by Karla Perry

Created on: December 23, 2008   Last Updated: January 13, 2012

Science, contrary to popular thought, did not arise out of secularism, but out of Christianity. Moreover, Christianity provided the only stable worldview on which science could develop. I know this may be a shocking statement and there will be those who tell me it's a completely unsubstantiated claim. However, let me expound.

Historically you have the age of the ancient Greeks and Romans followed by the Middle Ages and then the Modern Era. The Middle Ages are often referred to as the Dark Ages. It is said that because the Church was in power in those days that creativity and human reason was stifled. This is not entirely true. Science is often solely attributed to rise of the secular Modern Era. However before the word "scientist" was coined there were parson-naturalist studying nature during the Middle Ages. A parson naturalist is a minister who studied the natural world. Additionally, most all the scientists from the 1500's to the 1800's were Christians and many of them major contributors of renown.

Small samples of the many Christian contributors to the foundations of science are:

Nicholas Copernicus (1473-1543) established mathematically that the planets revolved around the sun.

Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1627) known for establishing the "scientific method".

Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) a brilliant mathematician and scientist. He came close to discovering the universal gravitational pull before Newton ever came on the scene.

Rene Descartes (1596-1650) a mathematician and scientist known as the "father of modern philosophy."

Isaac Newton (1642-1727) a genius and great contributor to science and chemistry. Also known as a devout Christian.

Robert Boyle (1791-1867) a scientist known for "Boyle's law" in chemistry. He is also known as a devout Christian and defender of the faith.

Johann Gottlob Frederick von Bohnenberger (1765 1831) gave us the electroscope, commencing the development of scientific electrical devices. He was a learned theologian and Priest.

Christianity provided the firm foundation on which to birth such great scientific discoveries. How so? Christians believe that the natural world is real and orderly. Christians believe God has given humanity sufficient cognitive abilities to learn about the real world including the ability to logically reason deductively and inductively. The ancient Greeks did not birth the sciences because they believed that nature was evil and disorderly. The orient countries believed nature to be an illusion and thus nothing

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