April 21, 2005
In the Beginning
The Commissar has an interesting post up on Benedict XVI, the Church and evolution.
Unless I'm very badly misreading the document he cites, the Church appears to hold more or less the same view I always have regarding the study of the origins and development of life: We look to science - in this case, the theory of evolution - to explain how life in general and Mankind in particular came to be what they are. We look to faith to attempt to explain why this is so (not that we can ever understand the answer, of course).
This dichotome of how and why also applies in just about any other field of natural studies I can think of, from medicine to quantum physics. And in this regard, I have never had any trouble whatsoever reconciling vigorous scientific inquiry with faith.
UPDATE: TAKING THE BAIT - The Colossus links to Peggy Noonan's column on the new Pope this morning. Actually, I was going to let that one alone because, frankly, I was a bit disappointed with it - I thought Peggy could have said so much more about the idea of the "inner adult" than she actually did. I only hope she's planning to come back to this idea in the future.
Posted by Robert at April 21, 2005 09:50 AMI think the Church learned something from its battles with Galileo, which is that it is better to leave the nuts and bolts to science and instead corner the market on meaning.
In that sense, the Church oughtn't care how the universe works; merely that it works.
Science is great and giving us explanations, but lousy at providing a meaning of life, or a system of ethics and laws.
Posted by: The Colossus at April 21, 2005 10:20 AMI like Peggy Noonan sometimes, very much. And other times? I find her to be a self-regarding blowhard. Her writing style (and this "inner adult" piece is like that) reverberates (in my opinion) with: "Oh my God, I am feeling things SO DEEPLY RIGHT NOW. Listen to the depth of my own emotions. I am so pleased with how deeply I feel things."
Yuk.
Posted by: red at April 21, 2005 11:17 AMOh, and I totally agree, Robert - I too, for whatever reason, haven't had a problem reconciling science and faith.
Posted by: red at April 21, 2005 11:19 AMShe does have that mystic turn on occassion. Sometimes I think it's wonderful, sometimes I think it's over the top. It really depends on what she's writing about - I recall that some of her post 9/11 essays were exquisite, mostly because she was talking about what she was feeling witnessing all the aftermath around her.
But here I'd been hoping that she'd have something to say about what it means to be a religious grown up, to accept in a mature and responsible way all the demands faith makes on one, the degree to which a given Church either promotes or suppresses it, and the implications of such acceptance in ordinary life. She obviously didn't develop her piece in that direction, hence my disappointment.
Posted by: Robert the LB at April 21, 2005 11:31 AM
