Science - Theology. From the inconceivable of the created to the participation in the uncreated

  1. Lemma
  2. Επιστήμη-Θεολογία. Ἀπὸ τὸ ἀκατανόητο τοῦ κτιστοῦ στὸ μεθεκτὸ τοῦ ἀκτίστου
  3. Greek, Modern (1453-)
  4. Delli, Eudoxie
  5. Modes of interaction - Scientific theories and disciplines - Concepts of knowledge and modes of reasoning
  6. 20-1-2017
  7. Hatzinikolaou, (Metropolitan of Mesogaia and Lavreotiki) Nikolaos [Author]. Science - Theology. From the inconceivable of the created to the participation in the uncreated
  8. Επιστήμη-Θεολογία. Ἀπὸ τὸ ἀκατανόητο τοῦ κτιστοῦ στὸ μεθεκτὸ τοῦ ἀκτίστου’
  9. neuroscience - biochemistry - eugenetics - embryonic - Big Bang - euthanasia
    1. <p>Hatzinikolaou, (Metropolitan) N. [Xατζηνικολάου, (Μητροπολίτης) Ν. (2008).<em> Επιστήμη-Θεολογία. Ἀπὸ τὸ ἀκατανόητο τοῦ κτιστοῦ στὸ μεθεκτὸ τοῦ ἀκτίστου</em>. <em>Ὁμιλία τῆς ἀναγορεύσεως τοῦ Σεβασμιωτάτου σὲ Ἐπίτιμο Διδάκτορα τοῦ Τμήματος Κοινωνικῆς Θεολογίας τῆς Θεολογικῆς Σχολῆς τοῦ Πανεπιστημίου Ἀθηνῶν, 3.11.2008</em>. Retrieved from http://www.imml.gr/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=18:tetst1-3&catid=19:2012-01-29-11-12-07&Itemid=124</p>

    1. The text is a transcription of Rev. Nikolaos’ speech at the occasion of his proclamation as honorary doctorate from the Faculty of Theology of the University of Athens (Department of Social Theology) on 3.11 2008. After a short introduction on the multifaceted crisis of modern world (ecological, political and ethical), he focuses on the variety and complexity of the created world making references to the molecular chemistry, the animal and vegetal world as well as to the human genome.

      Metropolitan Nikolaos Hatzinikolaou highlights the inconceivable dimensions of the world, nature and universe, which can be only approximately known, but not fully understood, by scientific knowledge. The same complexity is attested, according to him, in the case of the created humankind. Neurophysiology and neuroscience lead us to the mystery of the human brain, nourishing scientific inquiry. Nevertheless, man seems to be much more complex than a biological and cellular system and cannot be reduced to biochemical functions and anatomic structures. For this reason, the beginning (eugonic and embryonic) and the end of human life (euthanasia) are of major importance and they cannot be reduced to simple scientific issues. Life is not only a right, which belongs to man, but it requires to be respected as a mystery that overpasses him.

      The speaker recognizes a level of existence, knowledge and truth, within the Created, which could be complementary to science and transcendent. In this perspective, he criticizes the autarky (self-sufficiency) and the eventual arrogance of science.

      At the last part of his speech, he presents the conception of Orthodox theology on God and its impact to the relation of faith and scientific knowledge; God is inapproachable in his essence but through his energies manifesting in the whole created world, human beings come to participate in Him. He is a careful Presence. God is neither a rival whom science has to reduce nor an object, which has to be demonstrated strickly in discursive terms. Scientific knowledge can be a path to God when it is related to humility. Scientific inquiry provokes often a slight frustration because it has to cope with the inherent limits of human knowledge.

      In this sense, science can upload man to the higher level of knowledge, i.e. the awareness of his own intellectual limits. On this point, theology can introduce him to the "empirical" and "inner" experience of the communion with God, which is beyond demonstrative reason.