Christian Roots of Innovation in Science and Technology

The arena of science and technology is often seen as a very secular sector of human work, in part because the “warfare thesis”—the supposed long-standing and essential enmity between Christian faith and the scientific enterprise—is still widely assumed today (e.g., in the popular 2014 Neil DeGrasse Tyson–hosted updating of Carl Sagan’s Cosmos TV series). But the real story is very different. This course will examine how Christian thinkers innovated in science and technology starting in the Middle Ages, sparked the scientific revolution (1543 to 1687) with key theological beliefs, and have continued to bring faith understandings to their work in this discipline right up to today.