Catholic Churchmen in Science. First Series

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James Joseph Walsh. Catholic Churchmen in Science. First Series

PREFACE

I. THE SUPPOSED OPPOSITION OF SCIENCE AND RELIGION

II. COPERNICUS AND HIS TIMES

II. COPERNICUS AND HIS TIMES

III. BASIL VALENTINE, FOUNDER OF MODERN CHEMISTRY

III. BASIL VALENTINE, FOUNDER OF MODERN CHEMISTRY

IV. LINACRE: SCHOLAR, PHYSICIAN, PRIEST

IV. LINACRE: SCHOLAR, PHYSICIAN, PRIEST

V. FATHER KIRCHER, S.J.: SCIENTIST, ORIENTALIST, AND COLLECTOR

V. FATHER KIRCHER, S.J.: SCIENTIST, ORIENTALIST, AND COLLECTOR

VI. BISHOP STENSEN: ANATOMIST AND FATHER OF GEOLOGY

VI. BISHOP STENSEN, ANATOMIST AND FATHER OF GEOLOGY

VII. ABBÉ HAÜY, FATHER OF CRYSTALLOGRAPHY

VII. ABBÉ HAÜY, FATHER OF CRYSTALLOGRAPHY

VIII. ABBOT MENDEL: A NEW OUTLOOK IN HEREDITY

VIII. ABBOT MENDEL: A NEW, OUTLOOK IN HEREDITY

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A common impression prevails that there is serious, if not invincible, opposition between science and religion. This persuasion has been minimized to a great degree in recent years, and yet sufficient of it remains to make a great many people think that, if there is not entire incompatibility between science and religion, there is at least such a diversity of purposes and aims in these two great realms of human thought that those who cultivate one field are not able to appreciate the labors of those who occupy themselves in the other. Indeed, it is usually accepted as a truth that to follow science with assiduity is practically sure to lead to unorthodoxy in religion. This is supposed to be especially true if the acquisition of scientific knowledge is pursued along lines that involve original research and new investigation. Somehow, it is thought that any one who has a mind free enough from the influence of prejudice and tradition to become an original thinker or investigator, is inevitably prone to abandon the old orthodox lines of thought in respect to religion.

Like a good many other convictions and persuasions that exist more or less as commonplaces in the subconscious intellects of a great many people, this is not true. Our American humorist said that it is not so much the ignorance of mankind that makes him ridiculous as the knowing so many things "that ain't so." The supposed opposition between science and religion is precisely an apposite type of one of the things "that ain't so." It is so firmly fixed as a rule, however, that many people have accepted it without being quite conscious of the fact that it exists as one of the elements influencing many of their judgments–a very important factor in their apperception.

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In 1530 Copernicus wrote a short prelude to the longer work on astronomy which he was to publish later. The propositions contained in this work show how far he had advanced on the road to his ultimate discovery. After a few words of introduction, the following seven axioms are laid down:–

1. The celestial spheres and their orbits have not a single center.

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