by Brother Guy Consolmagno
A fellow member of the Mater Amabilis™ Facebook group recommended this book as a living book on astronomy. I have read The Heavens Proclaim by the same Jesuit brother and was thrilled to find this one at our library. It will be a marvelous supplement to our study of astronomy in eleventh grade.
The book is a mixture of essays and explorations on the relationship between faith and science and stories of his own personal experiences as a scientist and as a Jesuit scientist. It feels a little disjointed rather than a coherent whole as it seems to be a mixture of essays he'd originally written for other publications, but I think it's still valuable.
Brother Consolmagno writes about his life as a scientist at the Vatican. Most days are spent answering emails and examining meteors or preparing presentations or papers, but he does share some dramatic experiences as well. He writes about his reluctance to get up early to see a comet in person because he'd learned so much about them in books and pictures. When he woke and couldn't go back to sleep, he dragged himself from bed.
It was simply the most stunningly spectacular sight in the sky I have ever seen. It was as big and bright as a photograph on a planetarium ceiling. Five times as big as Comet Hale-Bopp. I would not call it impressive; I would call it frightening. In a world where the regularity of the stars is one of the few things that can be counted on, the presence of this flamboyant looming stranger shook me to my core.We had a similar experience when we changed our vacation plans to drive through the full eclipse of the sun in 2017. We wondered whether it was worth changing everything and planning our vacation around an eclipse, but it was mesmerizing and unforgettable.
There is a long section in the book where Brother Consolmagno examines the historical facts of Galileo's trial and its enduring effects on the modern understanding of the relationship between faith and science.
But it was the jealous, possessive attitude of Grassi and Galileo -- all the more offensive for coming from supposedly calm and rational men of science -- that caused the final breach. The ill feeling on both sides that led to Galileo's final trial in 1633 helped set back science in Italy for years, and has fed antireligious and antiscience bigots on both sides of the issue every since.Brother Consolmagno explicitly and clearly states that the Church was wrong it its treatment of Galileo. Unfortunately, that wrong has created a perceived insurmountable rift between faith and science in the modern world. Our response as Catholics to modern scientific theories has lasting effects on the ability to evangelize our modern society.
So why does everyone still think a Church-science conflict exists? Why is it that in the popular culture, science and religion are thought to be opposed? To understand why, we need to look not at science, nor at religion, but at the popular culture.He talks about where people learn about the faith, pointing out that much of what we know comes from Sunday school, an hour a week during the school year when we are in elementary school. People who leave the church at a young age understandably have a childish view of religion. Similarly, most people stop studying science seriously in high school, or perhaps even younger. Finally, modern society draws on media accounts highlighting dramatic conflict, popular books with simplistic (and misleading) explanations of scientific principles, or books on astrology or UFOs, and most of all, fiction.
So what do our stories tell us about science and religion? One message all too present is that both are to be feared, each in its own way. In the movies, all preachers are power-hungry, money-driven hypocrites; all scientists are mad. They're both caricatured by wild hair and a fanatical gleam in the eye.These ideas are ones that my children will regularly encounter, helping them to build a foundation of understanding not only the true relationship of faith and science, but also why modern culture's misunderstanding persists. After a chapter presenting how our culture has come to see science and religion as opposed, Brother Consolmagno affirms the roles they each play in supporting the other.
Good science is a very religious act. The search for Truth is the same as the search for God. And if you accept that God was the creator of this physical universe, then it immediately follows that studying creation is a way of worshipping the creator.Later he says:
The desire for truth and understanding, including understanding the truth of the natural world, was given to us by God in order to lead us to God. It is the desire for God. It is why I am a scientist; it is why the Vatican supports me.St. Athanasius's On the Incarnation receives much attention in an essay called "Finding God in Creation." Mater Amabilis™ includes it in Level 5 Year 1 (ninth grade) as optional reading, so some students may be pleasantly surprised to see it related to the modern studies of faith and science (as I was).
There is even a chapter on extraterrestrial life.
People think we're looking for philosophical answers with our telescopes. What we're actually doing is inspiring philosophical questions.Brother Consolmagno writes about his time as a student when physics was a struggle. He writes later about what his days are like at the Vatican Observatory and about his visit to Antarctica to search for meterorites. He talks about his life as a Jesuit and how his faith is strengthened by his study of the natural world. These sections are perfect for a student considering a life in physics, geology, or astronomy.
Though I haven't selected a text or thought seriously about lesson plans for our eleventh grade earth sciences exploration of astronomy, Brother Astronomer is going to be on the free reading list as a complement to whatever else we do.
I have received nothing for this post; all opinions are my own. Links to Amazon are affiliate links. I borrowed this book from our library.
