Having muddled my way through an attempt to give the most fundamental explanation of the philosophical system proposed by Francis Bacon, I hope this week will be a little more articulate in explaining how Pope Benedict continues his reflection on the impact of this and other thinkers of Bacon’s era on the topic of faith and hope.
The Holy Father explains the consequences of this “disturbing step” taken by Bacon and his system of thinking:
up to that time, the recovery of what man had lost through the expulsion from Paradise was expected from faith in Jesus Christ: herein lay “redemption”. Now, this “redemption”, the restoration of the lost “Paradise” is no longer expected from faith, but from the newly discovered link between science and praxis. (Spe salvi, 17)
The pope then describes how this philosophy not only affects the understanding of faith, but hope as well, taking on a new form that Bacon calls “faith in progress” (ibid.) Our hope no longer lies in the faith given to us through the promises of Jesus Christ, but rather in the promises that science and technology will bring about as they propose solutions to problems that had, up to that point, been thought impossible or unexplainable.
Francis Bacon has been recognized as saying that the “Three Great Inventions” of the Renaissance were the printing press, gunpowder, and the mariner’s compass. The printing press enabled the more rapid expansion of knowledge and thus would make possible the faster spread of information about new inventions that would support his system. Gunpowder marked a significant change in the ability of those who were less powerful to contend with their opponents, thus allowing for alterations to well-established power structures. The mariner’s compass made navigation easier, and was at the service of new discoveries that could expand our understanding of a variety of topics. These were examples of how applied knowledge and technology were capable of changing how we understand the world around us.
There is no question that the past several decades has seen remarkable growth in science and technology, especially with the growth of the Internet, medical breakthroughs, travel to space, and most recently, Artificial Intelligence. Those who find Bacon’s philosophy attractive will be all the more convinced of its veracity given the ample evidence to support it. The Holy Father says as much when he concludes this paragraph by writing: “[a]s the ideology of progress developed further, joy at visible advances in human potential remained a continuing confirmation of faith in progress as such.” (ibid.)
In response to philosophies that try to claim that science and technology are slowly chipping away at our need for faith, the Church has not remained idle. I think of somebody like Father Robert Spitzer, S.J., a Jesuit who has written and spoken extensively on faith and reason, offering a sound intellectual response to support how these two fields are not opposed, and how the many advances in science do not indeed explain away the faith. The Church is often accused of being anti-science, but such a claim is based on little awareness on how much faithful Catholics, past and present, have contributed to the development of science while maintaining the need for faith.