One of the common portrayals of religion is that the adherents are somehow anti-science. This ignores the fact the many landmark scientists from Isaac Newton, Blaise Pascal and Asa Gray to Theodosius Dobzhansky, Francis Collins and Simon Conway Morris are Christian.
In this post, I want to instead examine how a certain theologian of the past viewed the philosophy of science -- Martin Luther.
Is Luther anti-science or anti-reason?
One of the most abused quotes of Martin Luther was the phrase in the book Table Talk,
"Reason is the enemy of faith".
However, this does not mean Luther saw logic as an enemy because he was arguing against Aristotelian reasoning rather than using reason as a methodology. After all in the same book he said,
"We are at the dawn of a new era, for we are beginning to recover the knowledge of the external world that was lost through the fall of Adam. We now observe creatures properly .... But by the grace of God we already recognize in the most delicate flower the wonders of divine goodness and omnipotence."
In this way, he recognized that knowledge about nature could be used to support humanity. In essence, he rejected the Roman Catholic policy of scholasticism (Aristotelian logic) and favoured observations in nature.
According to historian Andrew White, Protestant cities influenced by Luther were more likely to accept human anatomical studies over Roman Catholic cities. This was due to the fact that human dissection was seen as taboo by the Roman Catholic Church, and their insistence of following Aristotelian assumptions about the human body.
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Being wrong about heliocentrism
Another criticism was that Luther rejected Copernicus's idea of heliocentrism (the idea that the earth revolved around the sun).
Another criticism was that Luther rejected Copernicus's idea of heliocentrism (the idea that the earth revolved around the sun).
However, this was not an unusual attitude at that time because the prevailing view was geocentrism (the idea that the sun revolved around the earth). Furthermore, Copernicus had not proven his hypothesis scientifically.
It was only in the 1600s that Johanns Kepler proved mathematically that Copernicus was correct. Luther died in 1546.
Conclusion
To say that Luther was anti-science is to misunderstand the reformer's attitude towards logic, natural philosophy and pragmaticism. His attitude towards the natural world was simply this,
To say that Luther was anti-science is to misunderstand the reformer's attitude towards logic, natural philosophy and pragmaticism. His attitude towards the natural world was simply this,
It's our Lord God who created all things and they are good.
In other words, nature reveals God's handiwork. While Luther himself was not a scientist, the Reformation he kicked off led to an era of openness and acceptance of new ideas. Such attitudes favored the development of science.
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