Science confirms the intuitions of the Saints

1. Entity type Lemma
2. Original titleŞtiinţa confirmă intuiţiile sfinţilor
3. Language term Romanian
4. lemma author Stavinschi, Alexandra
5. lemma category Orthodox theological tradition and practice > Patristic studies - Modes of interaction > Integration
6. Publication date 17-06-2007
7. lemma work Mihalache, Sorin [Author]. Ştiinţa confirmă intuiţiile sfinţilor [Science confirms the intuitions of the saints]
8. lemma manifestations Ziarul Lumina
9. Keywords universe - patristic tradition - interpretation of scientific data
10. Url 12.2016
11. Lemma body

    1. The author starts by mentioning a number of recent scientific breakthroughs that show the infinite complexity of the universe. While some people see behind this the existence of a Creator, others reach entirely different conclusions as to how all this came into being. The article seeks to explain why these contradictory claims are possible. The answer lies in a fundamental distinction: on the one hand, we have the laws of nature, on the other, their interpretation. Scientific data do not demonstrate (in the strict sense) anything. In this respect, they cannot be considered as strictly scientific theories that can be easily confirmed in the laboratory. While the data are certain, their interpretations are not. However, the fact that science is not able to say anything about the existence of a Creator, cannot be seen as a weak point as far as science is concerned. Its scope cannot exceed the boundaries of the created world. From a Christian perspective, God is uncreated and impenetrable. The fact that a scientific theory cannot demonstrate the existence of God cannot be a weak point for theology either. Theology has never ever expected from science a demonstration of God's existence. The Church testifies about God based on an entirely different type of evidence, which is not scientific, but nevertheless equally authentic. Scientific theories can indeed prove the order of the world, but cannot strictly prove the existence of God, nor can they make statements about His mysteries. The author goes on to discuss the limits of the work of scientists, which is subject to external constraints, as opposed to the freedom experienced by artists or philosophers. Surprisingly, however, of all the secular human undertakings, science has produced the deepest and most dramatic paradigm shifts, beyond any imagination. The findings of science challenged the meaning of the world, of life and of man, in a radical and profound way, more than any philosophy or art did before. Interestingly, the strength and originality of scientific results were possible precisely because science has begun to penetrate the rationality of God's creation. This is the only way we can explain the convergence of contemporary physics with the Eastern Christian patristic thought, which more than 1500 years earlier had made the same deep and counterintuitive claims about God’s creation. Eventually, in their endeavors to understand the physical world, those who are faithful only to Creation meet the believers, who confess and honour the Creator. St. Symeon the New Theologian says that "God is nowhere for those who look physically, for He is invisible. But for those who understand spiritually He is everywhere; because He is present, as He is in all things and beyond all things. He is in all things, and close to those who fear Him (Psalm 84: 10), but His salvation is far from sinners". (Ps. 118, 155).