Historically, the creation of ideas has been a messy process. Knowledge has not usually been delivered as an immaculate gem, but as a needle in a grubby haystack of wrong ideas. It is only with the benefit of hindsight that we are able to differentiate between our ancestors’ mistakes and their genuine discoveries. It may therefore be a mistake to reject a tradition altogether, even if some of its pillars seem absurd in light of our modern scientific and moral theories. We should instead cherish the good ideas that our ancestors did deliver. One culture in particular, though it offers a false account of reality, may have contained the knowledge required to give birth to modern science. That culture is the Catholic Church.
We have all heard about Galileo’s tragic confrontation with the church in the seventeenth century. However, as Cardinal Newman noted centuries ago, it is telling that this is almost the only example that comes to mind when arguing that the Church was at odds with science.
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