I have the impression that most people, if asked about the relationship between science and Christianity, would be inclined to speak of a conflict. The idea has become widespread that these are two separate realms and they are more or less constantly at war. Television has probably done much to sustain this image. Dramatized versions of the trial of Galileo or the Inherit the Wind version of the Scopes Trial make for good viewing. But the idea of strife was not born with television drama; it can be dated to at least the last century, when books with titles like History of the Conflict Between Religion and Science and History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom did a good deal to convey the noise of battle.

There undoubtedly have been, and continue to be, disagreements between scientists and Christian believers over many things. But the idea that Christianity and science have constantly been at loggerheads is a gross distortion of the historical record. As we approach 2000, this would seem to be a good moment to pause and reflect on some of the ways in which Christianity has contributed to scientific achievement. And there is no better way to begin than to reflect on the very origins of modern science in the seventeenth century.

Science, as we think of it today, emerged about three hundred years ago. To be sure, there were many notable achievements in the late Middle Ages that led to important developments in natural philosophy, and the contributions made by medieval Islam should not be ignored. But here I want to say something about the significance of the Reformation for the cultivation of the new scientific outlook. Even John William Draper, author of History of the Conflict Between Religion and Science, maintained that science was the "twin sister" of the Reformation.

The Reformers believed that God had revealed himself to humanity in two ways—in Scripture and in nature. This enabled them to engage in the scientific investigation of the natural world. By doing so they believed they were displaying the activity of the Creator. Indeed, Robert Boyle, the great English student of chemistry, believed that scientists more than anyone else glorified God in the pursuit of their tasks because it was given to them to interrogate God's creation. At the same time, the Protestant Reformers tended toward a radical individualism. In part, this encouraged them to question received authority in science and to engage in the direct observation of nature. To people like this, it was not sufficient to be book-learned; it was not enough to know what the Ancients had said about the size of the world, the shape of the earth, or the character of the globe's inhabitants. Such matters could only be resolved by direct investigation of the real world.

Evidence also suggests that the English Puritans had an important role to play in promoting the new science of the seventeenth century. Of course there was no single unified movement called "Puritanism"; the Puritans displayed many different views on a range of important theological and political subjects. And yet there were some common threads. Many shared a profound belief in "the priesthood of all believers," and this tended toward the democratization of religious institutions and an anti-authoritarian attitude in matters of civil and religious polity. When it came to science, Puritans often enthusiastically embraced the more "humble" sciences like agriculture, forestry, medicine, marine technology, and land-surveying. It is not surprising that many of them departed from convention by communicating their findings not in Latin, the language of the learned, but in English, the language of the people. They often made pleas for less abstract learning and for greater use of maps, models, and experiments.

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