Did Christianity Suppress Science in the "Dark Ages?"

The Synergetic Relationship Between Science & Christianity - Part 1

The "Dark Ages"

In the Middle Ages, as most people believe, it is correct that some of the teachings of Plato, Aristotle, Euclid, Ptolemy, & Galen (the “Classical tradition”) caused suspicion, hostility, and condemnation from the church.  But more often, critical reflection about the nature of the world was tolerated and even encouraged by medieval religious leaders. Many of the church fathers had been educated in the classical tradition before converting to Christianity and had acquired habits of rational inquiry. They used these tools to help develop Christian doctrine and to help defend the faith against detractors.[2]For example, Aristotle’s philosophy could be used to rationally argue the existence of God.

Consequently, many of the church fathers expressed at least limited approval of the classical tradition.  For example, the second and third century writers Athenagoras, Clement, and Origen all found Greek philosophy a useful tool in the defense of Christianity.  Athenagoras marshaled the authority of Plato, Aristotle, and the Stoics in favor of monotheism.  Clement attacked the earliest Greek philosophers for their atheism. But he [Clement] also acknowledged that certain philosophers and poets bore testimony to the truth, and that within the philosophical tradition there is a “slender spark, capable of being fanned into flame, a trace of wisdom and an impulse from God.” Tertullian himself viewed Christian religion as the fulfillment of Greek rationality, and he both advocated and engaged in philosophical activity.[3]

Medieval Scholastics deeply valued Aristotle and his writings and believed that his teachings on reason could be incorporated into church theology.  Augustine of Hippo (St. Augustine), one of the most important Christian church fathers during the 4^thand 5^thcentury, wrote at length about the connection between the Genesis account in the Bible and the natural sciences contained in the classical tradition. Augustine had no problem using natural science to help interpret scripture.  Roger Bacon agreed with Augustine.  

His goal was to demonstrate that the pagan learning of the classical tradition was a vital resource, capable of offering essential services to theology and the church; and moreover that it posed no insuperable religious threat, that suitably disciplined and purged of error, it would serve as a faithful handmaiden of religion and the church.[4]

Augustine was confident that we could use our reason and experience to read the book of nature because it was created by God. He wanted the interpretation of scripture to stay consistent with the cosmology and physics of the classical tradition and used the natural sciences in his role as a theologian and bible interpreter. Christians should think of Scripture and Creation as two “books” that should be read together for understanding of the fullness of God’s self-revelation; science is a God-given tool for discerning the handiwork of God in Creation and is fully compatible with God’s Word revealed in Scripture. In terms of actual science, Augustine argued in Confessionsthat time itself is part of the created order and that the universe was created out of nothing;[5]two ideas that modern science didn’t agree with for over 1500 years.

Another Christian in the late 5^thand early 6^thcentury, the Roman senator Boethius established a foundational scientific concept that we now call “natural laws” by expressing how inanimate nature obeys God’s rules.[6]Work done by the English monk Bede in the late 7^thand early 8^thcentury “became a model for a purely physical description of the results of the divine creation, devoid of allegorical interpretation, and using the accumulated teachings of the past, both Christian and pagan.”[7]Both Boethius’ and Bede’s Christian worldview was not at all in conflict with a mechanistic universe governed by natural cause and effect.[8]

Science and Christianity have complemented each other – even in the so called “Dark Ages” - and have been intimately connected throughout history. In part 2 I will continue to look at how the Christian view of God as a lawgiver, a rational mind, and as the Creator gave rise to modern science.

[2]David C. Linderg, When Science and Christianity Meet, University of Chicago Press, 2003

[3]David C. Linderg, When Science and Christianity Meet, University of Chicago Press, 2003, page 12

[4]ibid, page 24

[5]Kenneth Richard Samples, Classic Christian Thinkers, Reasons to Believe, 2019

[6]Michael Newton Keas, Unbelievable, ISI Books, 2019, page 35

[7]Bruce S. Eastwood, “Early-Medieval Cosmology, Astronomy, and Mathematics,” in Cambridge History of Science: Volume 2, 307

[8]Michael Newton Keas, Unbelievable, ISI Books, 2019, page 35