Mattheus Uijttewaal, PhD

Demystifying Science and restoring a proper relationship with our Faith

Matthé was born in 1979 in the Netherlands and grew up on a dairy farm with four siblings. He is a cradle Catholic and member of the International Emmanuel Community, a public association of the Faithful of Pontifical Right. In 2007 he received a doctorate in theoretical physics from the Radboud University of Nijmegen and continued to be scientifically active in Germany, first at the Max Planck Institute for Iron Research in Düsseldorf and then at the Technical University of Clausthal. His total of ten years of scientific research resulted in a collection of articles with an H-index of 10, a total of 900 citations with three articles even having been cited more than 150 times each. Afterwards, Matthé dedicated his time to other goals: he was a social volunteer in the USA for two years, and then back in the Netherlands became a specialist on the relation between (the Catholic) Faith and (natural) Science by means of a blog, brochures, and lectures. He also put some effort in making the work of the British Inkling and lay theologian Charles Williams more accessible and better known. During the pandemic he literally broadened his horizons in mainly Latin countries, also to recover his Spanish. After participating in a missionary church project in Münster (Germany) in 2023 for half a year, Matthé returned to Latina-America and currently lives in Santa Cruz (Bolivia) with his wife Yasmina.

Abstract

In society nowadays many have an almost mystical attitude towards Science, and scientists are practically seen as oracles of Truth. Consequently, (the catholic) Faith in order to be acceptable needs to show its correspondence with (currently understood, mainstream) Science. The lamentable consequences for both Faith and Science will be shown here and a proper relation between both restored, something which is highly overdue. In the process quite some public knowledge will be turned upside down.