Page 7 - Week2

Nevertheless, there are those who would claim that the scientific progress stimulated
by Christianity has in fact brought in its wake many problems and much evil. If
Christianity is responsible for the unique birth of science, is it not also to be blamed for
the technological ills which beset the world of today? A distinction needs to be made here
between scientific discovery and its technological application. Now the reason why there
is a moral crisis concerning technological application of various products of science (for
example, discoveries in nuclear physics and in bio-engineering) is that while the
philosophical framework conducive to scientific discovery has been handed on as an
implicit (and often subconscious) body of principles, nevertheless because Western
society is no longer (in many parts) explicitly Christian, it lacks the courage and the
apparatus to tackle such moral questions. The application of science therefore rests upon
purely political or economic criteria which can only be described as utilitarian, without
proper regard for the good of the human person and his environment.
A few vaguely Christian ideals have therefore been inherited by a secularized and
secularizing society where there is a lack of radical Christian culture and vision to back
up the vague ideals. Agnostics feel frustrated because they are unable to link up the
implicit cultural principles with a synthetic Christian vision, and some Christians feel
inadequate because they do not see the way forward very clearly. Progress lies in seeing
that since science grew up in a Christian milieu, its applications were, at first, put to use
according to a Christian ethic arising from Christian faith in God the Creator who had left
these moral laws imprinted upon creation. While the human person has the capacity to
read the natural law written upon his or her heart, even aside from Revelation,
nevertheless, because of the Fall, the human will is adversely affected in making moral
decisions. Furthermore, Revelation does not merely reinforce the natural law, but shows a
more perfect way. Christ reveals to mankind perfect Man as well as true God; through the
Incarnation and Redemption, grace is given to guide man towards this ideal revealed by
and in Christ. Hence the need for a specifically Christian morality to provide criteria
which guide mankind away from purely greedy or destructive applications of science.
Since they do not contain their own explanation within their own fields, science,
language and history all need to be referred to metaphysics, before any dialogue between
faith and science can be made or before any consistent ethical discourse can be pursued.
The Judaeo-Christian vision of creation is diametrically opposed to that series of
eternal returns which is to be found in most ancient and modern pagan systems. The fact
that the eternal Word became incarnate of the Virgin Mary at a specific moment within
history guarantees the uniqueness of Christ’s redemptive act:

Another contribution of orthodox, dogmatic Christianity is … a strong appreciation
of time as actually experienced. That the Incarnation took place at a fixed point of
time, marked by the invariable reference to Pontius Pilate in all credal formulas,
could but enhance the perception of the uniqueness of each moment and therefore of
history. Since such uniqueness is inconceivable within the recurrence of cyclic ages,
the Incarnation added further emphasis to a linear perception of time, which had
been an integral part of Old Testament salvation history.
The Christian idea of a linear progressive cosmos is further guaranteed by the truth that at
another specific point in time, Christ will come again in glory to bring all history to its
eschatological completion.

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