soon. Can this be predicted from Holy Scripture?

Answer: Christ taught us that we cannot know when the Second Coming will take place, but it will occur suddenly. The issue is that we are honorable to God, to our neighbors, and with ourselves every day, that we are at peace with our conscience, and that we love our fellow men without selfishness, which is the most important thing. I cannot accept the false prophets who cause agony and questioning among people. I like to talk about life, love, altruism and divine eros.

19. Question: What is your opinion of Darwinism?

Answer: There are various theories about creation and the evolution of man. The conflict between Christianity and science is primarily in the Western world, among other Christian traditions. In Orthodox theology, as expressed by the Fathers of the Church, there is no conflict between theology and science, because theology and science operate in different fields.

However, for me as a Cleric and theologian what primarily occupies me is another evolution: How we as people can become deified - gods. How we can transform our animalistic actions to human and divine. How self-love can change to love for God and love for people. How the hell of our lives can change to paradise. How our biological impulses can progress to divine eros, which also transforms human eros. How we will cease to view our neighbor as instruments for pleasure and view them with complete joy. How we can become people of the God-man.

I do not like being shut in a prison and to be given the freedom to adorn it well. I want to leave every sort of prison. I want freedom of the spirit, to be lifted above the ephemeral, and seek the transcendence of death.

Source: Ekklesiastiki Paremvasi, "Συνέντευξη τού Σεβασμιωτάτου σέ μαθητές Λυκείου «Μέ τά μάτια τών μαθητών»", September 2013. Translated by John Sanidopoulos.

October 8, 2013

Atheism is a Psychic Disorder


By St. Nektarios of Aegina

Atheism is a psychic disorder: it is a terrible ailment of the soul that is difficult to cure. Atheism is a passion that severely oppresses whomever it seizes. It holds in store many misfortunes for its captive, and becomes harmful not only for him but also for others who come into contact with him.

Atheism denies the existence of God. It denies that there is a divine Creator of the universe. It denies God’s providence, His wisdom, His goodness, and, in general, His divine qualities. Atheism teaches a falsehood to its followers and contrives false theories concerning the creation of the universe. It professes, as Pythia upon a tripod,1 that the creation is an outcome of chance, that it is perpetuated and preserved through purposeless, random interactions, that its splendor transpired spontaneously over time, and that the harmony, grace, and beauty witnessed in nature are inherent attributes of natural laws. Atheism detracts from God, Whom it has denied, His divine characteristics, and, instead, bestows them and His creative power to lifeless and feeble matter. Atheism freely proclaims matter to be the cause of all things, and it deifies matter in order to deny the existence of a superior Being, of a supreme, creative Spirit Who cares for and sustains all things.

On account of disbelief, matter becomes the only true entity; whereas the spirit becomes non-existent. For atheism, the spirit and the soul are egotistical inventions of man, concocted to satisfy his vainglory. Atheism denies man’s spiritual nature. It drags man down from the lofty height where he has been placed by the Creator’s power and grace, and lowers him amongst the rank of irrational animals, which he accepts as ancestors of his distinguished and noble lineage. Atheism does all this in order to bear witness to the words of the Psalm: “Man, being in honor, did not understand; he is compared to the mindless animals, and is become like unto them” (Ps. 48:20).

Atheism detracts faith, hope, and love from the world, these life-giving sources of true happiness for man, it expels God’s righteousness from the world, and denies the existence of God’s providence and succor.

Atheism accepts the laws that exist in nature, yet denies Him Who has appointed these laws. Atheism seeks to lead man to an imaginary happiness; however, it abandons and deserts him in the middle of nowhere, in the valley of lamentation, barren of all heavenly goods, void of consolation from above, empty of spiritual strength, bereft of the power of moral virtue, and stripped of the only indispensable provisions upon the earth: faith, hope, and love.

Atheism condemns poor man to perdition and leaves him standing alone as prey amidst life’s difficulties. Having removed love from within man, atheism subsequently deprives him of the love from others, and it isolates him from family, relatives, and friends. Atheism displaces any hope of a better future and replaces it with despair.

Atheism is awful! It is the worst of all spiritual illnesses!

1 This tripod was a bronze altar at Delphi, in ancient Greece, upon which the priestess of Apollo named Pythia sat to utter oracles.

April 11, 2013

Archbishop Iakovos on Spiritualism, Materialism and Darwinism


By Archbishop Iakovos of North and South America

"I believe in one God, Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth and of all things visible and invisible."

As you may observe, this is not a definition. We can define only visible and tangible objects, not abstract ideas or unattainable conceptions. God, being an invisible and absolute spirit and the perfect manifestation of love, can be felt and believed, but not fully conceived in His essence. We do not agree with those who claim that a partial knowledge of God is equal to none. We are not greatly impressed by stereotype scientists who believe only in what they can conceive, or by stylish agnostics. We instead believe firmly that our ratio, or intellect, has its limitations, while the field and scope of knowledge is so vast, so endless, that no human mind can completely explore or even make an impression on its endless limits.

According to the Holy Scriptures (Gen. 2:7) the creation of man differed greatly from the creation of plants and animals. For while the plants and animals originated directly from the earth through the word of God, man was created from the dust of the earth, and received from God the added breath of life. This is related in the previously mentioned passage, as follows: "And the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul."

Man, therefore, consists of two elements: body and soul. There are some Theologians who hold the theory that man consists of three distinct elements: spirit, body and soul. They base their theory on two New Testament passages - 1 Thess. 5:23 and Hebrews 4:12. However, they disregard twice and thrice as many passages in both the Old and New Testaments, in which the words soul and spirit are used with the same meaning and context. These are the passages - Psalm 73:26; 84:2; 143:4; 1 Cor. 2:14-15; 5:3; 5:5; 6:20; 7:34; James 2:26.

By accepting this, we oppose both the antibiblical theories known under the names Spiritualism and Materialism. The first theory holds the view that there is no body, but what we call body is nothing else except an image of the spirit or the prison of the spirit. Materialists, on the other hand, try to attribute the spiritualistic qualities in man to the gray matter which is sheltered under our skull.

Needless to say, the Greek Orthodox Church pays little attention to the existing findings and theories of Charles Darwin, which claim that man is not the creation of God, but the final process of a series of metamorphoses and changes, developments and evolutions of the primitive cell of life.

Man, being a creature of God or the creation of God, the crowning glory of all creation is - as attested by the Scriptures - created, according to the image of God, and for the sole purpose of reaching the ultimate goal of resemblance to God. This attainment is possible through careful use of man's freedom of will. For man was created free, with all the potentialities of attaining or abstaining from perfection. The Greek Orthodox Church believes that the primitive state of the first man was a state of straightness and guilelessness, not a state of sanctity and perfection. The latter would be the ultimate goal of man's life.

Excerpt from the undated and unpublished public speeches of the Rev. James Coucouzis, who later became known as Archbishop Iakovos of North and South America. Published in Dean James A. Coucouzes as a Model of Priesthood: Archbishop Iakovos' Ministry at the Annunciation Cathedral of New England (1942-1954), by Cleopas Strongylis (2012) pp. 460-461.

March 20, 2013

Ivan Pavlov Remembered the Easter of His Youth


By John Sanidopoulos

It appears that even atheists today have a hard time giving up on their former religious traditions, as it was reported this past week where they continue to see some of the benefits of Great Lent even after they have lost faith. In reading this report, I was reminded of another famous atheist who could not altogether abandon the religious traditions of his Orthodox Christian upbringing, especially that of Great Lent and Easter - Ivan Pavlov.

Ivan Petrovich Pavlov (1849-1936), a brilliant Russian physiologist, is most famous for winning the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1904 for his research in conditioned reflex. Before his rise to scientific fame, however, he was a Seminary student in line to be a priest from a devout Orthodox family of eleven children. For six generations, since the time of Peter the Great, the Pavlov men served the Russian Orthodox Church as clergymen. His father, Petr Dmitrievich Pavlov, and his two brothers, both named Ivan, all graduated from seminaries and served parishes in Russia. His father was a respected clergyman who served the Nikolo-Vysokovskaia Church in Ryazan, about 200 miles from Moscow, and his mother also was the daughter of a Russian Orthodox priest.

Ivan was tutored at home until he was eleven, and then entered Ryazan Theological School to prepare for the priesthood. Within a few years he was one of the school's best students in all subjects except for singing, and from there entered Ryazan Theological Seminary in 1864 at the age of fifteen. Here also he excelled in his studies, and his father believed that he would be the first of his sons to serve the priesthood of the seventh generation.

Yet the climate of Russia was changing, and Radical Journals at the time were promoting ideas from the West that ran counter to the Tsarist establishment. Young minds like Pavlov's became fascinated by these ideas. The pubic library contained books that were banned from the seminary, among them was the new translation of Darwin's Origin of Species and Sechenov's Reflexes of the Brain, which inspired the young Pavlov to abandon Seminary and his childhood faith.

Yet even until his later years of life, Pavlov could not fully abandon the religious traditions of his youth. Ivan remembered with fondness the bright joy of the Easter holiday of his childhood years. During Great Lent his family would prepare by fasting for the forty days of the Great Fast and attended Church services. For these forty days he lived solely on toast and bliny pancakes. Hungry and weak, they exalted in the festive holiday following the Great Fast. "During the fast," Ivan later recalled, "the weather was gloomy and the church melodies were mournful. Then suddenly there began the bright, joyous Easter with its clear sunny days, with exuberant, cheerful melodies, and with an abundance of tasty treats."

In his later life - long after he abandoned his religious faith - Ivan always rejoiced at the Easter holiday and insisted upon celebrating it.

March 11, 2013

Patristic Views on the Nature and Status of Scientific Knowledge


By Dr. Jean-Claude Larchet

INTRODUCTION: SOME REMARKS ON METHODOLOGY

The subject I have chosen to deal with brings up some methodological problems which need to be examined.

The first problem has to do with the idea of “scientific knowledge” and therefore of “science” itself. In this presentation, we understand the word science, a priori, in its modern, ordinary sense, that is, the commonly accepted definition: “knowledge of phenomena and their laws,” a rational, rigorous, coherent knowledge which, from the methodological point of view, implies in principle three stages: 1) observation, 2) formation of a hypothesis, and 3) verification of the hypothesis which in the case of the first and third stages can take various forms both direct and indirect.

The modern idea of science did not exist in the Fathers, designated by that word. The Fathers designated what corresponds to it rather as a certain kind of knowledge which uses the senses and reason and which deals with the realm of nature considered in its appearances.

A second problem consists in the fact that the areas of knowledge which today belong to the sciences in the past took forms that we can call, using contemporary norms, non-scientific. On the one hand, physics, astronomy, physiology, for example, belonged for a long time to philosophy (this was the case in the West at the time of Descartes, that is, in the 17th century), and we know that until the 19th century, chemistry was still closely related to alchemy, itself a mix of philosophical, religious, and esoteric theories. On the other hand, some subjects that we consider today as sciences were in the past thought of as “arts,” that is as technical skills. The best example of this is medicine, certainly still today considered as an art, but which has also developed as a science which is the basis of this art.

Science, as we conceive of it today, only came about at the end of the 19th century, and so we need to watch out for anachronisms and be vigilant about the use of concepts.

A third problem is found in the difficulty of defining a single, global approach of the Fathers in relation to what we today call science. On the one hand, there are various opinions and positions which must be taken into account, but on the other, these opinions are only insights.

In this presentation, we will refer especially to the insights that are found in four Fathers who belong to different periods and outlooks: Clement of Alexandria (2nd-3rd centuries), St. Maximus the Confessor (7th century), St. Isaac the Syrian (7th century) and St. Gregory Palamas (14th century).

1. TOLERANCE WITH REGARD TO “SCIENTIFIC” KNOWLEDGE AND ITS DIVERSITY

From a certain point of view, the Fathers recognized the independence of scientific knowledge, and for this reason, they are tolerant of the diverse theories worked out by it.

In my book, The Theology of Illness, I showed that the Fathers of the first centuries accepted the theories about medicine that were dominant in their time.1 Starting with the 3rd century, we can consider that the diagnostic and therapeutic methods of Galenic medicine had become dominant in the whole Christian world.2 When they spoke about physiology and medicine of the body, the Fathers normally used the Hippocratic and Galenic categories. This is the case especially with St. Basil of Ancyra, St. Gregory of Nyssa, St. Basil of Caesaraea or Theodoret of Cyrus.3 These categories were adopted afterwards by Byzantine medicine which developed on them as their foundation.4

These medical theories were dominant at the time, and this explains the unanimous acceptance of them. But in other areas, or at other times, the theories were quite diverse. In the area of physiology and astronomy, St. Gregory Palamas, (14th century) recognized the legitimacy of many hypotheses, all of them credible. He justified this by the fact that knowledge of reality itself is not naturally open to us and belongs to God alone:

On such subjects, if we ask how the mind is attached to the body, where the seat of imagination and opinion is, where the memory is located, which part of the body is the most vulnerable and, so to speak, directs the others, what the origin of blood is, whether each of the humors is free from any mixture, and which internal organ contains which humor, in such matters, all can give their opinions since everything that can be said in this area is reasonable. The same thing holds for the constellations and the movement of the stars, for the grandeur and nature of each one of them, as well as for all questions of this sort about which the Spirit has not given us any clear revelation, for only the Spirit knows exactly the Truth that penetrates every thing.5

We could relate this conception to Kant's when he said “the thing in itself” is not accessible to us, a theory that modern science, which is generally based on Neo-Kantian epistemology, has taken up. However, the difference is that St. Gregory Palamas considered that it was possible to know reality in itself, but this only belongs to God and to those to whom He wants to reveal it.

This position is liberal, but only in appearance, for, as we will see, there is an idea in the background which says that scientific knowledge is relative and therefore must be relativized as a mode of knowing in relation to another form of knowledge which is spiritual knowledge.

2. A PRAGMATIC NOTION OF SCIENCE

The Fathers who accepted the medical theories of their time or the diversity and relativity of scientific knowledge had a very pragmatic conception of such knowledge. This pragmatic conception concerned first of all the goal that these sciences pursued or the goal their application attained. The essential point was this: medicine should care for the sick and heal; other scientific knowledge should serve the general good. In fact, what made them good and valuable was the use they were put to. This point of view was developed by St. Gregory Palamas who, like St. Isaac the Syrian6 who developed the idea before him, related scientific knowledge to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil mentioned in Genesis 2:17.

The exact knowledge of the celestial spheres, their movement and symmetry, as well as their properties, this is also a knowledge of good and evil, for it does not possess goodness in its very nature, but in the intention of those who use it. It changes with the intention of those who use it, going one way or another. All the more reason, I would also say ... that the discoveries of nature's mysteries, the various methods of logic, the different opinions about the science of calculating, the various ways of measuring immaterial configurations, all these things are at the same time good and evil not just because they appear so according to the thinking of those who use them [but also because] they easily take the form given to them by the point of view of those who possess them.7

We do not have to agree with this position, especially as it relates to what are called today the fundamental sciences since they have as their aim, according to the classical definition, to attain to “knowledge for itself” and do not have any a priori application, foreseeable or possible. Obviously, however, the question is relevant when dealing with the applied sciences and, all the more so, the arts (in the ancient sense), in other words, the technical applications they are related to.

The pragmatic conception of the Fathers which justifies their tolerance has secondly to do with the person engaged in scientific knowledge: the usefulness of the sciences is then, according to St. Gregory Palamas, to educate and form the mind of the one who practices them.7


3. THE DANGER OF LOSING ONESELF IN SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE and thus of not Participating in Any Activity or in Any Superior Knowledge

But St. Gregory Palamas adds that, once this education is finished, it is proper to leave the sciences behind and to give oneself over to a superior activity:

Their study is only a good thing to the extent that such study develops in the eye of the soul a piercing look. But it is a bad thing for whoever gives himself over completely to this study and to stay with it even into old age. The good solution is to train yourself a little, and then to give oneself over to what is much superior and much surer, for despising them carries with it a great reward from God.8

Palamas then refers to what St. Gregory of Nazianzus said about St. Athanasius of Alexandria:

He had studied the profane sciences just enough to avoid giving the impression of being totally lost, and he was even ignorant in such matters since he had resolved to despise them. In fact, he found it intolerable to occupy his noble and elevated mind with vain studies and to undergo the same fate that some athletes suffer, those who beat the air more than their opponents and thus see the victory slip through their fingers.10

He also refers to what St. Gregory of Nazianzus thought about himself: “He himself studied [the sciences] with delight, according to his own words, to the extent that he despised them and possessed Christ whom he preferred to them."11

As St. Gregory Palamas underlines, the danger is in fact to give oneself over to science, with the consequence of depriving oneself of the spiritual life. Because the universe of unknown and inexplicable facts goes on and on forever and because scientific knowledge progresses and is constantly renewed, the risk is great of letting oneself be dragged into an endless process, both illusory and alienating, and this is quite close to a devilish seduction:

The Evil One is always trying to maliciously turn us away from what is superior, to engender in us charming things, and to tie us up in them with hardly any chance of getting loose. [He wants to get us] wound up in those attachments so dear to men full of vanity. He suggests to us the deep and multifaceted extent of the sciences, the multitude of knowledge associated with them, as he suggests to others wealth and false glory, and fleshly pleasures, so that we keep ourselves busy all our life chasing after these things and not having enough strength to firmly undertake the kind of education that purifies the soul [and leads] to the knowledge of the mysteries of God: real and true education and knowledge of which a man given over to the love of vain philosophy, being all wrapped and rolled up in its images and theories does not even see the beginning.12

4. THE USEFULNESS OF REASON AND ITS LIMITS

Scientific knowledge is a kind of rational knowledge. Even if intuition and imagination play a role in it, especially in developing hypotheses, they always remain the servants of reason. The rational coherence of a theory is one of the basic conditions for its validity. The development of modern science in the area of the infinitely small has resulted in the fact that today science is less involved in sensible phenomena, tangible and measurable things, than in conceivable things. Theories are no longer explanations of observable phenomena and no longer claim to describe reality, but are “models” constructed by reason which are only required to give a coherent understanding of reality; several different models can, from this point of view, legitimately coexist. Modern science is, by this very fact, not just rational but rationalist, and it can in many ways lay claim to the principle of rationalism: what is real is rational, and what is rational is real.

The Fathers do not deny the value of reason. In his Apodictic Treatises, where he opposed Barlaam, St. Gregory Palamas defended the value of reasoning and of demonstration, even in theology.13 And one of Gregory Palamas's disciples, Nil Cabasilas, used a demonstrative method of a rational type, similar to those of the scholastics with whom he debated.14

Even in spirituality, St. Maximus the Confessor underlined the usefulness of reason in searching for God.

Nonetheless, the Fathers did not accept an autonomous exercise of reason and considered as limited and vain the use of reason which was based only on sense data and on its own concepts. Reason must have its base in theology, revelation, or else be enlightened by the intellect which receives illumination from grace.

In Questions to Thalassios, 59, St. Maximus explains that reason is not only useful but indispensable, but that it must be used in relation to the intellect and in synergy with grace:

It is not legitimate to say that grace alone produces in and of itself in the saints the knowledge of the mysteries without the help of the natural faculties which can open us up to knowledge. … Neither, certainly, is it true that, without the grace of the All-Holy Spirit, can the saints, using only their natural faculty, receive true knowledge of reality. … Thus the grace of the All-Holy Spirit does not produce in the saints either wisdom without the intellect to receive it or knowledge without the faculty of reason capable of receiving it … And the reverse as well is true: man will not acquire [such knowledge] with just his natural faculty, without the divine power which dispenses them.15

5. THE LIMITS OF SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE

Several Fathers emphasize the limits of scientific knowledge itself.

One of these limits has to do with the hypothetical character of its theories and therefore with the fact that such theories are relative and uncertain. Clement of Alexandria underlined this also, opposing faith and science:

Sense data gives access to science while faith, after having first passed through things open to the senses, then abandons conjecture and hurries on to what does not deceive and stands firm in truth.16

Another limit has to do with the fact that scientific knowledge always presupposed that, at its base, there are undemonstrated principles and undefined concepts, as Aristotle showed in his Posterior Analytics. Not only is scientific knowledge unable to arrive at an integral rationality, as it claims, but it implies, as Clement of Alexandria underlined, a foreknowledge17 which is not only derived from sense data (as Epicurus thought in his theory of pre-notions to which Clement referred), but which also constitutes a form of faith. And this form of faith does not have the certainty of the Christian faith, founded on a divine revelation.18

In the eyes of the Fathers, however, the first limit of science is that it remains a prisoner of the limits of nature.19 That means that science is only related to the sensible and material world and that it knows nothing of what is outside of and beyond it. It implicitly affirms then that only the sensible and material world exists and tries to relate everything to itself, in fact to reduce everything that exists to itself. Clement of Alexandria quotes Plato:

Those who find it hard to believe try to draw down to earth everything that is in heaven and invisible. Being convinced by everything they can understand of the material world, they energetically claim that the only thing that exists is what offers resistance and can be touched. They define the body and existence as one single thing.20

As St. Isaac the Syrian emphasizes, science accepts nothing that disagrees with nature.21 It can therefore undertake only what is in agreement with itself.22 It is always dependent on matter.23 The very fact of its limits makes it fundamentally incomplete. As St. Isaac said, “it always lacks something.”24

These limits are in fact recognized by science itself, but it sees them rather as internal limits, linked to the present extent of its knowledge or to its understanding of reality, than as objective limits in relation to a great part of reality which is beyond it because of the very nature of that reality.

The problem for the Fathers is not basically the existence of internal limits (for example, the positive knowledge of God has such internal limits: man can never grasp God in His essence and even in His energies He can be grasped only partially. Such knowledge is always in a state of tension and movement toward more knowledge because of God's infinity). The problem is that, while remaining limited to the domain of nature, science, for whoever recognizes through it the existence only of natural, sensible things, deprives that person of the knowledge of another dimension of reality, the dimension beyond the natural. Thus St. Isaac reproaches scientific knowledge in this way: “It separates its disciples from everything that is foreign to the natural order.”25 He constantly opposed scientific knowledge which is a prisoner of nature to faith which is free in relation to it because faith, on the one hand, is not limited to its domain, and, on the other hand, is freed from natures laws and constraints. Science simply misses a great part of reality, but that reality is open to faith.26

Faith gives access to the knowledge of principles while science sees only certain consequences of them: those that manifest themselves in the sensible world, in the world of material phenomena. Faith thus includes, as a matter of principle, all the knowledge of science. Thus St. Isaac judges that scientific knowledge is useful only to the extent that it can lead people to faith, but when they have reached faith, they no longer need scientific knowledge.27

Science seeks to explain only the mechanisms that govern the universe in the domain of nature itself. This principle is part of the very methodology of science. It is what epistemologists call “the postulate of objectivity” according to which nature is sufficient unto itself and contains in itself the principle of its own intelligibility. Science refuses a priori to take into account any suprasensible principle et a fortiori any metaphysical principle for making sense of its objects. In doing this, science ignores, according to St Isaac, the true principles which govern the world, especially divine Providence.28 It attributes to nature or to human activity things that in fact come from grace. In doing this, science produces an illusory knowledge. St. Isaac accuses it of thinking it is sufficient unto itself, that is, of pride. He considers the universe of scientific knowledge as a world of shadows and darkness, for science is riveted on the earth, has no other reference than what is on the earth, and does not know that there exists something higher.29 True knowledge is on the side of faith which knows the real causes of phenomena which are beyond the natural world, and obscurantism is on the side of science which ignores them.

The sciences and technical skills have, according to St. Isaac the Syrian, been produced to deal with the material needs of man. He expresses this by saying that they are dependent on the body, and under the body's influence.30 Dominated as they are by the body, they do not concern themselves with anything else than what is in this world. They contribute to separating man not only from faith but also from virtuous activities which are associated with it,31 in other words from the spiritual life. And this we have already seen in St. Gregory Palamas.32


6. SCIENCE, THAT IS KNOWLEDGE OF APPEARANCES, is Inferior to Spiritual Knowledge, that is Knowledge of the Essences of Creatures


According to St. Maximus the Confessor, the creation can be understood by man either spiritually, according to its intelligible reality which reveals God, that is according to its logoi, or physically according to its sensible appearances alone. Scientific knowledge seeks to define, in a rational manner, the laws that link the phenomena and to establish theories that unify these laws. In order to do this, it must often go beyond appearances which, as Gaston Bachelard has emphasized in his epistemological reflection, are often misleading: phenomena, ta phainomena, are what appear (phainei). According to Neokantian epistemology which is in general the foundation of science today, scientific knowledge never knows reality as it is in itself, what Kant called “the thing in itself,” but only reality as it appears.

Since scientific knowledge is limited to the domain of nature, and in the domain of nature to phenomena, that is to appearances, St. Isaac the Syrian makes it the lowest degree of knowledge, which has three degrees.33 St. Maximus the Confessor considered that this knowledge which apprehends nature only according to sensible appearances alone is a fruit of the ancestral sin and the fall of man. He also considers that such knowledge is the lowest degree of knowledge. He opposed it to a form of knowledge that, while being on the level of nature, is however able to know and to understand the beings of nature beyond their sensible appearances, in their spiritual reality which corresponds to what they really are. This spiritual reality is defined by the logos or the logoi of their essence, each being having its logos which defines it in its individuality, but also logoi which are shared by it with other beings.

In the introduction to his Questions to Thalassios, St. Maximus establishes the distinction between sensible and intelligible things in relation to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which represents the double aspect according to which the creation can be considered by Adam. The knowledge of good corresponds to the sensible creation grasped spiritually, that is considered according to the logoi that it contains, by the mind (nous) which is freed by them.34 Knowledge of evil corresponds to the creation considered materially, that is according to sensible appearances alone, the senses allowing themselves to be charmed by appearances and the mind being perverted.35

God called man to exclusively follow the first way by forbidding him access to the second by his commandment: “Of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you will not eat.” (Gn 2:17) This prohibition, however, does not mean the devaluing of the sensible world, but only of the sensible way for man to use it.

Instead of following the divine commandment, Adam misused all his faculties, turning them away from their natural purpose, turning them against nature toward sensible reality, considered in and for itself. The result of this was the first and most serious of all evils: lack of knowledge of God.36

The conversion of fallen man in Christ should lead him back to the right path. The purification of his passions which attached him exclusively to the appearances of this world should allow him to accede to a knowledge superior to that which only deals with phenomena, a spiritual knowledge that St Maximus, following Evagrius, called natural contemplation (physikè théôria).

This contemplation seeks to grasp the logoi of creatures in themselves,37 in other words to “read” them in nature,38 to examine them39 and to put them together.40 To accomplish this, it must disengage them from their sensible expression,41 and thus distinguish in each being between its logos and it appearance.42 Starting from the sensible perception, it carries man beyond the senses.43 Thus the creation is no longer grasped in a fleshly way but in a spiritual way.44

Natural contemplation discovers God45 the incarnate Logos in the logoi of beings, but it also discovers the Spirit that is present in creation.46 In natural contemplation, the believer accedes to spiritual knowledge; the contemplation of nature gives “science of beings.”47 The logoi, discovered and brought together and, as we just saw, assimilated by the contemplating person, do not have their only goal in the knowledge that, by them, the contemplator has of beings nor in the graces that God accords him when he contemplates them:48 they are above all destined to be offered to God,49 certainly not because God might lack one of them, but in order to give Him the praise He is due.50

This is the doxological and eucharistic use of the creation, as opposed to the utilitarian use of nature introduced by technical skills and before that by the applied sciences, a utilitarian use that, as the French philosopher Cournot said, has caused man to go from the status of “king of the creation” to that of “dealer of the planet.”

The conception of St. Maximus and the liturgical, doxological and eucharistic use of nature constitute the theoretical and practical bases of a spiritual ecology, which for the modern world is an antidote to the unreasonable exploitation of nature's resources by modern technologies which are, for the most part, application of the physical sciences, especially chemistry.

CONCLUSION

We can conclude from what we have said that the applied sciences are considered positively to the extent that their applications are positive, that is that they contribute to what is good for man.

As for their content, scientific theories are considered with a certain tolerance, going hand in hand with the awareness that there are many of them and therefore relative. The rationality that is the basis of the scientific method is considered by the Fathers in a positive manner, on the condition that it is not a closed rationality, closed in on itself and ending up finally as a rationalism which refuses to accept any other faculty but reason and any other reality but what is recognized by reason. For the Fathers, reason is not autonomous but must be used in the service of the intellect and of God's revelation to which it gives access. In other words, the ultimate purpose of reason is beyond itself and beyond its content, of a natural order, to which science is limited.

The main problem that is posed by science, from the theological and spiritual point of view, is that its object is limited to the domain of nature, and therefore an important part of reality, that part which is above and beyond nature, is imperceptible to it. This is not a bad thing if science is aware of this limit and explicitly recognizes it. The danger, however, is that, in a rationalist perspective previously referred to (which was dominant all over Europe at the end of the 19th century and which was maintained during the 20th century in societies where a materialistic ideology dominated), science sees itself as the only way of knowing the totality of what is real.

This objective danger linked to knowledge becomes a danger for knowledge itself. This danger is that it invests all its energy in this type of knowledge and remains ignorant of forms of superior knowledge linked to faith and spiritual experience, and these alone can open man to the totality of what is real and assure his spiritual development, and finally his salvation. In other words, there is in scientific knowledge, if developed in an exclusive manner, a risk of alienation.

And finally, the Fathers consider that even at the level of the knowledge of nature, whatever its degree of development and complexity, scientific knowledge remains, as a knowledge of phenomena, a knowledge of appearances, and therefore a superficial knowledge. It ignores the true nature of material things themselves, whose meaning is spiritual and is contained in their logoi. These are only accessible by spiritual contemplation (physikè théôria) which man can develop in himself only by ascetic activity which is linked to divine grace and purifies his passions, that is his different forms of attachment to his own ego and to the appearances of things. By natural contemplation, which is for the Fathers superior to the first degree of knowledge, whose domain is science, man can have access not only to knowledge of the real nature of each thing, but also to the knowledge of their real laws which are spiritual laws intimately linked to divine Providence which invisibly governs the world. For the Fathers, in other words, real science, at the first level, is the one which, behind the appearances of phenomena, reveals to us their spiritual reasons, their logoi, and which, through these logoi, leads us to the Logos, the Word of God, which is their real, ontological foundation and their ultimate, real purpose.

Notes:

1. Théologie de la maladie, 3e éd., Paris, 2001, p. 101-109.

2. P. LAIN ENTRALGO, Maladie et culpabilité, Paris, 1970, p. 93 ; 94.

3. Among others, see: BASIL OF ANCYRA, On Virginity, IX ; XII ; GREGORY OF NYSSA, Treatise on Virginity, XXII, 1-2 ; The Creation of Man, I ; XII ; XIII ; XXX ; Homilies on the Our Father, IV, 2 ; BASIL OF CESAREA, Hexaemeron, V, 4 ; 5 ; 8 ; THEODORET OF CYRUS, History of the Monks of Syria, XVII, 5 ; 8; The Therapy of hellenic deceases, V, 82 ; Discourse on Providence, III ; IV ; VI.

4. The great Byzantine doctors, Oribase (4th c.), James the Psychestre (5th c.), Caelius Aurelianus (5th c.), Aetius of Amida (6th c.), Alexander of Tralles (6-7th c.), Paul of Egina (7th c.), Theophile Protospatharios (7th c.), Theophanes Nonnos (Xe s.) et Michael Psellos (11th c.) are known as encyclopediasts and compilors of the dominant Galenic tradition. Cf. F. BRUNET, “Les médecins grecs depuis la mort de Galien jusqu’à la fin de l’Empire d’Orient”, in M. LAIGNEL-LAVASTINE (éd.), Histoire générale de la médecine, Paris, 1936, t. I, p. 433 463.

5. Triads in Defense of the Holy Hesychasts, II, 2, 30.

6. Ascetical Homilies, 63.

7. Triads in Defense of the Holy Hesychasts, I, 1, 6.

8. Ibid.

9. Ibid.

10. GREGORY PALAMAS, Triads in Defense of the Holy Hesychasts, I, 1, 6 ; GREGORY OF NAZIANZUS, Orations, XXI, 6, SC 270, p. 120.

11. GREGORY PALAMAS, Triads in Defense of the Holy Hesychasts, I, 1, 6 ; GREGOIRE OF NAZIANZUS, Ad Nemesium, PG 37, 1554.

12. Triads in Defense of the Holy Hesychasts, I, 1, 7.

13. See GRÉGOIRE PALAMAS, Traités apodictiques sur la procession du Saint-Esprit, introduction de J.-C. Larchet, traduction d’E. Ponsoye, Paris, 1995.

14. See NIL CABASILAS, Sur le Saint-Esprit, introduction, texte critique et traduction et notes par le Hiéromoine Théophile Kislas, Paris, 2001.

15. Questions to Thalassius, 59, CCSG 22, p. 47-49.

16. CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA, Stromata, II, IV, 13, 3.

17. Ibid., 16, 3.

18. See ibid., 13, 3-18, 3.

19. ST. ISAAC THE SYRIAN, Ascetical Homilies, 62.

20. CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA, Stromata, II, IV, 15, 1.

21. ST. ISAAC THE SYRIAN, Ascetical Homilies, 62.

22. Ibid.

23. Ibid.

24. Ibid.

25. Ibid.

26. Ibid.

27. Ibid.

28. ST. ISAAC THE SYRIAN, Ascetical Homilies, 63.

29. Ibid.

30. Ibid.

31. Ibid. Cf. 65.

32. ST. ISAAC THE SYRIAN, Ascetical Homilies, 65.

33. Ascetical Homilies, 62; 63.

34. Questions to Thalassius, Introduction, CCSG 7, p. 37.331-332.

35. Ibid., p. 37.332-334.

36. Ibid., p. 31.241-242 et 35.303-304.

37. Questions to Thalassius, 13, CCSG 7 p. 95.6-13 ; 25, CCSG 7 p. 161.39-42.

38. Cf. ibid., 25, CCSG 7 p. 161.42

39. Ibid., 32, CCSG 7 p. 225.4-6.

40. Cf. Ibid., Introduction, CCSG 7 p. 27.167-170 ; 25, CCSG 7 p. 161.42.

41. Ibid., Introduction, CCSG 7 p. 27.167-170 ; 32, CCSG 7 p. 225.4-33 ; 51, CCSG 7 p. 395.7-29.

42. Ibid., 32, CCSG 7 p. 225.21-22.

43. Cf. ibid., 24, CCSG 7 p. 157.5-18.

44. Cf. ibid., Introduction, CCSG 7 p. 37.335-336.

45. Ibid., 32, CCSG 7 p. 225.24-25.

46. Ibid., 15, CCSG 7 p. 101.7-12.

47. Ibid., 5, CCSG 7 p. 67.42-43 ; 17, CCSG 7 p. 111.25.

48. Ibid., 5, CCSG 7 p. 67.42-43 ; 17, CCSG 7 p. 111.25.

49. Ibid., p. 397.34-57 et 63-68, 403.136-144, 405.198-201 ; 65, CCSG 22 p. 281.492-494.

50. Ibid., p. 397.65-399.69.

March 6, 2013

Metropolitan Hierotheos on Theology and Science


By His Eminence Metropolitan Hierotheos 
of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou

Before elaborating on the topic I would like to point out that when I use the term “theology” I mean the Orthodox patristic theology, as preserved in the Orthodox Church, not the Scholastic and Protestant theology developed in the West. In elaborating the topic, I will briefly mention some points that I consider important.

1. CLASSICAL METAPHYSICS AND SCIENCE

The term “metaphysics” first appeared with the publication of Aristotle’s works by Andronicus of Rhodes, in the 1st century BC. It is known that Aristotle wrote a book titled “Physike Akroasis” or “Physics” and some other works in which he deals with natural phenomena, that is the sky, birth and decay, meteorology, etc. In addition, Aristotle wrote another book titled “First Philosophy” which presents his ontology. The editor of the aforementioned books placed the book “First Philosophy” after the book “Physics”, so this was called “Metaphysics” [“After the Physics”]. Thus, metaphysics denotes the science that deals with the Supreme Being, God.

Plato’s teaching, which preceded that of Aristotle, is also included under the term metaphysics. Plato argued that God is the Supreme Being, in whom there exist the unborn ideas, and the world was created based on these ideas. Furthermore, Aristotle expounded the theory about the first unmoved mover.

Therefore, metaphysics is the science that talks about God, but connects God very closely with nature, because all existing objects are copies of unborn ideas or are moved by the Supreme Being. Scholastic theology embraced this classical metaphysics and we find it in the works of Thomas Aquinas who speaks about analogia entis. This means that there is an analogy between God and created things. By extension, it means that there is a close link between metaphysics and physics, between God and the creation. Whatever occurs in the creation is a reflection of ideas. It is very characteristic that Aristotle himself linked philosophy with science.

In studying western theology, as expressed in Thomas Aquinas’ Summa Theologica, we find the view that the creation of the world is a copy of divine essence through the hypostasization of the archetypes.

This link between metaphysics and physics, that is western theology and science, constructed a specific worldview and all interpretations about God, man and the world developed based on this worldview. During the Renaissance and the Enlightenment, however, when humanism developed, based on rational thought and human autonomy, the facts changed. It was impossible to accept the link between metaphysics and science, to accept that everything that exists in the world is a copy of Plato’s ideas or is moved by Aristotle’s first unmoved mover, and therefore the worldview of metaphysics collapsed.

Scientists investigating the world, both the earth and the skies, checked everything through observation and experiment. The positivism that developed went to a direction contrary to metaphysics. Through this perspective atheistic humanism argued against the God of the West. This is how atheism was created. Atheism is in fact the refutation of an imaginary God, because the God of Plato and Aristotle, and of the Scholastic theologians as well, is actually imaginary, non-existing. Hence, the declaration of the death of God refers to the God of metaphysics – classical and Christian – prevailing in the West. The Pope’s theologians wanted to protect the God described by Thomas Aquinas, and as a result they clashed with science, indeed violently, as is seen in the actions of the Holy Inquisition.

2. ORTHODOXY AS ANTI-METAPHYSICS

The Fathers of the Church – and I have in mind in particular St. Gregory the Theologian, St. Gregory of Nyssa and some others who dealt with these issues, as well as St. Gregory Palamas – operate not in the framework of classical and western metaphysics but in a contrary direction. In fact, Orthodox theology, as expressed by the Fathers of the Church, is anti-metaphysical. I will provide some examples to make this comprehensible.

One example has to do with analogia entis. As we said before, even western Christian metaphysics argues that there is an analogy between the world we see and the unborn world of ideas we do not see, that the entire world is a copy of God’s ideas and on this point they see harmony in creation. The Fathers of the Church, though, argue against this view and, following the theology of the Church, teach that the whole creation was created by God out of non-being and not out of unborn ideas. According to the Fathers of the Church, there is no ontological relation between the ideas of God and those of the creatures. The world came to existence out of non-existence. St. Gregory the Theologian in his theological sermons urges his listeners to “reject Plato’s ideas”.

A second example is a continuation of the former and refers to the soul. According to classical metaphysics, as expressed by Plato, man’s soul belongs to the unborn world of ideas and after its fall it was sealed in the body which is the soul’s prison. Because the soul has a memory of the world of ideas, it wants to return to it by the rejection of the body, and the whole mysticism of the Platonic and Neo-Platonic philosophers revolves around this point. The Fathers of the Church, however, do not accept this view of the soul. They claim that the soul does not belong to the world of ideas, that it is, instead, God’ creature which came to existence out of non-being, just like the entire world. In this perspective, then, the body is not the prison of the soul, and the soul has no need to return to the world of ideas, in a mystical way, through sorcery. It is well known that Neo-Platonism is closely associated with sorcery, as we see in the life of Plotinus. Thus, Orthodox theology refutes the mysticism of Platonism and Neo-Platonism.

The third example, which follows from the previous ones, has to do with the distinction between uncreated and created beings. While metaphysics is concerned with metaphysical and natural phenomena, the Fathers of the Church refer to uncreated and created beings. This is particularly important, because, as we mentioned before, in metaphysics the natural beings are copies of the metaphysical, while for the Fathers of the Church God is uncreated and the whole of nature is created, that is, it was created by God and it is not a copy of ideas. Most importantly, there is no dialectical distinction between them, as if the metaphysical ones reside in a floor above the natural ones. Instead, God’s uncreated energy meets the created energy of the created things.

This is the reason why the Fathers of the Church did not clash with science, as happened in the West with the Holy Inquisition. They knew very well that theology talks about the uncreated God and develops the prerequisites for the sanctification of things by the uncreated Grace of God, while science deals with the exploration of created things. Therefore, from an Orthodox theology point of view, the advances of natural sciences cause no problem to us, because scientific discoveries do not undermine man’s relationship with God, since the creation is not a copy of ideas, in which case it could be said that God is insulted by each investigation. To address this issue I will refer to astronomy and modern genetics.

Ancient Greek metaphysics argued that celestial bodies are unchanging and revolve circularly without change. Aristotle in his book “Physics” claims that there is change in natural phenomena but not in celestial bodies, which he had placed in the “after the physics” (metaphysics). It is indicative that he considered celestial bodies to be animate beings, lower gods who are close to the divinity. Thus, in the universe there is the feature of no change, while modern astronomy, observing the starry skies, sees changes. Modern astronomy cannot view celestial bodies as gods, because man is able to send manned spacecrafts to these celestial bodies and has even walked on the Moon.

Furthermore, modern genetics has the means and the ability to study the sub-cellular world and explore the whole mystery in it, as well as to testify the changes occurring in the genetic matter, man’s DNA. For this reason, modern science cannot accept that it investigates all these elements as copies of a metaphysical world of ideas.

This is why we claim that Orthodox theology, which rejects metaphysics, has no essential problem with the advances of modern science, unless science goes beyond its boundaries. So, it does not attack science, when science serves man. In fact, in the modern discoveries we marvel at the wisdom of God who created the world, “How many are your works, Lord!  In wisdom you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures”. (Psalm 103 (104):24)

Of course there is a problem regarding the way scientific discoveries are used. It is possible that some of them may become a problem for man and the world, contribute to the rape of the environment and to genetic pollution and eventually harm man himself. Even in these cases, Orthodox theology only sets certain fundamental theological principles and stresses that science itself has to set bioethical rules in order not to work against mankind. We note that modern bioethics sets such rules, after the encounter of molecular biology with mechanical medicine and technology.

3. THE TASK OF THE THEOLOGIAN AND THE TASK OF THE SCIENTIST

So far we have discussed the relation between metaphysics and science and pointed how they were linked together in the past, but in our age, especially in the last two-three centuries, they have been de-linked. However, even though science functions independently of theology, scientists can be believers and theologians, and theologians may be scientists, but each one knows his limits, his role and his mission.

Orthodox theology discusses what God is, as we can see in Orthodox dogmatics which elaborates the Church teaching on God. God is Triune, Father, Son and Spirit, uncreated, person, as revealed by Christ Himself with His incarnation, and experienced by the saints of the Church. On the other hand, science deals with creatures, investigates the essence of created things, observes the way they function, and then reaches conclusions that are recorded in order to benefit mankind.

Orthodox theology argues that God is the creator of the world. He brought it to existence out of non-existence, He gives life to it, and therefore, through the creation one may glorify God. On the other hand, science inquires about the way God made the world or at least the way created things operate.

Orthodox theology defines the “reasons for the existence of beings”, that is, discusses the uncreated energy of God which is inside all creatures, even the smallest ones, such as small grass. There is the substance-giving, the life-giving energy of God to all nature, as well as the wisdom-giving energy in man, manifested in the way he uses his intelligence. On the other hand, science deals with the material substance of things, observes their compositions, their changes and the benefit they might bring to mankind. Out of research in the natural world we discover the composition of things and are able to cure certain diseases. This is achieved in medical laboratories.

Orthodox theology refers to the transformation of the world, to how the world is sanctified and man is redeemed. Bread and wine are transformed into the Body and Blood of Christ without undergoing an alteration of their substance, oil becomes the Holy Unction, etc. Furthermore, the entire man is sanctified in body and soul and may unite with God. This is the task of Orthodox theology. By contrast, science deals with the way to improve material things, in order to solve ecological problems, while medical science tries to cure the corruptible, mortal body so that man’s life maintains a degree of quality.

All these show that the task of Orthodox theology is different from the task of science. Obviously, then, the task of the Orthodox theologian differs from the task of the scientist. The two cannot be confused. An Orthodox theologian may be involved with science only when he is a scientist. A scientist may be involved with God only when he follows the perspective of theology. It is unacceptable for a theologian who has only theological knowledge to express scientific views, if he is not a scientist. It is unacceptable for a scientist to express theological views, if he is not a theologian. In both case there are boundaries between theology and science.

In any case, Holy Scripture is not a scientific book, it is a theological book which aims not at producing science but at helping man to know God and unite with Him. This means that the authors of Holy Scripture, the Prophets and the Apostles, employed the scientific knowledge of their own times. So, one cannot use Scriptural examples against science, nor can scientific discoveries be viewed as undermining Holy Scripture. For example, the authors of Holy Scripture use the knowledge of their times about the sun’s movement around the earth, and thus write about the sunrise and sunset. The discovery that the earth revolves around the sun does not undermine faith in Holy Scripture, because the latter’s purpose is theological, not scientific.

After these brief thoughts, I will remind you that Nietzsche, the philosopher, referred to the death of God. His phrase is well known: “don’t we hear yet the noise of the grave diggers burying God? Don’t we smell yet anything of the divine decomposition? – even gods decompose! God is dead! God remains dead! And it is we who killed him!”

The question is: which God is dead? From what we have said so far, it seems that the dead God is the God of western metaphysics who is based on philosophy and contemplation, not the God of the Orthodox Church, who is empirical, meaning that a person living within the Church is able to reach the experience of God.

There is also the additional question of who killed God. From what has been said before, the conclusion is that the metaphysical God of the West was killed by people who could not feel close to him, because he was inaccessible in heaven and they viewed him as a sadistic father. He was also dethroned by science, which could not accept him, or rather could not accept the link between metaphysics and physics. This, however, is not what happened with the Fathers of the Church who experienced God as a personal Being who loves and cares for man.

And a further question is: who smells the corpse of God? From the above it seems that it is the humanists that smell it, especially the atheistic humanists, who rejected the metaphysical God with the slogan “back to nature”, not the Orthodox ones who smell the energy of God and enter into communion with Him through the neptic hesychastic tradition.

Science can be beneficial or catastrophic for man and it will certainly disappear when this world ends its existence. Theology deals with the sanctification of the world and man’s transformation, and it will lead man to communion with God, after the destruction of the universe.

Consequently, there is no field for a clash between theology and science, only the possibility of a clash between theologians and scientists, when they get out of their boundaries. Theologians try to get to know God and guide people to Him, and scientists try to study nature.

In our times, when people search for the meaning of life, Orthodox theology can help them without entering into rivalries with science or possibly with atheists. As clergy and theologians we have a substantial scope for action in the spiritual, existential, and social field to help contemporary suffering people. 


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