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with inner coherence and order, and not a gigantic animal which would behave in an
arbitrary fashion, as was often believed in antiquity. The world was considered to be
endowed with its own laws which could be tested and verified; it was not magical or
divine. Further, the cosmos was seen to be rational and consistent, so that what was
investigated one day would also hold true the next. The world picture also involved the
tenet that cosmic order is accessible to the human mind, and can be investigated
experimentally, not just by pure thought. In addition to these ideas, medieval Christendom
also was imbued with the concept that it was worthwhile to share knowledge for the
common good.
During this fertile period of scientific growth, there was a harmonious relationship
between science and Christianity, and indeed most of the earliest scientists were devout
believers, like Saint Albert the Great, renowned for his investigations in the physical and
chemical realms, and Saint Hildegard of Bingen, known for her pioneering work in the
biological and ecological areas. Other unknown early scientists worked on such areas as
the development of clocks. Before the rise of science, human activity followed biological
time and solar time, regulated by the natural succession of night and day. In contrast
scientific time involves high numerical accuracy. Monasteries needed to have a way of
measuring time with reasonable accuracy so as to regularize the hours of prayer, work
and study and while they followed biological time at first, gradually they developed sand
and water clocks. By the twelfth century, highly sophisticated mechanical clocks had
been built, and these produced a profound effect on civil society as well. At the heart of
scientific activity lies the measurement of time.
Therefore, harmony between faith and science preceded disharmony. For instance, the
Galileo affair, which took place after science had been born in a Christian setting, is
sometimes used to obscure the many examples of harmonious and fruitful collaboration
between the Church and science. In fact, Galileo himself was an example of a devout
Christian and a great scientist. Moreover, even in the Galileo case “the agreements
between religion and science are more numerous and above all more important than the
incomprehension which led to the bitter and painful conflict that continued in the course
of the following centuries.” It is true that in the Galileo affair, as in other
misunderstandings, a healing of memories is needed. What can be learned from the
Galileo situation is the necessity to delineate with increasing clarity the respective fields
of competence, methods and value of the conclusions of science and theology, according
to their respective nature. In particular, the Holy Scriptures do not teach us scientific
details about the physical world but rather the fact that it was created.
However, it is also true that the Galileo affair has been so highlighted as to obscure the
many examples of harmonious and fruitful collaboration between the Church and science.
Indeed there have been many cases where devout Christians have made a prodigious
contribution to science, including Nicolaus Copernicus, the astronomer (+1543), Gregor
Mendel (+1884), the author of Mendel’s law of heredity, and Bishop Niels Stensen
(+1686), the great geologist and anatomist who discovered the duct (Ductus Stenonianus)
which carries saliva from the parotid gland to the mouth.
Church authorities have often expressed the essential and basic harmony between
science and religion. Over one hundred years ago, the First Vatican Council put it this
way: “Truth cannot contradict truth”. In 1936, Pope Pius XI enunciated what must be the
first principle of relations between science and religion when he wrote “science as a true

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