Paper Example on Christianity and Science

Vishal Mangalwadi, a renowned Indian Christian philosopher, writer, political columnist, social reformer, and lecturer was born in 1949, in Chhattarpur, India. He was raised with his six siblings in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. Mangalwadi acquired his MA in philosophy from the University of Indore in 1973, and the following year he co-founded the Theological Research and Communication Institute. Mangalwadi has published several books including Truth and Social Reform, Truth, and Transformation, among many other books. Vishal Mangalwadi, in his The Book That Made Your World, claims that the Bible had a big influence on the civilization of the world in the West. Mangalwadi reflects back in time how the Bible impacted the ideals and thoughts of the ancient people. He uses several nations to reveal how beliefs and non-beliefs found in the Bible dictated whether a community developed or prospered. Mangalwadi's writings in his book are interesting, especially in the 13th Chapter where he asserts that Science originated as a result of the Church reading the Bible literally, and not allegorically. He reveals that the allegorical interpretation of the Bible Scriptures influenced its own, as well as the community's view of nature. The Church investigated nature in an allegorical manner, to establish what features of a creation God desired them to learn or what the creation symbolized. Rather than learning about nature in a literal manner considering the physical characteristics, Christians studied its likely spiritual features. When they turned back to literal Hermeneutics, they got insights to advance scientific studies. Mangalwadi hints that science is a brainchild of Christians who started learning the physical characteristics of nature. Currently, philosophers and scientists believe that knowledge cannot be discovered without the intervention of science, which leads to nihilism. Throughout the book, Mangalwadi explains how the Bible made Christians be founders of things that benefited humanity such as education, philosophy, and much more.

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The cultural issue discussed in the 13th chapter of The Book That Made Your World is that people will rarely struggle for something unless they know the rewards. Mangalwadi's family failed to mine diamonds since nobody had such riches in this community. He says that culture may have able people, but they do not search for the laws of nature if they believe that it is enchanted and managed by numerous deities (Mangalwadi, 2012). He says that culture that adores nature frequently use dwimmer to manipulate for unseen powers controlling nature. Science and technology are not developed to dominate over nature. Mangalwadi asserts that even though some dwimmer may seem to work, the magicians might not search for a methodical, consistent comprehension of nature. He argues that Chinese monks and Hindu sage had the ability but lacked philosophical motivation for scientific discovery. It was until Christians in the Western world read the Bible and understood it, that a revelation was made about nature.

According to Mangalwadi (2012), the determination for science in the Western world began when the Scriptures beghasted Christians to commit their lives to restoring God's lost command for humans to control nature. The earliest historian of the Royal Society of Science, Thomas Sprat, elaborated that the community's objective was to allow humans to restore ascendancy over things. This religio-scientific exercise gathered information that depicted that the obvious design in nature. Darwin later came to theorize the design as an outcome of natural selection. The scientific approach of studying nature outgrew theology, a way of viewing the material world Biblically. As a result, the physical world was seen as real. The pioneers of science believed that the material world was real and that God spent resources to make it good. The scientific pursuit began when people discovered that they were made as custodians of nature and that they could manipulate it to benefit them.

The scientific viewpoint was born as a result of criticism of Aristotelian intellectualism. Science believes that human logic has authenticity and that they use logic to give meaning to facts. Science is theorized to explain the universe, but for theories to be scientific they should have measurable facts that can be substantiated empirically. Theories undergo modification or replacement if they fail to meet observable facts or if future observations fail to match its prediction.

The ideas in the chapter match what I have learned, that science is paradoxical since it must have the assertiveness that humans can transcend nature. But, it needs meekness, admitting that humans are ungodly and are liable to error and sin. Thus, science requires more than Aristotelian logic or personal epiphany. It requires objectiveness, peer review, seen facts, and consistent questionable tests. People transfer knowledge to others just like iron sharpens another. Accumulation of knowledge by connection, modeling, and collection needs organized efforts for both schools, universities, as well as the scientific society. Science repudiates the reductionist theory that man was just part of nature and cannot transcend it, and the science precluding belief that the human self was a deific self that could only be illuminated by insights or mystical experiences that needed no correction.

The universal extension of Western education made the scientific standpoint of seeing the globe usual that educated individuals did not realize that the scientific viewpoint was an odd way of seeing the world molded from the Bible. I concur with Mangalwadi (2012) that science utilizes objective methods to look, organize, and understand the natural world. This method of viewing the world is unusual given that Europe did not discover it by accident since some ancient people may have scientifically observed the world but their outlook did not become their intellectual culture. The scientific standpoint grew in Europe as an outstanding biblical theology encouraged by the church. Theologists practiced science for biblical motives. Their scientific spirit began in the 12th and 13th centuries and flourished in the 16th century after Europe was more literate and people could read and understand the Bible without help.

I agree with Mangalwadi (2012) that the Bible and science relate in several ways. Capra and people who knew Aldous Hinley claim that the Bible made an ecological mess by introducing science and technology. Others claim that the Bible and science are irreconcilable, and that science rose from the re-exposition of Greek learning. Capra's observance that beliefs in the laws of nature originate from the Bible has been verified. The pioneer scientists were beghasted by the Bible to uncover the laws of nature. The laws can be understood by man because he was made in the image of God to comprehend and manage nature. Whitehead asserts that the Bible is the source of science, for if it were not then China could have discovered science long ago.

The Greeks, Egyptians, Indians, Muslims, and the Chinese had tremendous insight in nature and they observed, documented, accumulated, and passed the knowledge to their generation. Despite all this knowledge, they failed to develop a scientific culture. While they had accurate observations, they failed to model the world and they did not bother to empirically verify their suggestions. It took Christian scientists like Isaac Newton to develop and create the science culture. The church persecuted so many scientists initially but that does not mean the Bible is against science. The controversy that exists between evolution and creation does not involve religion and science. The real controversy is about the feasibility of evolution. There has been substantial evidence that macroevolution exists among different species. Mutations are occurring across different species and this cannot be ruled out.

References

Mangalwadi, V. (2012). The book that made your world: How the Bible created the soul of western civilization. Thomas Nelson.