Page 337 - Orthodoxy Zizioulas

S C I E N C E , C R E AT I O N , A N D T H E O L O G Y
Science, Creation, and Theolog y
From the life of society, we may now turn to one of its most
powerful forces: science, and its relationship to religion.
Today science enjoys immense prestige in our culture. Many
look upon it as a power capable of curing almost every evil
in life. Scientists speak and are heard with exceptional au-
thority, because science has claimed for itself privileged ac-
cess to truth together with the unique capacity to produce
practical results. Religion, by contrast, especially in Western
societies, has long been deprived of the authority it once
possessed. Only in limited circles does a religious truth carry
greater weight than a scientific pronouncement, and even
there not without hesitation.
Why, then, should religion have any role in addressing such
urgent matters as the protection of the environment? Why not
leave such questions entirely to scientists? Science appears to
possess the factual “know-how,” while religion seems often to
dwell in celestial realms, detached from practical realities. Yet
this opposition is neither inevitable nor original. Historically,
science and religion were not strangers. Indeed, science in its
modern form was born from theology itself.
The founders of modern science—Descartes, Leibniz,
Newton—were at the same time deeply theological minds.
Already in classical Greece, the search for the logos of nature
was itself a kind of theology. In the Jewish tradition as well,
creation was understood as endowed with rationality: “You
have set all things in order by measure and number and
weight.” To believe in God meant to recognize that creation
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