WordPress.com



Jordan LarsenHSCI-3013-99516 October 2014Rational Divine DesignThroughout history, mankind has possessed a curiosity for the natural world that has precipitated human progress. Advancements in every field – agriculture, astronomy, anatomy – result from the questioning of one’s surroundings. Humans have always asked questions; where they look to seek answers to these questions has changed some throughout history. In the ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia and Egypt, the gods contained the answers for every earthly occurrence. The gods were the reason for order, and the gods caused change. For the ancients, theology ruled; their science, meaning “knowledge” in Latin, was theology – the two were indistinguishable, as the ancients’ knowledge stemmed from the religion they used to explain natural occurrences. However, the relationship between religion and science would not maintain an identical status throughout history, as is clear by the conflicting relationship the two possess in the minds of modern people. Between the two extremes of ancient and modern lies the middle ground of religion and science, with the two disciplines working together to answer man’s inquiries of nature. Beginning with the Pre-Socratics and continuing through Newton, people considered religion and science highly compatible. Thinkers from this era examined their surroundings and found rational creation, creation that must have been divinely designed. From the 6th Century BCE to the early modern period, natural philosophers used physics, chemistry, and biology to confirm God’s presence and power through their observations of the natural world.Meaning “knowledge of nature” in Ancient Greek, physics involved exploring nature and discovering religious didactic purpose in its laws and order. The Pre-Socratics were the first to reject the mythical explanations of ancient civilizations, instead placing emphasis on the rational unity of their surroundings. For the first time, thinkers looked to nature for logical explanations instead of simply writing off all happenings as the will of the gods. But this does not mean that a deity was absent for these first philosophers and scientists of the western tradition. Quite the opposite, the rational design of nature served as evidence of a divine creator.Another early philosopher, Plato, believed that God created matter out of his rationality. This rationality is visible and evident to us by studying physics, or in other words, by gaining knowledge about the natural world created by God. Therefore, one may study nature to gain an understanding of religion, giving great purpose to the discipline. Modern thinkers tend to believe that laws of nature disprove religion, but this was not the opinion of pre-modern times. Rather, to Plato and other natural philosophers, perhaps early physicists, the discovery of the natural world’s laws proves the existence of a rational God. God created rules for nature in the same way that he created rules for his people. These ideas in physics strengthened the compatibility between religion and science in the era before Christ.Seventeenth Century physics also found concord with religion in the works of Descartes. Descartes’ mechanical philosophy revolutionized thinking and brought together diverse disciplines. Christians had concerns about how mechanical philosophy would account for the spiritual world – where would immortal souls go in this highly mechanical new world view? However, Descartes reconciled religion with his physics using dualism, distinguishing between the material and immaterial world, the former made of matter, the latter made of souls. Descartes, along with Plato and the Pre-Socratics, used physics to study the rational and therefore divine design of the world, confirming the existence of God.Natural philosophers also turned to the study of chemistry, or predominantly alchemy during this period, to explore, not discredit, God’s world. During the Reformation and Counter-Reformation, the alchemist Paracelsus took care not to offend religious leaders in his otherwise critical published writings. Religion and science were not enemies here. Paracelsus emphasized the artisanal side of alchemy, describing its purpose as “to follow in the path of nature and bring out what nature is in her.” Alchemy is traditionally seen as playing God, an occult practice of mad scientists and magicians. But this view is clearly in discord with Paracelsus’ ideas; instead of trying to be God, alchemists observed nature, like physicists, and tried to replicate or accelerate natural changes. They worked with God’s nature, not against it. Boyle’s work in alchemy involved him trying to communicate with spirits in order to confirm the existence of God.Newton was another alchemist who united religion and science in his pursuits to understand the natural world. Though today he is most famous for his contributions in math and science, he wrote far more on theology and alchemy. To him, religion and science were inseparable; Newton’s universe was one in which God was absolutely present and powerful. He argued that an intelligent, powerful being had to be at the center of such a logical universe. Scrutinizing the Bible for keys to the future and hints into alchemical recipes, Newton found no discord between the two disciplines. In alchemists’ explorations as well as physicists’, the collaboration of religion and science was key in understanding the natural worldFinally, natural philosophers incorporated religion in their study of biology as well. Advancements in optics and microscopy changed the way we view vision, the means by which we grasp natural world. Even Aristotle noted this as an important concept, because our examination of the natural world holds divine insight. To understand the natural world is to better understand God. Bestiary, popular in the Middle Ages, also contained this idea. Pliny the Elder wrote moral tales based off characteristics of animals found in the natural world. For example, elephants mate for life, demonstrating the good Christian moral of loyalty and chastity. Some natural philosophers believed that God used emblems like these to communicate with the human world.Humankind’s understand of the relationship between religion and science during the period between ancient and modern times involved a collaboration of the two, a collaboration necessary for the understanding of the natural world in the minds of the people. Physics, alchemy, and biology facilitated this understanding, and natural philosophers used their observations and studies to prove God’s existence and rule over the rational, organized world. Thinkers looked to God and nature for answers, and made great scientific and philosophical progress while doing so. ................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download