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Science Was Born of Christianity

Galileo, 1st Modern Scientist . . . Really!

Father Stanley Jaki defined exact science this way:  “Exact science is the quantitative study of the quantitative aspects of objects in motion.” Click link above to get Stacey Trasancos’ book, Science was Born of Christianity: The Teaching of Fr. Stanley Jaki. This definition clearly distinguishes modern science from speculative philosophy, theology, and reasoned discourse. It is also an important factor in distinguishing modern science from ancient science, something Jaki studied exhaustively.

Perhaps you were like me in junior high school and learned that Galileo was the 1st modern scientist, but you really couldn’t say why that was important. Your reaction may have been like mine:  “That’s very nice.” Also, about the time I’m learning about Jaki & his definition of exact science & why modern science was not stillborn in the Christian West, I come across Galileo’s “Mathematics of Motion,” published in 1638.

Reading Galileo’s writing is like reading a modern day article in Scientific American. It is precise & mathematical, & it presumes nothing about the genius of the author, only that experimental proof is the key to discovering that which philosopher geniuses & other scientists less rigorous in their method throughout history had failed to discover. Over & over again, Galileo tests what he proposes until the reader cannot escape the inevitable truth of what his quantitative measures prove. It’s a tour de force.