

























Christianity at the Forefront of Philosophy and Science...    35 

 

 

 

 

C H A P T E R  3  

 

 

 

Christianity at the Forefront of 

Philosophy and Science: Priestly 

Formation and the Praxis of Eruditio1

 Stan-William Oshiozekhai EDE 

  
 

Human formation ought to have as its aim the fuller 

development of priests’ humanity so that their 

humanity can be a “bridge” for communicating Jesus 

Christ to men and women today … Human formation 
entails contact with the culture: the arts, sciences, and 

politics of human life. These studies and involvements 

keep priests in touch with their own lives and the lives 

of those whom they serve.2 

 

Introduction 
The myriads of contrasting opinions that have trailed the agelong 

questions of existence and essence inevitably engender endless 

arguments regarding the fons et origo, hypostasis and goal of nature. 

The argumentative enterprise thereof has for many centuries been 

borne on the wings of dialectics between faith and reason, a core 

ground for the infinite catalogues of diverse and divisive views about 

the universe and our place in it. The calls for a separation between the 

two categories of faith and reason have been well-matched or 

sometimes even outmatched by the quest to strike a healthy balance 

or lasting accord between them. Such a quest which is believed to be 

a potential icebreaker for the unity of ideas and universal harmony 

has been one of the most challenging tasks of humankind. 



36   Formation, The Catholic Priesthood and The Modern Age 

 
 In contemporary times, the scientific, technological and 

internet revolutions have taken the challenge beyond the intellectual 

realm, situating it within the very core of our day-to-day existence. 

Attempts to create a chasm between religious truths and scientific 

truths is changing the world, evident not in the gradual loss of the 

sense of the sacred but also in the befuddled clime that currently 

besets the human sense of morality. This will get worse if we do not 

confront the general misconceptions that reason and faith on the one 

hand, and religion and science, on the other hand, are contraries on 

bipolar ends of the spectrum respectively, and incapable of meeting 

without conflict. What is frequently lost in all these misconceptions, 

however, is that both the history of philosophy and the history of 

science are rich with Christian thinkers and scholars, and at the same 

time the progress of both disciplines have been facilitated and 

enriched through the centuries by Christian thinkers and scholars.  

 As a matter of fact, from the early history of Christianity till 

date, Christian scholars have been at the forefront, made remarkable 

breakthroughs, and registered indelible impacts in the disciplines of 

Philosophy and Science. While great Christian philosophers and 

thinkers like St. Augustine, St. Anselm and a host of others are very 

well known, there is incontrovertible evidence that Christianity 

provided the ideal culture for the origin of Modern Science.  

 This paper will discuss a few Christian philosophers and 

scholars whose works made a leading impact in the discipline of 

philosophy, and some of the top scientists who happen to be 

Christians whose works also revolutionized modern science. The aim 

is not only to show that Christianity has been, and is still, at the 

forefront of philosophy and science, but to sound a wake-up call to 

today’s generation of seminarians and priests who have been trained 

in philosophy and various other disciplines, to engage in active 

eruditio, so as to perpetuate the trend and to imprint positive impacts 

upon the changing world for the overall betterment of  humankind. 

That is to say, besides the religious functions of saving souls, we can 

commit the fruits of our training to active scholarship and scholarly 

productions, tirelessly until those efforts combine into a supernova 

force that is strong enough to rewrite the world’s changing narrative 
and restructure the world on the prop of a healthy faith albeit human 

and technological progress.   

 



Christianity at the Forefront of Philosophy and Science...    37 

 

 

1.  The Biblical-Christian Perspective On Philosophy and Science 
For a Christian, the logic and assumptions of philosophy, as well as 

the characteristics and assumptions of science are founded on the 

belief that the universe was created by the Almighty God who is 

faithful and consistent. 

The creation of the universe by the all-powerful, intelligent 

God (cf. Gen 1:1-2:4¸Wis 13:2-9) explains why the universe is so 

intelligible and open to our scientific investigation. In addition to the 

belief that the universe was created by God, both the Old Testament 

and the New Testament of the Bible are so rich in ‘cosmology’ and 
‘cosmological’ motifs that serve to explain the world and the real 
effects behind the natural order of things. 

In the Old Testament, motifs drawn from astral reflection are 

almost certainly present in places like Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28. 

Although the worship of heavenly bodies are regularly condemned, 

yet the foundational text of Gen 1:14 leaves room for positive 

engagement with ancient astronomy, which could, of course, stretch 

easily into more astrological speculations based on the ‘three-

heavens’ scheme of creation. The first heaven is the firmament, the 
part closest to the earth (cf. Gen 1:8), the second heaven is the home 

of the heavenly bodies, the sun, moon and stars (cf. Deut 4:19), and 

the third heaven is where God the Most High dwells (cf. Isa 14:13; 

also 2 Cor 12:2). The supremacy of YHWH meanwhile, could be 

effectively demonstrated by noting that he is the creator of the 

heavens and the earth, the one who calls the stars by name, the Lord 

of the heavenly host.3 Drawing upon the Old Testament foundation, 

the New Testament carries the cosmological reflection even further. 

In the Prayer of the Community, the creation is chanted as one of the 

Magnalia Dei (Acts 4:24; cf. Rev 4:11; 10:6; 14:7),4 with a plan for 

the fullness of time in which God will unite all things, both in heaven 

and on earth, in Christ (Eph 1:10).  When perspectives from both the 

Old Testament and the New Testament are brought together, one 

would imagine that the Holy Grail of biblical cosmology was the 

precise determination of the number of ‘layers’ or ‘tiers’ of the 
cosmos, with early theological debates raging between two, three, 

four, seven, nine or more layers. This provided a fundamental setting 

upon which future philosophers and scientists would research and 



38   Formation, The Catholic Priesthood and The Modern Age 

 
propound theories regarding the nature of the universe, and the 

principles governing the manifestation of things in nature. 

It is important to note that the cosmological reflections of 

early Christians thinkers and writers fit analogically into modern 

cosmological theories. The ‘three heavens’ scheme, for instance, has 

been variously interpreted. Concomitant with the aforementioned 

categorization is the view that they refer to the regions below the 

moon, above the moon and above the sun – or might be a tripartite 

division of the night sky, with the Milky Way at the apex, with other 

regions dropping into the north and south. St. Paul, for instance, used 

this particular schema in 2 Cor. 12, just as one can explore the use of 

huperouranos, ‘the heaven above’, and duly compare it with Plato’s 
self-consciously fictionalized depiction of the ascent of the soul in the 

Phaedrus.5  

Generally, the cosmology of the New Testament writers 

provides a solid basis for the philosophical and scientific reflections 

for so many who came after them, many of whom would eventually 

become leading figures in the fields of Philosophy and Science. 

 

2.  Christian Scholars in the History of Philosophy and Science 
Many Christian scholars and Catholic clerics throughout history have 

made significant contributions to philosophy and science. The 

Catholic Church, in particular, has produced many philosophers, 

scientists and mathematicians, from among clerics, religious brothers 

and the lay faithful. There have been many others as well from other 

Christian denominations, and so we group all of them together using 

the broad categories, such as “Christian Philosophers” and “Christian 
Scientists”. Some notable Christian philosophers and scientists 
include such illustrious names as Paul of Tarsus, St. Augustine, St. 

Anselm, St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Albert, Nicolaus Copernicus, 

Gregor Mendel, Georges Lemaître, Albertus Magnus, Roger Bacon, 

Rene Descartes, Pierre Gassendi, Roger Joseph Boscovich, Marin 

Mersenne, Bernard Bolzano, , Robert Grosseteste, Christopher 

Clavius, Nicolas Steno, Athanasius Kircher, Giovanni Battista 

Riccioli, William of Ockham, S. L. Jaki.  

We must also not fail to mention the Catholic Church herself 

and some of her groups and associations from the medieval times to 

the present, amongst which are religious orders such as the Jesuits 

(esp. in Philosophy and Science), the Dominicans (Philosophy and 



Christianity at the Forefront of Philosophy and Science...    39 

 

 

Science) the Opus Dei (esp. Philosophy and Communication), the 

Salesians (esp. Classics and Communications), the Legionaries of 

Christ (esp. Philosophy, Bioethics and Science vis-à-vis 

Neuroscience). We shall briefly discuss a few of the scholars and one 

of the religious orders mentioned above. 

 

(a.) Paul of Tarsus (died 67 AD) 
Over the centuries in the history of thought and scholarship, there 

have been scores of philosophical thoughts, discourses and treatises 

from renowned theologians who were also distinguished 

philosophers. We have the examples of St. Augustine, St. 

Bonaventure, St. Thomas Aquinas, Teilhard de Chardin, Paul Tillich, 

etc. No serious mention is usually made of St. Paul when 

philosophers are being counted or cited because he has always been 

regarded as a theologian, one of the finest the world has ever 

produced, and the greatest Christian evangelizer of all time. Recently, 

there is a growing trend in which scholars have begun to identify 

standard philosophical principles and theories in the writing of St. 

Paul, and more people are beginning to appreciate the great 

philosophical resorts inherent in the thoughts, teachings and writings 

of St. Paul who hitherto, was viewed and studied mainly within the 

theological endeavour. 6  

Earlier, we have hinted on Paul’s contribution to science 
through his cosmological theories. Within the same framework, Paul 

contributes enormously to Philosophy, but it suffices to say that his 

views and contributions to Philosophy and Science are intertwined. 

Much of the Philosophy of Paul is centred on the “Concept of 
Truth”, on which he based various other reflections on the meaning 
and purpose of life. For St. Paul, there was always “truth in order to 
goodness”. Goodness has its perfection in God, and the real truth is 
the perfection of certainty realized in God, and knowing God as the 

Ultimate Being who created and rules over the universe.7  

A careful study of Paul would reveal that Paul has both 

idealist and realist views of truth. From the realist perspective, Paul’s 
concept of truth has some bearing with the philosophy of Aristotle as 

interpreted by St. Thomas Aquinas. Realists argue, in line with 

common sense, that truth is the conformity of mental images and 

ideas with what is “out there”. If two people see a dog, one might say, 



40   Formation, The Catholic Priesthood and The Modern Age 

 
“That is a dog”, while the other says, “That is a fox”. The first 
statement is true because it conforms to reality; the other is false 

because it does not. This is more or less in a logical tune with the 

“adequatio intellectus et re”, that is, the correspondence theory of 

truth, wherein what is in the mind or what is stated corresponds to 

what the case is in reality.8 

Also for St. Paul, besides observing and reasoning about the 

physical world, one can attain truth by reasoning from abstract 

principles, via a committed procession from the depth of faith, rising 

through the gradation of love unto its highest expression, realized 

only in the Almighty and Infinite God, the Creator of the universe and 

Lord of time and history. Faith constitutes the abounding ground for 

the abstract principles upon which the reasoning progresses, as well 

as for making the perception real, because “faith” Paul says, “is the 
assurance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen”, 
and “for those who have faith or believe, all things work together 

unto good” (cf. Rom. 4:16; 5:2; cf. Heb. 11:1; 12:2).9 That is actually 

his main standpoint on truth – the idealist intent. In this, St. Paul 

resembles Plato. Plato believes that the human mind could arrive at 

the truth only by apprehending certain ideas existing in a realm apart 

from everyday reality.10  

A synthesis of the Pauline thought, therefore, is that everyday 

reality owes its existence and meaningfulness to the One, Infinite and 

Omnipotent, God, the author of the universe, “in eo vivimus, movemur 

et sumus” (“in whom we live and move and have our being” (cf. Acts 
17:28). Following from this, every human person who exists is 

baseless and empty until he discovers the truth and lives in it; to 

discover the truth is to know God and serve him with an abiding faith 

(cf. Rom 3-5).  

 

(b.) St. Thomas Aquinas (1224-1274) 
Thomas Aquinas was a Catholic priest of the Dominican Order, 

theologian and philosopher, one who is said to have had the greatest 

influence on both philosophy and theology in all of history. 

 The mainstay of Aquinas’ philosophy is a rethinking of 
Aristotelianism, with significant influences from Stoicism, 

Neoplatonism, Augustinianism, and Boethianism. It also reflects 

some of the thinking of the Greek commentators on Aristotle, and of 

Cicero, Avicenna, Averröes, ibn-Gabirol, and Maimonides. This may 



Christianity at the Forefront of Philosophy and Science...    41 

 

 

suggest that we are dealing with an eclectic philosophy, but actually, 

Aquinas reworked the speculative and practical philosophies of his 

predecessors into a coherent view of the subject which shows the 

stamp of his own intelligence.11 The impact of his effort will, 

however, be far-reaching covering all the various aspects and 

branches of philosophy, even through centuries after his life. 

 One of the significant hallmarks of Aquinas’ work in 
philosophy is the conscious tendency to seek the middle ground on 

questions that have been given a wide range of answers. This spirit of 

moderation is best illustrated in his solution to the problem of 

universals. For centuries, Philosophers had debated whether genera 

and species are realities in themselves (e.g. Plato, Boethius, William 

of Champeaux) or mere mental constructs (Roscelin, Peter Aberlard). 

What made this odd discussion important was Aquinas’ conviction 
that these universals, such as ‘humanity’, ‘justice’, ‘whiteness’, 
‘dogness’, are primary objects of human understanding.12 

 Thomas’ spirit of compromise as a philosopher was balanced 
by another tendency, that of innovation. His original Latin 

biographers all stress this feature of his work. Thomas introduced new 

ways of reasoning about problems and new sources of information, 

and he handled his teaching in a new way, and thus stood in advance 

of his contemporaries in the philosophical endeavour.  

 

(c.) Nicholas Copernicus (1473-1543)  
Nicholas Copernicus was a brilliant Renaissance man in every sense 

of the title, a mathematician, astronomer, physician, artist, translator, 

scholar, jurist, governor, military leader, diplomat, economist and a 

Third Order Dominican. He attended various European universities 

and became a Canon in the Catholic Church in 1497.13  

He was the first astronomer to formulate a heliocentric - sun-

centred - model of the solar system, i.e. the first mathematically based 

system of planets going around the sun. He demonstrated in the book 

On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres, published just before his 

death, that the motions of the planets could be explained without 

presuming the Earth was the centre of the system. His uncle was the 

Bishop of Warmia, to whom Copernicus served as secretary and in 

whose castle he lived and began work on his heliocentric model.  



42   Formation, The Catholic Priesthood and The Modern Age 

 
His new system was actually first presented in the Vatican 

gardens in 1533 before Pope Clement VII who approved and urged 

Copernicus to publish it around this time. 

 

(d.) Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) 
Described as the “father of modern physics”, the “father of modern 
science” and the “father of modern observational astronomy”, Galileo 
di Vincenzo Bonaiuti de’ Galilei was a pious Catholic, who travelled 

to the Jesuit College in Rome in 1611 to argue his support of a 

Copernican sun-centered universe (galaxies and stars as other suns 

were unknown in Galileo's time), even though the Church favoured 

the Ptolemaic and Aristotelian earth-centred theories. He took his 

telescope with him to Rome so that the philosophers and 

mathematicians could view Jupiter's moons for themselves, which he 

considered strong support for heliocentrism. The next year the clergy 

denounced his views and he was forbidden to advocate or teach 

Copernican astronomy. 

Galileo's writings on astronomy proved to be invaluable in the 

study of the Earth and stars, challenging a past system of backward 

science that leapt from disorganized speculation drawn from a set of 

already established outcomes. These writings on astronomy attempted 

to draw conclusions about the Earth and the Heavens based on 

lengthy, meticulous recordings of his observations and subsequent 

data gathered from his findings. His work in the field of astronomy is 

certainly suggestive of Galileo's "modern" approach to science as a 

whole. 

Prior to Galileo's time, the Milky Way was believed to be 

nebulous. Galileo studied it and found it to be a multitude of stars 

packed so densely that they appear from the Earth-like cloud. He 

noticed and located many other stars lots of distance away and 

impossible to be seen with the naked eyes. Among the stars he 

observed is the double star Mizar in Ursa Major in 1617. 

His most important works were experiments and 

investigations in the realms of physics. During those eighteen years, 

he changed the foundations of traditional physics – or, as others see it, 

established an entirely new science. However, remarkably few people 

outside Padua realised this. For various reasons, he did not make his 

results public until well into old age, and when he did finally become 

famous all over Europe, it was for quite different things.14 



Christianity at the Forefront of Philosophy and Science...    43 

 

 

The formulation of the concept of Inertia has been described 

as Galileo’s greatest contribution to Physics. The concept states that: 

an object in a state of motion possesses an “inertia” that causes it to 
remain in that state of motion unless an external force acts on it. In 

order to arrive at this conclusion, Galileo had to abstract from what 

he, and everyone else, saw. 

With regards to objects and their state of motion, Aristotle 

held that objects at rest remained at rest unless a force acted on them, 

but that objects in motion did not remain in motion unless a force 

acted constantly on them. Galileo carried out a catalogue of 

experiments and came to the conclusion that Aristotle’s theory was 
inconclusive, perhaps incorrect, because the frictional force between 

surfaces of inclined planes and the object objects sliding down these 

planes (hidden force) is not properly accounted for. In Galileo's 

observation, when an object is pushed across a surface, two opposing 

forces act on each other, the force associated with the push and the 

force that is associated with the friction that acts in the opposite 

direction.15  

Galileo also made a number of contributions to technology. 

Between 1595 and 1598, Galileo devised and improved a Geometric 

and Military Compass suitable for use by gunners and surveyors For 

gunners, it offered, in addition to a new and safer way of elevating 

cannons accurately, a way of quickly computing the charge of 

gunpowder for cannonballs of different sizes and materials. As a 

geometric instrument, it enabled the construction of any regular 

polygon, computation of the area of any polygon or circular sector, 

and a variety of other calculations. Under Galileo's direction, 

instrument maker Marc’Antonio Mazzoleni produced more than 100 

of these compasses. In 1593, Galileo constructed a thermometer, 

using the expansion and contraction of air in a bulb to move water in 

an attached tube.16 

In 1630 Galileo returned to Rome seeking approval to publish 

his Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, which was 

published in Florence in 1632. He was ordered to appear before the 

Holy Office for papal trial. He was confined to house arrest for the 

rest of his life. In 1992 that Pope John Paul II apologized for the 

Galileo affair, affirming that the Earth is not stationary or the centre 

of the universe - or even the solar system. 



44   Formation, The Catholic Priesthood and The Modern Age 

 

(e.) Rene Descartes (1596-1650) 
Descartes was a French mathematician, scientist and philosopher who 

has been called the “father of modern philosophy”. His school studies 
made him dissatisfied with previous philosophy: He had a deep 

religious faith as a Roman Catholic, which he retained to his dying 

day, along with a resolute, passionate desire to discover the truth. At 

the age of 24, he had a dream and felt the vocational call to seek to 

bring knowledge together in one system of thought. His system began 

by asking what could be known if all else were doubted, suggesting 

the famous “Cogito ergo sum” (I think therefore I am). Actually, it is 
often forgotten that the next step for Descartes was to establish the 

near certainty of the existence of God for only if God both exists and 

would not want us to be deceived by our experiences can we trust our 

senses and logical thought processes. God is, therefore, central to his 

whole philosophy and mathematical principles. What he really 

wanted to see was that his thoughts be adopted as standard Roman 

Catholic teaching.  

In essence, Rene Descartes and Francis Bacon (1561-1626) 

are generally regarded as the key figures in the development of 

scientific methodology. Both had systems in which God was 

important, and both seem more devout than the average for their era. 

 

(f.) Blaise Pascal (1623-1662) 
Pascal was a French mathematician, physicist, inventor, philosopher 

and theologian. In mathematics, he published a treatise on the subject 

of projective geometry and established the foundation for probability 

theory. Pascal invented a mechanical calculator and established the 

principles of vacuums and the pressure of air. He was raised a Roman 

Catholic, and in 1654 he had a religious vision of God, which turned 

the direction of his study from science to theology. Pascal began 

publishing a theological work, Lettres provinciales, in 1656. His most 

influential theological work, the Pensées ("Thoughts"), was a defence 

of Christianity, which was published after his death. 

 

 

(g.) Gregor Mendel (1822-1884) 
Mendel who was a monk, and later elected Abbot of his monastery, 

was the first to lay the mathematical foundations of genetics, in what 

came to be called “Mendelianism”. He began his research in 1856 



Christianity at the Forefront of Philosophy and Science...    45 

 

 

(three years before Darwin published his Origin of Species) in the 

garden of the Monastery.  

Our modern understanding of how traits may be inherited 

through generations comes from the principles proposed by Gregor 

Mendel in 1865. However, Mendel didn't discover these foundational 

principles of inheritance by studying human beings, but rather by 

studying Pisum Sativum, or the common pea plant. Indeed, after eight 

years of tedious experiments with these plants, and – by his own 

admission – “some courage” to persist with them, Mendel proposed 
three foundational principles of inheritance. These principles 

eventually assisted clinicians in human disease research; for example, 

within just a couple of years of the rediscovery of Mendel's work, 

Archibald applied Mendel’s principles to his study of alkaptonuria. 

Today, whether you are talking about pea plants or human beings, 

genetic traits that follow the rules of inheritance that Mendel proposed 

are called Mendelian.17 On the cell theory, Mendel was indebted to 

Unger’s work on the role and behaviour of cells in pollination, and his 

observation of the production of new varieties through cross-

fertilization, in particular, the notion that his involved the union of 

just two cells. Through his experiment with pea plants, Mendel 

further explored the question of how the union of two cells produced 

a new organism, the enigma of generation. He concentrated on what, 

until then, had remained overlooked: the importance of considering 

pairs of observable characters and the statistical law governing the 

pattern of their reappearance in the off-springs. 

The impact of the genetic theory is no longer questioned in 

anyone's mind. Many diseases are known to be inherited, and 

pedigrees are typically traced to determine the probability of passing 

along a hereditary disease. Plants are now designed in laboratories to 

exhibit desired characteristics. The practical result of Mendel's 

research is that it not only changed the way we perceive the world but 

also the way we live in it.18 

 

(h.) Georges Lemaître (1894-1966)  
Georges Lemaître was a Catholic cleric, who earlier in life had 

discerned his call to both the priesthood and the life of the mind as a 

research scientist around the time of his high school graduation. In 

July of 1913, Georges Lemaître earned his bachelor's degree in 



46   Formation, The Catholic Priesthood and The Modern Age 

 
mechanical engineering and began work as a mining engineer.19 He 

studied theoretical physics, and in 1923 was ordained as an Abbé. The 

following year, he pursued his scientific studies with the distinguished 

English astronomer Arthur Eddington, who regarded him as “a very 
brilliant student, wonderfully quick and clear-sighted, and of great 

mathematical ability.” Lemaître then went on to America, where he 
visited most of the major centres of astronomical research. Later, he 

received his PhD in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of 

Technology.20 

 Georges Lemaitre was born in Charleroi, Belgium at a time 

when most scientists thought that the universe was infinite in age and 

constant in its general appearance. Some theories, such as those by 

Isaac Newton and James C. Maxwell suggested an eternal universe. 

Indeed, when Albert Einstein first published his theory of relativity in 

1916, it seemed to confirm that the universe had gone on forever, 

stable and unchanging. Lemaitre reviewed the general theory of 

relativity. As with Einstein's calculations ten years earlier, Lemaitre's 

calculations showed that the universe had to be either shrinking or 

expanding. But while Einstein imagined an unknown force – a 

cosmological constant – which kept the world stable, Lemaitre 

decided that the universe was expanding. He came to this conclusion 

after observing the reddish glow, known as a redshift, surrounding 

objects outside of our galaxy. If interpreted as a Doppler effect, this 

shift in colour meant that the galaxies were moving away from us. 

Lemaitre published his calculations and his reasoning in Annales de la 

Societe scientifique de Bruxelles in 1927. Few people took notice, 

however. 

It could actually be said from the foregoing that Lemaitre was 

the first person to propose the theory of the expansion of the universe, 

which is now popularly misattributed to Edwin Hubble. What is 

known as Hubble’s Law actually was derived by him and he made the 
first estimation too of what is now called the Hubble constant, which 

he published in 1927, two years before Hubble’s article. He founded 
the Big-Bang theory of the origin of the universe which is today 

called the “hypothesis of the primaeval atom”.21 

Among the many things that can be said of Lemaître legacy, is 

a statement in 1933, by Rev. Vecchierello, O.F.M. which is still valid 

today: 



Christianity at the Forefront of Philosophy and Science...    47 

 

 

It is a point of great interest nowadays when there are 

so much loose thinking and still looser writing and 

talking about the non-existence of God … to see a 
man who is both a priest and a scientist fraternizing on 

the most intimate terms with the world's most 

illustrious scientific geniuses. He not only associates 

with them, but he is their peer, and in that is the lie 

given to the old and empty charge that the study of 

science means the loss of belief in religion. Lemaître, 

of course, is usually an object of great curiosity — not 

so much to his coreligionists as to many not of the 

faith who marvel at the "phenomenon" of a Catholic 

priest being a scientist, yes, not only a scientist of the 

regular run, but a genius whose theories are most 

daring.22 

 

Perhaps Lemaître’s greatest gift to the world is a Religion-

Science/Faith-Reason intellectual framework. In addition to its 

logical, practical benefits compared to an openly hostile science-

religion approach, it also is filled with optimism and hope.23 

 

(i.) Teilhard de Chardin (1881-1955) 
Teilhard de Chardin was a French idealist philosopher, 

palaeontologist, geologist and Jesuit Priest. He did a lot of work in the 

aspect of creation and evolution, advancing arguments to prove 

creation in the midst of scientific facts, and he settled for ‘evolutive 
creation’. God is the creator and preserver, the active Centre of 
centres upon which the evolutionary process derives motion for action 

and sustenance.24 His life-long search was for synthesis: of reason and 

authority, of matter and spirit, between past and future, between body 

and soul.25 

 Teilhard’s basic premise is that all of reality, the whole of the 
cosmic order is in movement (evolution), by the very fact that God 

who is Almighty Creator “makes things make themselves”.  Evolution 

as he saw it is a process in space and time that generates new levels of 

a more complex organization. All observable phenomena of the 

universe are involved in this process, particularly the phenomenon of 

man. But evolution is not only a process in which the material or 



48   Formation, The Catholic Priesthood and The Modern Age 

 
quantified aspects of the matter have moved from the simple to the 

more complex; it is also a process in which primitive psychism has 

moved to more intense consciousness. Man presently climaxes the 

process of evolution as the most complex expression of cellular 

structures and the most intensely conscious.26 

 In his characteristic way of further explicating his ideas, 

Teilhard explains the situation thus: 

The whole of the cosmic order is moving towards a 

goal (the Omega Point), gradually progressing from 

one stage of development to another, each one more 

unified than the preceding. The highest stage of 

material development is life. The highest stage in the 

development of life is human life. With human life, 

consciousness achieves a level of self-reflection. We 

not only know, we know that we know. Human 

existence, therefore, represents a new and unique 

order of being.27 

 

Teilhard’s perspective on Omega Point takes account of a personal, 
transcendent centre to the creative-evolutionary process. This centre 

is outside and above the process – or to use more traditional language, 

is transcendent to it. Omega Point is active in history, not only 

through the provision of motive for action but principally through its 

own personal effectiveness. Teilhard names this active “Centre of 
centres”, God.28  

 

(j.)  Stanley L. Jaki (1924-2009) 
Stanley L. Jaki, a Hungarian-born Catholic priest of the Benedictine 

Order, was Distinguished Professor at Seton Hall University, South 

Orange, New Jersey. With doctorates in theology and physics, for 

more than forty years he specialized in the history and philosophy of 

science. The author of over fifty books and over four hundred articles, 

he served as Gifford Lecturer at the University of Edinburgh and as 

Fremantle Lecturer at Balliol College, Oxford. He lectured at major 

universities in the United States, Europe, and Australia. He was an 

honorary member of the Pontifical Academy of Science, membre 

correspondant of the Académie Nationale des Sciences, Belles-

Lettres et Arts of Bordeaux, and the recipient of the Lecomte du Noüy 

Prize for 1970 and of the Templeton Prize for 1987. 



Christianity at the Forefront of Philosophy and Science...    49 

 

 

  Jaki was profound and persuasive in upholding the view that 

thinkers and writers of the Enlightenment period up to the present 

have been mistaken about Christianity and science. He refuted their 

submissions that Christianity was opposed to, and even oppressed, 

science. Instead, he argued that Christianity has made a great positive 

impact on science. In The Savior of Science (2000), Jaki revealed the 

Christian foundations of modern science. According to him, Christian 

monotheism alone provided epistemological underpinnings for the 

scientific endeavour, where other ancient cultures of Greece, China, 

India, and the early Muslim empire failed to make an impact.29   

Following Jaki’s four-point reasons for the unique birth of 

modern science in Christian Western Europe, explicated in the book 

Christ and Science,30 the noted conservative thinker Russell Kirk has 

this to say: “Modern science, Father Jaki points out, rose from the 

natural theology of medieval Christian learning—a fact 

that philosophes and positivists sedulously ignore.”31 Father Jaki was 

sturdy in defending the view that Catholicism has been and is still a 

blessing to science, not an obstacle, as many erroneously claim.32 

Through the rest of his life, Jaki spearheaded the move aimed 

at establishing a friendly relationship between science and religion. 

He wrote more than two dozen books on the subject, expressing the 

notable theory that modern scientific inquiry can only exist alongside 

Christianity because modern science arose from within a Christian 

society, a society which alone afforded it the opportunity to thrive. 

For this, he was awarded the Templeton Award, which is given to 

those who do outstanding work in affirming a spiritual dimension to 

reality.33 

After rising to be one of the most significant scientific minds 

in modern times, S. L. Jaki died in Madrid on April 7, 2009. 

 

Conclusion 
Belief in God has a much longer history than does the practice of 

philosophy or the ‘scientification’ of science.  These Christian 

thinkers and scholars we have discussed above, many of whom were 

Catholic priests and who were products of their age, serve as models 

for our own age when the scientific study of the universe, 

technological revolution and contrasting standards of morality have 

become real issues within the gamut of our collective existence, 



50   Formation, The Catholic Priesthood and The Modern Age 

 
posing serious challenges to people’s faith in the one true God as the 
creator and sustainer of the universe and the process of the natural 

order. Our model Christian scholars familiarized themselves with the 

philosophical and scientific theories of their day and did not hesitate 

to appropriate them into their theological reflections, even giving 

them pastoral applications. They professed God to be the creator and 

sovereign of the heavens and the earth, through intellectually active 

engagement with the world and its objects.  

As the contemporary world continues to drift on the slopes of 

manifold crises – the crisis of faith, crisis of values, crisis of morality 

– and a host of other maladies, it behoves today’s generation of 
Clerics who have been trained in Philosophy and various other 

disciplines to follow the lead of the likes of those discussed in this 

paper by putting our training into active use for the service of the 

global community. We should not be afraid to actively and critically 

engage the philosophical and scientific systems of thoughts in today’s 
world with an eye to building a better world in which universal 

progress can be sustained.  

 

 

Endnotes 

                                                 
1 This paper is dedicated to my Formator, Vocations’ Director and Lecturer in 
Logic, Epistemology and Analytic Philosophy during the period of my Seminary 

Formation, Rev. Fr. Prof. Anselm Jimoh, as he marks the Silver Jubilee of His 

Priestly Ordination. 
 

2 JOHN PAUL II, Pastores Dabo Vobis, 43; US CATHOLIC BISHOPS, The Basic 

Plan for the Ongoing Formation of Priests (2001). 
3 S. M. McDONOUGH – J. T. PENNINGTON, (eds.), Cosmology and the New 

Testament (London: T & T Clark Int., 2008) 2. 
4 P. SMULDERS, “Creation: Theology”, in: K. Rahner (ed.), Encyclopedia of 

Theology: A Concise Sacramentum Mundi, London: Burns & Oates, 1975, pp. 

313-319. 
5 Cf. E. ADAM, Constructing the World: A Study in Paul’s Cosmological 
Language (Edinburgh: T & T Clarke, 2000) 3ff. 
6 A. M. HUNTER, The Gospel According to Paul, (Philadelphia: The 

Westminster Press, 1966) 1ff. 
7 A. M. HUNTER, The Gospel According to Paul, 43. 
8 J. OMOREGBE, Epistemology: A Systematic And Historical Study, (Lagos: Joja 

Publishers, 1998) 43. 



Christianity at the Forefront of Philosophy and Science...    51 

 

 

                                                                                                             
9 Cf. The Letters of St. Paul to the Romans 4:16; 5:2; cf. the Letter to the 

Hebrews 11:1; 12:2. Although it remains a major question in Biblical 

scholarship who the author of the Letter to the Hebrews is, the view by some 

that its has some connection with the Pauline school of disciples, rings a bell 

that brings a worthwhile intertextual connections between the quoted text and 

related texts in Paul’s letters.  
10 J. M. COOPER – D. S. HUTSCHINSON, Plato: The Complete Works, 

(Indianopolis, IN: Hackett Publishing Company, 1997). 
11 V. J. BOURKE, “Thomas Aquinas, St.” in P. EDWARDS et al. (eds.), The 

Encyclopedia of Philosophy (New York: Macmillan Publishing Co, 1967) 105-

116. 
12 V. J. BOURKE, “Thomas Aquinas, St.”, 105. 
13 Although Copernicus was highly engaged in ecclesiastical life, there are not 

extant documents to show that he he was ever ordained a priest. The fact that he 

was one of the four candidates to the assume the episcopal seat of Warmia in 

1527 gives credibility to the supposition that he was ordained a priest. Cf. 

“Nicolaus Copernicus”, in New Advent Catholic Encyclopedia [Available at: 

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04352b.htm (Accessed 21 August 2019)]. 
14 A. NAESS, Galileo Galilei: When the World Stood Still. Trans by James 

Anderson (Springer, Berlin 2005) 33. 
15 G. GALILEI, Dialogues Concerning Two New Sciences. Trans by H. Crew – A. 

de Salvio (William Andrew Pub, New York 2001). 
16 Cf. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galileo_Galilei 
17 I. MIKO, “Gregor Mendel and the Principles of Inheritance” in Nature 

Education 1(1):134, 2008. 
18  E. MAYR, The Growth of Biological Thought, The Belknap Press of Harvard 

University, 1982, 720-740. 
19 A. BERGER (ed.), The Big Bang and Georges Lemaître  D. Reidel Publishing, 

New York, 1984, 365. 
20 S. SOTER – N. TYSON, Cosmic Horizons: Astronomy At The Cutting Edge, A 

Publication of The New Press. © 2000 American Museum of Natural History.          

[Available at : 

http://www.amnh.org/education/resources/rfl/web/essaybooks/cosmic/p_lemaitr

e.html (Accessed: 14 August 2019)]. 
21 Wikipedia online: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georges_Lema%C3%AEtre 
22 H. VECCIERELLO, Einstein and Relativity. Lemaître and the Expanding 

Universe, St. Anthony Guild Press, Paterson 1934, 23. 
23J. R. LARACY, “The Faith and Reason of Father George Lemaitre” in 
Homiletic and Pastoral Review, Ignatian Press, San Francisco, CA 2009, 50-59. 
24 T. DE CHARDIN, The Appearance of Man, (trans. by J. M. COHEN) (New 

York: Harper and Row Publishers, 1956). 
25 D. CARROLL, “Creation”, 183. 



52   Formation, The Catholic Priesthood and The Modern Age 

 

                                                                                                             
26 T. DE CHARDIN, The Appearance of Man. 
27 T. DE CHARDIN, The Phenomenon of Man, (trans by Bernard Wall) (New 

York:  Harper and Row Publishers, 1959) 77-183. 
28 D. CARROLL, “Creation”, 252-253. 
29 S. L. JAKI, The Savior of Science, William. B. Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, MI 

2000. 
30 S. L. JAKI, Christ and Science, Real View Books, Royal Oak, MI 2000, 23. 
31 R. KIRK, “The Rediscovery of Creation”, National Review 35 (10) (27 May 

1983), pp. 640-41. 
32 T. D. WATTS, “Cosmology and the History of Science” in Social Justice 
Review (St Louis, MO), Vol. 100, No. 7-8, July-August 2009. 
33 Tyler Huckabee, “Nine Groundbreaking Scientists Who Happened to be 

Christians” [Available at: https://relevantmagazine.com/god/9-groundbreaking-

scientists-who-happened-be-christians/ (Accessed on: 26 August 2019)]. 


