What's So Great About Christianity?Dinesh D'SouzaCh 8: Christianity and Reason: The Theological Roots of Science The fact that Christianity is at the heart of Western civilization can be demonstrated by looking at the development of modern science. Many people in our day believe a myth that tells the story of a prolonged war between science and religion. Modern science arose in Europe due to the shaping of European thinking by the Christian worldview. The main ingredient present within the Christian religion that is necessary for science to arise is reason. p83 Science and faith enemies? Harris and Wilson p83 Science arose in Christendom. "Why did science arise here and nowhere else?" Christianity's emphasis on the importance of reason. p84 "modern science is an invention of medieval Christianity, and that the greatest breakthroughs in scientific reason have largely been the work of Christians." p84 Christianity based on reason in contrast to Judaism and Islam which are basically religions of law. p85 Augustine's conclusion that time was created with the universe as a logical exercise. Aquinas argued for God based on causation. p86 Dawkins and Harris ridicule the idea of God with "Who created God?" D'Souza's comments sound like William Lane Craig's treatment of the Kalam Cosmological Argument. p87 Anselm's ontological argument p89 Christianity characterized by rigorous exercises of logic like the efforts of Augustine, Aquinas and Anselm.
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What's So Great About Christianity?Dinesh D'SouzaCh 9: From Logos to Cosmos: Christianity and the Invention of Invention Modern science is beholden to several foundational beliefs (presuppositions) in order for it to get off the ground such as (1)the existence of universal laws and (2) the ability of the human mind to rationally comprehend these laws. For the Christian, these foundational beliefs about reason and observation are grounded in the Divine mind (the Logos). The belief in an ordered world and a rational mind encouraged the development of science so that many early scientists were Christians. Many institutions were established throughout Europe and later in the United States. p91 "the greatest idea of modern science is based not on reason but on faith." the presumption that the universe is rational. quotes Feynman and Tyson. p92 "Scientists today take for granted the idea that the universe operates according to laws, and that these laws are comprehensible to the human mind." Quotes by Trefil and Weinberg. Also Wigner in essay "The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics in the Natural Sciences'. p94 Abu Hamed al-Ghazali and Alfred North Whitehead p95 Universities had roots in the monasteries of medieval Christendom. p95 Bacon the founder of the scientific method was devout Christian p96 debate deductive vs inductive was religious debate p97 List of leading scientists who were Christian p99 Lederberg religious impulse
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What's So Great About Christianity?Dinesh D'SouzaCh 10: An Atheist Fable: Reopening the Galileo Case Atheists continue to promote the myth of the warfare between science and religion and the persecution of science by Christian authorities. This myth is stated in terms of the battle between good and evil, and the incident with Galileo is issued as the prime example of the ongoing war. Even though the facts about Galileo have been greatly distorted, a number of historians have debunked the myth. p101 Multiple quotes from the atheists about the Galileo case. p102 Dramatizes the rhetoric with a parallel to Star Wars but then deflates it with "suffers from only one limitation: it is not true." Points to John William Draper and Andrew Dickson White as originators of this "conflict between science and faith", discredited by historians likeDavid Lindberg. p103 Early Greeks and medieval Christians both knew Earth was round from watching ships masts. Debunks the Wilberforce/Huxley fable about the ape ancestor p104 Bruno excecuted for heresy about trinity, not for Copernicanism p105 Church aware of data, and it supported Ptolemy. p106 Galileo got heliocentricity from telescope obs, but Brahe opposed it. p108 Galileo's errors - motion induced tides, circular orbits. Galileo's indescretion: the dialogue between Simplicio and Galileo. Also argued against literal Biblical interpretation. p110 lied to inquisition. last paragraph a concise summary.
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