{"id":849,"date":"2008-10-31T14:39:57","date_gmt":"2008-10-31T14:39:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/viamedia\/2008\/10\/meeting-of-minds.html"},"modified":"2008-10-31T14:39:57","modified_gmt":"2008-10-31T14:39:57","slug":"meeting-of-minds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/2008\/10\/meeting-of-minds.html","title":{"rendered":"Meeting of Minds"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

\"Pope<\/a>
Pope Benedict XVI (R) greets British professor Stephen Hawking during a meeting of science academics at the Vatican October 31, 2008. (Osservatore Romano\/Reuters)<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\nThe Pope’s speech to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences:<\/a><\/p>\n

In choosing the topic Scientific Insight into the Evolution of the Universe and of Life<\/em>, you seek to focus on an area of enquiry which elicits much interest. In fact, many of our contemporaries today wish to reflect upon the ultimate origin of beings, their cause and their end, and the meaning of human history and the universe.<\/p>\n

In this context, questions concerning the relationship between science\u2019s reading of the world and the reading offered by Christian Revelation naturally arise. My predecessors Pope Pius XII<\/a> and Pope John Paul II<\/a> noted that there is no opposition between faith\u2019s understanding of creation and the evidence of the empirical sciences. Philosophy in its early stages had proposed images to explain the origin of the cosmos on the basis of one or more elements of the material world. This genesis was not seen as a creation, but rather a mutation or transformation; it involved a somewhat horizontal interpretation of the origin of the world. A decisive advance in understanding the origin of the cosmos was the consideration of being qua<\/em> being and the concern of metaphysics with the most basic question of the first or transcendent origin of participated being. In order to develop and evolve, the world must first be<\/em>, and thus have come from nothing into being. It must be created, in other words, by the first Being who is such by essence.<\/p>\n

To state that the foundation of the cosmos and its developments is the provident wisdom of the Creator is not to say that creation has only to do with the beginning of the history of the world and of life. It implies, rather, that the Creator founds these developments and supports them, underpins them and sustains them continuously. Thomas Aquinas taught that the notion of creation must transcend the horizontal origin of the unfolding of events, which is history, and consequently all our purely naturalistic ways of thinking and speaking about the evolution of the world. Thomas observed that creation is neither a movement nor a mutation. It is instead the foundational and continuing relationship that links the creature to the Creator, for he is the cause of every being and all becoming (cf. Summa Theologiae<\/em>, I, q.45, a. 3).<\/p>\n

To \u201cevolve\u201d literally means \u201cto unroll a scroll\u201d, that is, to read a book. The imagery of nature as a book has its roots in Christianity and has been held dear by many scientists. Galileo saw nature as a book whose author is God in the same way that Scripture has God as its author. It is a book whose history, whose evolution, whose \u201cwriting\u201d and meaning, we \u201cread\u201d according to the different approaches of the sciences, while all the time presupposing the foundational presence of the author who has wished to reveal himself therein. This image also helps us to understand that the world, far from originating out of chaos, resembles an ordered book; it is a cosmos. Notwithstanding elements of the irrational, chaotic and the destructive in the long processes of change in the cosmos, matter as such is \u201clegible\u201d. It has an inbuilt \u201cmathematics\u201d. The human mind therefore can engage not only in a \u201ccosmography\u201d studying measurable phenomena but also in a \u201ccosmology\u201d discerning the visible inner logic of the cosmos. We may not at first be able to see the harmony both of the whole and of the relations of the individual parts, or their relationship to the whole. Yet, there always remains a broad range of intelligible events, and the process is rational in that it reveals an order of evident correspondences and undeniable finalities: in the inorganic world, between microstructure and macrostructure; in the organic and animal world, between structure and function; and in the spiritual world, between knowledge of the truth and the aspiration to freedom. Experimental and philosophical inquiry gradually discovers these orders; it perceives them working to maintain themselves in being, defending themselves against imbalances, and overcoming obstacles. And thanks to the natural sciences we have greatly increased our understanding of the uniqueness of humanity\u2019s place in the cosmos.<\/p>\n

The distinction between a simple living being and a spiritual being that is capax Dei,<\/em> points to the existence of the intellective soul of a free transcendent subject. Thus the Magisterium of the Church has constantly affirmed that \u201cevery spiritual soul is created immediately by God \u2013 it is not \u2018produced\u2019 by the parents \u2013 and also that it is immortal\u201d (Catechism of the Catholic Church<\/a>, <\/em>366). This points to the distinctiveness of anthropology, and invites exploration of it by modern thought.<\/p>\n

Distinguished Academicians, I wish to conclude by recalling the words addressed to you by my predecessor Pope John Paul II in November 2003: \u201cscientific truth, which is itself a participation in divine Truth, can help philosophy and theology to understand ever more fully the human person and God\u2019s Revelation about man, a Revelation that is completed and perfected in Jesus Christ. For this important mutual enrichment in the search for the truth and the benefit of mankind, I am, with the whole Church, profoundly grateful\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Pope’s speech to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences: In choosing the topic Scientific Insight into the Evolution of the Universe and of Life, you seek to focus on an area of enquiry which elicits much interest. In fact, many of our contemporaries today wish to reflect upon the ultimate origin of beings, their cause…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":180,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-849","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nMeeting of Minds - Via Media<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/2008\/10\/meeting-of-minds.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Meeting of Minds - Via Media\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Pope’s speech to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences: In choosing the topic Scientific Insight into the Evolution of the Universe and of Life, you seek to focus on an area of enquiry which elicits much interest. In fact, many of our contemporaries today wish to reflect upon the ultimate origin of beings, their cause…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/2008\/10\/meeting-of-minds.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Via Media\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2008-10-31T14:39:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/d.yimg.com\/us.yimg.com\/p\/nm\/20081031\/2008_10_31t141054_450x340_us_pope_hawking.jpg?x=400&y=302&q=85&sig=IZ0qhtNiPJcmChqyNus8zQ--\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"awelborn\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Meeting of Minds - Via Media","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/2008\/10\/meeting-of-minds.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Meeting of Minds - Via Media","og_description":"The Pope’s speech to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences: In choosing the topic Scientific Insight into the Evolution of the Universe and of Life, you seek to focus on an area of enquiry which elicits much interest. In fact, many of our contemporaries today wish to reflect upon the ultimate origin of beings, their cause…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/2008\/10\/meeting-of-minds.html","og_site_name":"Via Media","article_published_time":"2008-10-31T14:39:57+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/d.yimg.com\/us.yimg.com\/p\/nm\/20081031\/2008_10_31t141054_450x340_us_pope_hawking.jpg?x=400&y=302&q=85&sig=IZ0qhtNiPJcmChqyNus8zQ--"}],"author":"awelborn","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/2008\/10\/meeting-of-minds.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/2008\/10\/meeting-of-minds.html","name":"Meeting of Minds - Via Media","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/2008\/10\/meeting-of-minds.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/2008\/10\/meeting-of-minds.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/d.yimg.com\/us.yimg.com\/p\/nm\/20081031\/2008_10_31t141054_450x340_us_pope_hawking.jpg?x=400&y=302&q=85&sig=IZ0qhtNiPJcmChqyNus8zQ--","datePublished":"2008-10-31T14:39:57+00:00","dateModified":"2008-10-31T14:39:57+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/#\/schema\/person\/aea2dcda1635c9c2d6030d9c7595725a"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/2008\/10\/meeting-of-minds.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/2008\/10\/meeting-of-minds.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/2008\/10\/meeting-of-minds.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/d.yimg.com\/us.yimg.com\/p\/nm\/20081031\/2008_10_31t141054_450x340_us_pope_hawking.jpg?x=400&y=302&q=85&sig=IZ0qhtNiPJcmChqyNus8zQ--","contentUrl":"http:\/\/d.yimg.com\/us.yimg.com\/p\/nm\/20081031\/2008_10_31t141054_450x340_us_pope_hawking.jpg?x=400&y=302&q=85&sig=IZ0qhtNiPJcmChqyNus8zQ--"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/2008\/10\/meeting-of-minds.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Meeting of Minds"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/","name":"Via Media","description":"Amy Welborn","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/#\/schema\/person\/aea2dcda1635c9c2d6030d9c7595725a","name":"awelborn","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/9f2\/9f2100183464289fedc5b8a621c15110x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/9f2\/9f2100183464289fedc5b8a621c15110x96.jpg","caption":"awelborn"},"description":"Amy Welborn was born in 1960, the only child of a now-retired professor of political science, a teacher-librarian-artist mother,deceased since 2001, was a teacher, librarian and artist. The Catholicism comes from her side. Amy grew up in a number of places - Indiana - Washington, DC - Lubbock Texas - Arlington, Virginia - DeKalb, Illinois - Lawrence, Kansas - and Knoxville, Tennessee, where the family settled in 1973. She attended Knoxville Catholic High School, then the University of Tennessee where she majored in history. She received an MA in Church History from Vanderbilt University, where she wrote a thesis on the changing role of women in 19th century American Protestantism, and the ways Scripture was used to justify those changes. She worked as as a teacher in Catholic high schools and a Parish Director of Religious Education and started writing for the diocesan press - the Florida Catholic - in 1988. Amy has written columns for Our Sunday Visitor and Catholic News Service at times over the past twenty years. Her articles have been published in venues ranging from Our Sunday Visitor to the New York Times to Commonweal. She has written 17 books. 18, if you included the as yet tragically unpublished novel. Amy has five children, ranging in age from 26 to 4 and was married to Michael Dubruiel, who died unexpectedly in February 2009. She lives in Birmingham, Alabama.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/author\/awelborn"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/849","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/180"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=849"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/849\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=849"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=849"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=849"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}