Science and Religion

Brunetiere's SCIENCE AND RELIGION, originally published in 1895, was one of the most controversial books of its time. Written by a leading French critic (at the time, the editor of the influential Revue des Deux Mondes), Brunetiere's public embrace of traditional Catholicism elevated the controversy surrounding science and faith by infusing the emotional debate with intellectual rigor. This debate rages on today and this book has as much relevance now as it did when it first appeared more than a century ago. From the introduction by the translator, Erik Butler: 'When Brunetière wrote that "battle looms," he was not exaggerating. Two World Wars, if nothing else, should have proved as much; the struggles for national liberation that emerged when European empires collapsed have dotted the globe with expanding theaters of conflict. The economic and cultural imperialism of gung-ho American capitalism has begotten a market that can operate perfectly well without its creator. Fundamentalism has only flourished in response to "progress" (including, not too long ago, the "scientific socialism" espoused by the Soviet Union). Such starry-eyed atavism - along with doomed efforts to combat it - guarantees more and more altars of human sacrifice. Meanwhile, "interactive" software induces passivity far more deadening than the "opiate of the masses" derided by eighteenth- and nineteenth-century secularists. 'The fictions of contemporary science are at least as dull as any of the novels Brunetière faulted for lack of vision. Logic speaks for the Church, if only because the alternative is schizophrenia: catatonic stupor or hyperactivity. With so many demiurges generating pixelated fireworks for entertainment and - supposedly - instruction, the wise would do well to look beyond their computer screens. Almost all the lights one sees in the sky may have burned out long ago, but their soft glow, even if it means nothing at all, has already lasted an eternity in comparison to the glare engulfing our planet. Religion is like gravity: without it, everything flies off - and often sooner than later - into the void.' This edition, published by Odd Volumes of The Fortnightly Review in cooperation with the Chavagnes Studium Press, is the first English-language appearance of this celebrated tract.