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formalistic way that is, while they certainly admitted that God
was all-powerful and therefore could create a vacuum, they were
generally persuaded that in fact He would not do so. But some
were intrigued by the possibilities the condemnations discussed
and engaged in important scientific debate. Thus the condemna-
tions, according to historian of science Richard Dales,  seem def-
initely to have promoted a freer and more imaginative way of
55
doing science.
This was clearly so in the case of another of the condemna-
tions, namely the Aristotelian proposition that  the motions of
56
the sky result from an intellective soul. A condemnation of that
statement was of great importance, since it denied that the heav-
enly bodies possessed souls and were in some way alive
a standard cosmological belief that had enjoyed currency since
antiquity. Although we can find Church fathers who condemned
this idea as incompatible with the faith, a great many Christian
thinkers had adopted Aristotle s view and conceived of the plan-
etary spheres as being propelled by intellectual substances of
some kind.
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THE CHURCH AND SCIENCE 93
This condemnation catalyzed new approaches to this central
question of the behavior of the heavenly bodies. Jean Buridan,
following in the footsteps of Robert Grosseteste, argued that
the scriptural evidence for such intelligences was notably lack-
ing, and Nicholas Oresme made still further strides against the
57
idea.
As early as the patristic period, Christian thought, albeit typi-
cally only by implication, began the de-animation of nature that
is, the removal from our conception of the universe any sugges-
tion that the celestial bodies were themselves alive, or consti-
tuted intelligences in their own right, or were unable to operate
in the absence of some kind of spiritual mover. Scattered
throughout the writings of such saints as Augustine, Basil,
Gregory of Nyssa, Jerome, and John Damascene are statements to
this effect. But it was only later, when scholars began applying
themselves more deliberately and consistently to the study of
nature, that we begin to see thinkers who consciously conceived
of the universe as an entity that was mechanistic and, by exten-
58
sion, intelligible to the inquiring human mind.  During the
twelfth century in Latin Europe, writes Dales,  those aspects of
Judeo-Christian thought which emphasized the idea of creation
out of nothing and the distance between God and the world, in
certain contexts and with certain men, had the effect of eliminat-
59
ing all semi-divine entities from the realm of nature. And
according to Stanley Jaki,  nature had to be de-animized in
60
order for science to be born.
Long after the condemnations themselves had been forgotten,
the discussion that these anti-Aristotelian statements had pro-
voked continued to influence European intellectual history
through the seventeenth century and the onset of the Scientific
61
Revolution.
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94 How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization
THE SCIENTIST-PRIEST
It is a relatively simple matter to show that many great scien-
tists, like Louis Pasteur, have been Catholic. Much more reveal-
ing, however, is the surprising number of Catholic churchmen,
priests in particular, whose scientific work has been so extensive
and significant. Here were men who in most cases had taken holy
orders and had committed themselves to the highest and most
significant spiritual commitment the Church affords. Their insa-
tiable curiosity about the universe God created and their com-
mitment to scientific research reveals, far more than could any
merely theoretical discussion, that the relationship between
Church and science is naturally one of friendship rather than of
antagonism and suspicion.
Several important figures of the thirteenth century deserve
mention. Roger Bacon, a Franciscan who taught at Oxford, was
admired for his work in mathematics and optics, and is considered
to be a forerunner of modern scientific method. Bacon wrote
about the philosophy of science and emphasized the importance
of experience and experiment. In his Opus Maius, Bacon
observed:  Without experiment, nothing can be adequately
known. An argument proves theoretically, but does not give the
certitude necessary to remove all doubt; nor will the mind repose
in the clear view of truth, unless it finds it by way of experiment.
Likewise, in his Opus Tertium, he cautioned that  [t]he strongest
arguments prove nothing, so long as the conclusions are not
62
verified by experience. He identified several obstacles to the
transmission of truth, among them uninstructed popular opinion
63
and long-standing but erroneous custom.
Saint Albert the Great (c. 1200 1280), or Albertus Magnus,
was educated at Padua and later joined the Dominican order.
He taught in various priories in Germany before beginning his
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THE CHURCH AND SCIENCE 95
tenure at the University of Paris in 1241, where he would have
a number of illustrious students, none more so than Saint
Thomas Aquinas. Saint Albert also served in important posi-
tions of authority within the Church, including provincial of
the German Dominicans for several years and bishop of Regens-
burg for two.  Proficient in all branches of science, writes the
Dictionary of Scientific Biography,  he was one of the most
famous precursors of modern science in the High Middle Ages.
Canonized by Pope Pius XI in 1931, Saint Albert would be
named the patron of all who cultivate the natural sciences ten
64
years later by Pius XII.
Saint Albert was a renowned naturalist and recorded an
enormous amount about the world around him. His prodigious
output spanned physics, logic, metaphysics, biology, psychology,
and various earth sciences. Like Roger Bacon, Saint Albert was
careful to note the importance of direct observation in the acqui-
sition of knowledge about the physical world. In De Mineralibus,
he explained that the aim of natural science was  not simply to [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]