Page 339 - 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
Thus religion and science, though often opposed in appear-
ance, have in fact collaborated, albeit unconsciously, in the
destruction of creation.
The ecological crisis now reveals the bankruptcy of this
dichotomy. Neither science nor religion can address it alone.
Science cannot solve the crisis without religion, because it
cannot by itself answer the question why creation should be
respected rather than exploited. Religion cannot respond
without science, because love for creation requires knowledge
of how creation actually functions. The environmental crisis
compels both to rediscover their deeper unity.
Science without religion becomes blind power, armed with
technique but lacking wisdom. Religion without science be-
comes empty moralism, rich in exhortation but poor in un-
derstanding. Their separation has wounded both. What the
ecological crisis demands is not a superficial complementar-
ity, as though religion merely inspires while science provides
information, but a deeper reconciliation grounded in their
common concern for truth.
For both science and religion, creation is not simply an
object to be used. It is a reality to be contemplated, under-
stood, and served. Science discovers the laws of creation; reli-
gion reveals its meaning. Science explains how the world
works; religion discloses why it exists and what its destiny is.
Only together can they offer a response adequate to the grav-
ity of our ecological moment.
Scientific cosmology in our time has spoken not only about
the beginning of the universe but also about its end, and in
doing so it has unexpectedly confirmed a profound patristic
insight: creation, by its very nature, does not possess within
itself the power of eternal survival. The Fathers insist that in
bringing creation into being, God did not place in its nature a
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