THE Church has taught for ages that between the truths of
revelation and the truths of science there can be no conflict. The
Vatican Council has solemnly repeated this teaching. On the other
hand some men famed for scientific learning and some famed for
unscientific bluster proclaim that between faith and science no
reconciliation is possible. Educated Catholics may well ask, How
are such assertions possible? Still it is not hard to find the
explanation. If we could ascertain at once what are the truths of
science and what are the truths of revelation their comparison
would end the controversy. But what are the truths of science?
Science has no infallible mouthpiece. The ablest and sincerest men
of science may be mistaken. Generations of scientists have fought
in defence of error. For hundreds of years they taught that the sun
moves and the earth is at rest. For centuries they spoke of heat
and light as imponderable substances. Linnaeus taught that species
were immutable; Lamarck, the contrary. Cuvier, Von Baer. and
Agassiz returned to the teaching of Linnaeus, and now Darwin and
Haeckel, reviving the views of Lamarck, proclaim the mutability of
species. Who is right? Linnareus or Lamarck? Cuvier or Haeckel When
does a scientific theory become a scientific theorem, a scientific
truth? Can one great name safeguard us against error? There is not
a distinguished scientist alive who will say in cold blood, "I
cannot err." Is the consensus of all men of science a guarantee
that their teaching is scientific truth? The history of Ptolemy's
theory bids us be prudent in our answer. Surely it is more than
hazardous to maintain that a theory or view against which are
raised some of the weightiest voices in science is, without
possibility of error, the scientific truth. And what are the truths
of revelation? Some scientific oracles, not content with defining
the truths of science, insist upon defining for us the truths of
religion. No doubt they are very kind; but really we must decline
their Grecian gifts. We look to the Church to tell us what are
revealed truths. Reasonable men will find this reasonable. When the
Church has spoken, we know what revealed truth is. But there are
hundreds of opinions on dogma and morals which the Church has
neither approved nor condemned; there are thousands of Biblical
texts the meaning of which she has not defined. To be sure, we have
the opinions of theologians, we have what is called the received
interpretation of the Scriptures, which is often but another word
for theological opinion. But the views of theologians, however
learned and holy, are not, of necessity, revealed truths. For
scholars, who are not controversial scientists, it is not always
easy to decide what are the truths of revelation. Since, then, it
is neither easy to find the truths of science nor to find the
truths of revelation in every case, it follows that it is difficult
to compare them with each other. The prudent scholar, therefore,
will not commit himself hastily to the proposition that there is
between them an irrepressible conflict. Where religion and science
seem to be at variance and during the past half century scientists
(not science) have propounded many views seemingly at variance with
Scripture-he will first ascertain whether the dicta of scientists
are the truths of science, and next whether the assumed meaning of
the Bible has been officially set forth by the Church. The former
he will ascertain by inquiring whether the views in question are
unanimously held by all reputable authorities in science or whether
weighty voices are raised in contradiction; the latter he will
easily ascertain by an appeal to Church History. If he finds that
the Church has defined nothing in the premises, he may examine what
is the most probable and the best supported theological opinion.
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