Those who don’t believe in God (and even some who do) often insist that faith and science are mutually exclusive. In other words, they oppose each other rather than complement. Can we believe that God created the world in seven days while simultaneously believing in the existence of dinosaurs? How exactly does the Orthodox Church articulate the relationship between faith and science, and how do we, as Orthodox faithful, navigate the faith vs science debate?
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Faith and science address different questions
Far too often, people assume that faith and science are both attempting to answer the same questions. But they don’t, and therefore, they cannot be arbitrarily opposed to one another. Evolutionary biologist Stephen Jay Gould advanced a principle he called Noma, or non-overlapping magisteria. This principle basically states that science addresses the composition of the universe (facts) and how it works (theory). Faith or religion, in contrast, examines questions of ultimate meaning and moral value. The two magisteria do not overlap, nor do they encompass all inquiry. Another way of understanding this is: “Science studies how the heavens go, religion how we go to heaven”. Darwin himself once wrote of Noma:
There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed by the Creator into a few forms or into one, and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being evolved.
The Orthodox “Noma”
Orthodox Christianity has a somewhat similar perspective. Saint Gregory Palamas, among other Fathers in the Church, distinguishes between two kinds of knowledge: divine and human. To the Orthodox, faith is the knowledge of the Uncreated, of God. And science is knowledge of the created. They are very different, and yet complimentary.
It is through divine knowledge that we come to know God, not through human knowledge. This is why there is no contradiction, no conflict, between faith and science within Orthodoxy. It is only a problem for Western (Franco-Latin) Christians who follow the innovative Roman Catholic or Protestant traditions that insist on the use of human knowledge to understand religious truths. Indeed, faith vs science orthodox discussions often highlight these differences.
Where did this false dichotomy come from?
This false dichotomy of faith vs science did not arise within Orthodox Christianity. Rather, it stemmed from two erroneous assumptions made in Western (Latin) thought. These false assumptions formed the backbone of Christian theology in the West.
- Holy Scripture is interpreted literally (scriptural literalism)
- Religious truths, like all truths, must be discovered and explained exclusively by reason (rationalism)
Scriptural literalism pits faith and science against one another
Orthodoxy asserts that certain truths cannot be arrived at by logic alone, because reason is not the only source of knowledge (see above). It also asserts that accepting a truth by faith does not inherently make that truth unreasonable. After all, from a purely logical perspective, God creating the universe is far more rational than the universe somehow creating itself.
But in Western Christianity, many subscribe to scriptural literalism and biblical inerrancy – this idea that the Bible is infallible in all matters. This then creates a problem: if the Bible is infallible in everything, you must either accept the Bible or science; you cannot accept both. In Orthodoxy, this dichotomy doesn’t exist, because we believe Scripture is infallible only in matters of Christian faith and life. Therefore, you can accept both, because they do not contradict.
How Orthodoxy views the Bible
According to Orthodox understanding, the Bible is not a scientific textbook. Therefore, we should not take every geographic, historical, and scientific detail as error-free, and we should not read the Bible in that way. Scripture seems to portray God creating a stationary, flat earth, with heaven as a dome over it, and the sun and the moon circling it (Psalm 104); He created the universe in six 24-hour days, some 10,000 years ago; and He took mud to form man out of it, and woman out of his rib. Scientific discoveries, from Galileo to Darwin, supported views at odds with a literal understanding of these biblical accounts. As more scientific discoveries came about explaining the laws of nature and the universe, belief in God fell further and further away for those who believed in literalism.
The biblical account of the Creation is an anthropomorphic account. In other words, it relates sublime truths and facts in a way expressed by and understandable to the people of the time. The Church Fathers were always open to learning and experiencing their contemporary world. They embraced the knowledge available to them; so much so that they applied it in their exegesis of the Scriptures and in their views of the mysteries of the cosmos. One could argue that, if they had access to the technology and information we have today, they would have used it to explain scripture to the rest of us.
Thanks to their legacy, Orthodoxy is science-friendly; she has understood science not as a competitor, but as a blessing of God, placed in man’s service.
Creationism vs. Evolution
Perhaps the most prevalent issue for Orthodox Christians in the faith vs science debate is the origins of life and (particularly) the existence of man. The theory of evolution holds that all living things descended from a common ancestor as a result of changes accumulated over geological time. Naturally, this theory troubles many Christians who view it as an essentially atheistic doctrine. The theory views Man as merely another animal – a naked ape. Man is nothing more than the product of ‘chance’ in a purposeless and hostile world. By implication then, whatever behavior patterns we see in animals, particularly in apes, must therefore be natural and acceptable as alternative lifestyles of Man.
As Orthodox Christians, we must remember something important: evolution is by no means the explanation for the origin of life. It explains some things to some degree, but it does not and cannot provide all the answers. Like any scientific theory, evolution is not a proven fact. Science, and all theories it produces, constantly changes based on new scientific evidence. Look at a science textbook from thirty years ago, whether in the fields of biology, astronomy, archaeology or paleontology, and you will see innumerable changes/updates in many areas of scientific inquiry.
So which is right? Faith or science?
Physician-geneticist Francis Collins once said: “One of the greatest tragedies of our time is this impression that science and religion have to be at war”. As an Orthodox Christian, you do not have to choose arbitrarily between your faith and science. Both exist in absolute harmony, as science is a tool given to mankind by God. It is only when science directly contradicts the dogmas of our faith, that we must firmly oppose it.
Read More: Do We Have Free Will?
7 Responses
Hey one quick question, I tried reading it over but I genuinely can’t understand what this article meant by not taking the bible as everything being infallible, I took the impression that you were saying that the bible could be wrong on things or that it is wrong on things, if possible could you reply with a more explained answer on what was meant by “This then creates a problem: if the Bible is infallible in everything”
Burton,
Christ is in our midst! The Scriptures were compiled as a liturgical text; this means their initial purpose (and their purpose still in the Orthodox Church) is for being read during worship. The Scriptures communicate to us the story of our fall and the Lord’s plan for redemption coming to pass for us. But they are not a science textbook, nor do they attempt to explain all the intricacies about the world’s creation. Many Protestant churches insist on the Bible’s inerrancy, claiming that everything in the Bible is 100% literally true. Orthodoxy does not make such a claim. That does not mean that the Scriptures are full of lies, but instead that their purpose was to communicate a particular message to us. Certain details may be skipped or lack elaboration, others might be slightly different than another account because the author of that book had a particular theme or goal in mind when writing.
If we hold to this claim that the Bible is literally true in everything that it says, this can put us at odds with science and with other extra-Biblical texts. Therefore, either the Bible is true, or science is. From this view, both cannot be true.
But from the Orthodox perspective, we acknowledge the true purpose of the Scriptures and the true purpose of science, which are different. The two can coexist for the Orthodox, because a discrepancy in the Biblical text does not automatically discredit the Bible as it would in Protestant circles. Does this make more sense? Please feel free to reply back with further questions. God bless!
What about, for example, the science on Our Lady of Zeitoun, Our Lady of Guadalupe image, Our Lady of Las Lajas image, Turin Shroud image, Our Lady of Lourdes healings and Eucharistic Miracles?
Why Faith VS science and not how scientifically established facts support Faith?
Chris,
Christ is in our midst. We would kindly ask that you stop spamming our comment form with the same comment multiple times over the course of several days. We do not engage in debate on this blog, so that comment of yours will go unanswered, especially since it appears you are fishing for conflict by attempting to post it multiple times. Our purpose is to educate those with a surface-level understanding of the differences between our faiths. And the purpose of this particular article is to educate our audience on the false dichotomy of faith vs. science. Our purpose in writing this was not to explore scientifically established facts that support faith. Perhaps we will write another blog exploring that topic.
God bless.
God performed miracles in the Old Testament. Jesus performed miracle in the NT.Jesus also said that man will perform greater miracles in his name The one common denominator would be living faith in Christ. There are many mysteries on our journey of salvation. Do not let your simple understanding make you weary and troubled. Now we see through a fog but one day we will see clearly. lord Jesus Christ son of God have mercy on me a sinner.
It is false and unkind to accuse me of spamming or fishing for conflict. I did not see my post so tried again and sent a contact explaining this! Trying again is not unreasonable.
Have you posted my reply to your reply on the other topic? or are you censoring my reply?
I understood the false dichotomy of faith vs science but surely this is better explained using real life examples of how science supports faith? I have a world class multi discipline science degree and know a lot about God’s post-Scripture miracles/Signs over nearly 2,000yrs. At least a thousand hours of research.
It was the science on the Turin Shroud proving Jesus Christ was Crucified that acted as a catalyst to bring me back to Church after decades of disbelief. At one point I had said the Jesus Christ Son of God idea was maybe just a unique selling point for the Christian version of God. The science on the Turin Shroud, which bizarrely came to my attention, thank God, proved me wrong.
Ave Maria
The Will of the Father
God bless you
Chris,
Christ is in our midst. It was not meant to be false or unkind. You surely understand the digital world we live in, the prevalence of trolls, spammers, and baiters out there merely seeking validation. Since you have testified in your defense, we will take you at your word regarding your intentions and have posted your other comment. We do not have someone checking the blog comments every day, so when we popped in to see several comments on the same thread from the same person, it looks a bit suspicious. Please forgive any offense we may have caused, and let us continue our discourse.
It is wonderful that the science behind the Turin Shroud led you to believe in Christ. However, you are attempting to impose your ideas for how a post ought to be written on this blog (graciously, but it is an imposition nonetheless). We recommend, if it is such a passionate topic for you, that you start a blog and write about the incredible overlap between science and faith. We would be delighted to read your content, should you decide to do so! This blog, however, is merely meant to touch on the fundamentals of certain questions people ask about the Orthodox Church and her beliefs, and to provide resources for those looking to live an authentic Orthodox life. Anything outside that scope we leave to the other blogs out there! God bless.