Science and religion have a notoriously fractious relationship, each spouting fundamental “truths” from either side of an ideologically inscribed line. But to Monsignor Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo, the Chancellor of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, this dichotomy is an unhelpful construct perpetuated by fundamentalists on both sides of the aisle. To him, faith and objectively vetted knowledge are the complementary pursuits of a curious mind. “If you have great faith, you are very interested in more knowledge,” he contends. “If you have great knowledge, you want to know more about faith.”
In a wide-ranging discussion, Sorondo demystified the supposed “culture wars”, stoked a few fires himself, and previewed some of the issues that the Academy will be taking up in future sessions.
With a refreshingly open understanding of the scientific enterprise, Sorondo argues against a literalist interpretation of Christianity’s foundational text. “Is the Bible a scientific book? No,” he says. “They ...
