Conflict and Reconciliation between Science and Religion in
Dan brown’s novels
Angels & Demons and The Lost Symbol.
S.Rajesh kumar
Assistant Professor of English
Govt. Arts &Science College, Jagtial.
Telangana State
India
Abstract
For centuries there has been a conflict between science and religion .Both claim the
responsibility of the betterment of mankind. From the beginning science questions age old
beliefs and the supremacy of priesthood over the society. As the science and technology
develops the Church of the religious system feared that they might have lost power. They
began suppressing the scientists whoever posed threat to them. The present paper focuses on
science and religious aspects and the presentation of the clash between science and religion in
Dan Brown’s novels Angels & Demons and Lost Symbol. They all run in a same format and
common themes containing religion, symbology, ancient art, architecture, and history
Keywords: Symbology, Cosmic religion, Genesis, Neotic Science, Illuminati, Christianity
Introduction
It was during 16th and 17th centuries new theories came which contradicted biblical
beliefs. In Victorian era there was a great clash between faith and science. This was
represented in the works of that period such as Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s In memorium .He
expressed his mental conflict whether to accept new scientific theories which are against the
church. The 16th century Helieo centric i.e. The Sun is the centre of the universe) theories of
Copernicus and Gallieo are contrary to the religious scriptures Copernicus’s Helieo centric
theory is refused by the Church as it against the church’s belief Geocentrism. i.e. the earth is
the centre of the universe. Copernicus published his book On the Revolutions of the Heavenly
Bodies in 1543 shortly before his death.. Copernicus and Galileo were two scientists, who
printed books that later became banned. Galileo wrote and published Dialogue on the Two
Chief Systems of the World, Ptolemaic and Copernican (Dialogues) in 1632; Gallileo was
kept under house arrest for his sun centred view of the solar system, until his death in 1642.
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Evolution theory of Charles Darwin in mid-19th century shook the basis of Christian faith. He
published his Origin of Species in 1859.The church refuses to accept Evolution theory of
Darwin as it rejects the Genesis of Old Testament Darwin’s theory is widely accepted by
many Hindus because it is akin to Dashavatara of Lord Vishnu in Hindu scriptures. Some
scientists, like Isaac Newton and Blaise Pascal, studied theology as well as science. Slowly
over the years Christianity accepted the science and religion are compatible. In 1997 when
Scottish researcher Ian Wilmut announced the successful cloning of an adult mammal (Dollya sheep) there was a furore over the issue that it was unethical, immoral and may lead to
destruction of the world. One reporter noted a major outbreak of the “Frankenstein Syndrome
fears that science has unleashed an ungovernable menace to the unsuspecting public”(David
Seed 463) As Albert Einstein opines that all religions are a varying blend of fear and moral
religion. He proposed Cosmic religion feeling “The religious geniuses of all ages have been
distinguished by this kind of religious feeling, which knows no dogma and no God conceived
in man’s image”.(Einstein 38)
Science and Religion Clash
In the novel The Last Symbol Katherine Solmon’s a Neotic science scientist, quest to use
advanced science to rediscover the lost wisdom of the ancients. Institute of Neotic Sciences
(IONS) in California and the Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research Lab (PEAR) had
categorically proven that human thought, if properly focused, had the ability to affect and
change
physical
mass.”
human
thought
can
literally
transform
the
physical
world”(86).Katherine takes the help of a very old man, her science teacher, who has been
very ill and willing to donate his body for her research. She tries to weigh a human soul with
high precision microbalance in a capsule and measures a noticeable weight drop and
concludes that the soul leaving the body., “Neotic Science clearly suggested that thoughts had
mass, and so it stood to reason, then that the human soul might therefore also have
mass”(515) Dan Brown tries to reconcile science and religion in The Lost Symbol. This novel
talks at great lengths about the relationship between humans and God. Author represented the
tension between science and religion in Angels & Demons, on other hand he tries to reconcile
both science and religion in the novel in The Last Symbol
Dan Brown in Angels and demons, a suspense thriller written in 2000.mentions about a secret
society known as Illuminati, which was founded against the Catholic Church’s suppression of
scientists. Galileo, Issac Newton, Bouticelli and Bernini were the members of this
brotherhood. Dan brown presented the clash of faith and science with excellent thrilling
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episodes Robert Langdon, a professor of religious symbology at Harvard university has been
asked to solve a murder mystery of a physicist at CERN because it is believed that a secret
society “Illuminati” is behind it .The story involves CERN, a research institute in
Switzerland, a container of antimatter produced by Leonardo Vetri, the catholic church and
the dead pope’s secret. The story takes so many twists and turns revealing the scientific and
religious clash for centuries. The Catholic church considered Illuminati,a secret society, the
single most dangerous anti-Christian force on the earth. The members of this brotherhood
include Galileo, Bernin, Leonardo Da Vinci
The novel focused on the Conseil European pour la Recherche Nucleaire ‘s(CERN), recently
produced the first particles of antimatter. Antimatter is the most powerful energy source
known to man. The novel runs on the question, will the highly volatile antimatter save the
world or will it be used to create the most deadly weapon ever made? CERN scientist
Leonardo Vetra wants to prove the Genesis is a scientific possibility that is something from
nothing .Old testament states that God created the world over a period of seven days
(Genesis) and created the worlds out of nothing, on the other hand science refuses to accept
Genesis that nothing cannot be created out of nothing. Vittoria Vetra, The adopted daughter
of Vetra in conversation with Kohler, director of CERN tells about his father’s experiment
“Rectifying science with religion has been my father’s life dream. He hoped to prove that
science and religion are two totally compatible fields-two different approaches to finding the
same truth”.(89) Camerlengo, a papal chamberlain, vent his anger and hatred towards science
“For centuries,the church has stood by while science picked away at religion bit by bit.
Condemning religion as the opiate of the masses, they denounce God as a
hallunciation”(584). In a private meeting with Camerlengo and Pope at Vatican Lenorado
Vetra tells that he designed an experiment to prove that Genesis is physically possible
Lenorado argues that one of the fundamental laws of physics states that matter cannot be
created out of nothing. So Genesis is contrary to laws of modern physics and Big Bang
theory. The Big Bang theory is very akin to Hindu philosophy, since it believes that nothing
can come out of nothing and that everything has to exist in a latent form before it manifests.
As Kohler puts it “since the beginning of time spirituality and religion have been called on to
fill in the gaps that science had not understand.’ Science has provided answers to almost
every question There are only a few questions left,for instance What is the meaning of life in
the Universe?
Conclusion
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Albert Einstein’s famous dictum that Science without religion is lame, religion without
science is blind”. This dictum serve as an epitome of Einstein’s philosophy of religion. Dan
Brown novels Angels & Demons and Lost symbol novels reiterates Einstein’s dictum.
Science and religion are interdisciplinary, which are dependent and coordinating each other.
In his novels he neither takes sides of the science or religion. Dan brown in an interview said
that” Science and Religion are two languages attempting to tell the same story and yet the
battle between them has been raging and continuing today. The science and religion are the
two sides of a same coin.
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Works cited
Brown,Dan .Angels & Demons.London:Transworld,2001.Print
---.The Lost Symbol. London: Transworld, 2009.Print
Einstein, Albert. Ideas and opinions, New Delhi: Rupa&Co.1973.Print
Seed, David. A Companion to Science Fiction.Oxford:Blackwell.2005.Print
“An interview with Dan Brown”, Book Browse<.www.Bookbrowse.com/search>Web, 13
Nov.2013.
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