St. Thomas Aquinas (1933)
Quotes by and posts relating to one of the most influential authors of the 20th century, G.K. Chesterton
Wednesday, February 5, 2014
"...this clumsy collision of two very impatient forms of ignorance was known as the quarrel of Science and Religion."
For instance, in the matter of the inspiration of Scripture, [St. Thomas Aquinas] fixed first on the obvious fact, which was forgotten by four furious centuries of sectarian battle, that the meaning of Scripture is very far from self-evident and that we must often interpret it in the light of other truths. If a literal interpretation is really and flatly contradicted by an obvious fact, why then we can only say that the literal interpretation must be a false interpretation. But the fact must really be an obvious fact. And unfortunately, nineteenth century scientists were just as ready to jump to the conclusion that any guess about nature was an obvious fact, as were seventeenth-century sectarians to jump to the conclusion that any guess about Scripture was the obvious explanation. Thus, private theories about what the Bible ought to mean, and premature theories about what the world ought to mean, have met in loud and widely advertised controversy, especially in the Victorian time; and this clumsy collision of two very impatient forms of ignorance was known as the quarrel of Science and Religion.
No comments:
Post a Comment