Historical interaction between science and religion

Abstract

The present talk about the divorce of science and religion takes very much for granted. It presupposes that there is such a thing as religion without further qualifications just as it assumes that there is such a thing as science pure and simple. Moreover, it postulates that these two entities are not only distinct and separate, but even divorced through a process upon which we can look back in retrospect as something that took place in a more or less distant past. Here the underlying assumption must be that there was a time when science and religion could have been said to be happily married, or at least living together in some kind of intimate relationship. So many hidden presuppositions might easily give the impression that this whole subject is utterly confused and in great need of both philosophical and historical clarification. It goes without saying that this cannot be achieved within the compass of a brief contribution. In consequence the purpose of the following paper is only to present a few comments on the notions of science and religion, followed by a consideration of some of their principal interactions throughout history, before we decide whether a divorce must be granted on the grounds of an ineradicable incompatibility of spirit, or if there is a simple case for annulment because there never was a valid marriage, or finally, if the relationship can continue without foundering on the rocks of the unequal development of the two partners.