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By the 6th century, the Franks were Christianised, and the Frankish Empire ruled by the Merovingians had become the most powerful of the kingdoms which succeeded the Western Roman Empire until their decline. In October of 732, the Franks led by Charles Martel stopped the advance of Islam in Europe at the Battle of Tours preserving western civilization from Islamization and helping to lay the foundations of what became the Carolingian Empire.

Charles grandson Charlemagne expanded the Frankish kingdoms into an Empire that incorporated much of Europe. After conquering Italy, Charlemagne tried to revive the Western Roman Empire and when the Pope crowned him Imperator Augustus on 25 December 800, Charlemagne became the first Emperor in what would become known as The Holy Roman Empire which lasted until being dissolved during the Napoleonic Wars (which brought profound change to Europe, then the New World, and finally much of the world). It was in this ever changing Western civilization that modern science arose via the Scientific Revolution which begun in 1543.

British mathematician-philosopher Bertrand Russell once remarked, "I am as firmly convinced that religions do harm as I am that they are untrue." In his popular and controversial work 'Why I Am Not a Christian', Russell leveled the charge that Christianity, in particular, has served as an opponent of all intellectual progress, especially progress in science. Since Russell's time, other outspoken advocates have echoed his claim asserting that Christianity is incompatible to the modern scientific enterprise leading many to view Christianity as as unscientific at best and antiscientific at worst. That seems to be the concensus in popular culture and nothing could be further from the truth.

While conflicts have arisen between theories and faith throughout the centuries, these have often been exaggerated while Christianity's positive influence on scientific progress is seldom acknowledged.

Ken Samples points out that, "The intellectual climate that gave rise to modern science (roughly three centuries ago) was decisively shaped by Christianity. Not only were most of the founding fathers of science themselves devout Christians (including Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo, Newton, Boyle, and Pascal), but the Christian worldview provided a basis for modern science to emerge and flourish.

Christian theism affirmed that an infinite, eternal, and personal God created from nothing and that the creation reflected the rational nature of the Creator and was therefore orderly and uniform and that humanity was uniquely created in God's image and thus capable of reasoning and of discovering the intelligibility of the created order. The Christian worldview supported the underlying principles that made scientific inquiry possible and desirable."

Eminent historian and philosopher of science Stanley Jaki has argued that science was "stillborn" in other great civilizations outside Europe because of prevailing ideas that stifled scientific development, e.g., a cyclical approach to time, an astrological approach to the heavens, metaphysical views that either deified nature (animism) or denied it (idealism).

The principles underlying the scientific method (testability, verification/falsification) arise from the Judeo-Christian Scriptures. The experimental method was clearly nurtured by Christian doctrine. Because the Christian founders of modern science believed that the heavens genuinely declare the glory of God, they possessed both the necessary conceptual framework and the spiritual incentive to boldly explore nature's mysteries.

According to Christian theism, God disclosed Himself in two ways: through special revelation and general revelation. Puritan scientists in England and in America viewed the study of science as a sacred attempt to "think God's thoughts after Him." While Christians have plenty of room to grow in the virtues of discernment, reflection, and vigorous analysis, the wisdom literature of the Old Testament consistently exhorts God's people to exercise them, and the New Testament teaches the same message. These principles served as the backdrop for the emerging experimental method.

Some of the philosophical presuppositions foundational to the study of science include these: the existence of an objectively real world, the comprehensibility of that world, the reliability of sense perception and human rationality, the orderliness and uniformity of nature, and the validity of mathematics and logic. These necessary preconditions of science are rooted in Christian theism's claims of an infinite, eternal, and personal creator who has carefully ordered the universe and provided man with a mind that corresponds to the universe's intelligibility. This Christian schema served as the intellectual breeding ground for modern science. It sustained science and enabled it to flourish.