I caught a little wasp recently while on vacation. It was on the beach of a Minnesota lake, right up on the fringe where the adjacent grass invades the sand. It hopped and clambered about rather than flying around like a “normal” wasp, and it was very small—only four millimeters long. As an entomologist, I find insects that pique my interest in many places. There were numerous individuals of this wasp species along that stretch of sand, but we beachgoers had not noticed them before this. I …
The central proposition of the book is that a recognition of the virtues that are shared and valued by both the scientific community and by religious communities can lead to mutual understanding and constructive dialog, even (or especially) where there may be areas of disagreement.
In this provocative book, Christopher Preston presents us with an emerging panorama of the future, which he invites us to help shape. He convincingly argues that we currently, and will increasingly, modify the entire planet from the microscale to the macroscale.
What lessons might we, as Christian stewards of the creation, take from this story of the ozone hole?
The image above serves probably looks like a generic leaf to most people, but to me it is an entire sermon.
How do we avoid the temptation to pit science against faith and, in so doing, risk diminishing faith to nothing more than a series of propositions and claims and distorting science into an endeavor to prove or disprove the existence of God?
The tension between Scripture’s description of the beginning of creation and the description provided by contemporary science can be particularly troublesome, but it does not have to be.
Even where scientific conclusions appear to contradict common sense (“something abstruse”) we may nevertheless recognize their validity. Moreover, we recognize that these descriptions are not provided as frivolous over-complications of reality, but as the result of close and careful study of that reality’s witness.
Harari assumes a God-of-the-gaps approach to science and progress generally; he assumes that, because we now know how things like disease, weather, and war arise and function, we can no longer chalk these things up to God’s Will. Though this is a faulty assumption—just because we know about the biochemistry of sickle cell anemia doesn’t mean it cannot be part of God’s plan—it is not an uncommon one, especially in scientific humanism.
A higher view of God’s sovereignty over nature holds that God is at the root of all activity—that he controls the quantum fluctuations of every sub-atomic particle in the universe, from the big bang (or before it, if that makes any sense) to the end of time.
If I observe that it’s sunny outside, but I know that it’s winter and I see snow on the ground, I will likely conclude that it’s cold out and put on my coat before I walk out the door. If I see my son with chocolate on his lips and cookie crumbs on the counter, I might conclude that he probably snuck a cookie from the cookie jar.
There is a perception among some today that science is necessarily equated with progress because it is dedicated to advancing knowledge; but ethics is mostly about applying abstract ideals to questions whose answers should be clear to most people, and mostly just results leads to red tape and process-driven institutional review boards. If anything, for people who hold this view, the real purpose of “ethics” seems to be to impede science, progress and human flourishing.
I had believed that most people in positions of leadership, once they were well-informed scientifically, would work to make appropriate decisions for living rightly on Earth. If the science of life and the biosphere were understood, good decisions would be made. But I was wrong.
While issues such as slavery and racial difference have certainly been debated among Christians and their opponents, and even among themselves, nevertheless our basic humanity has always been a given. A given, that is, until now.
As technology continues to advance, the possibility of autonomous lethal robots is a real one. The efforts to make robots more ethical are commendable, but this research comes with many thorny questions.
Physics is humankind’s attempt to understand how physical aspects of the Creation work.
I sometimes wonder how I ended up as a translator. Biology definitely has its own language, terminology, and culture, but that isn’t really what I am talking about.
As a professional astronomer and a Christian, I feel God has called me to share these wonders with the church. Many times, these new discoveries are presented without any mention of God, and sometimes in a context of overt atheism. I want to share these things with you in a Christian context, with God as their creator.
I think evolution as a scientific theory is true, and since all truth is God’s truth, it shouldn’t cause a problem for true Christian faith.
The realm of science does not address belief; it addresses observations and measurements, the logical constructions or theories that can be built upon these data using mathematics as our primary tool, and predictions that can be drawn from our constructions.
What is the overall view of reality that the Bible is affirming? In recent years, though, I have switched from noun to gerund. I have come to emphasize the need to engage in world-viewing rather than the idea of “having” a worldview. I have come to rely much on the Psalmist’s confession that the Word of God “is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.”
While hypochondria affects only three percent of medical patients, a more rampant problem is showing up in medical clinics around the country: self-proclaimed, internet-trained physician-patients, also known as cyberchondriacs. Do you know the type of person?
I am a medicinal biochemist, which means I discover new medicines and seek to understand how the medicine affects the physiology of diseased cells. Am I playing God when I do these experiments? Can CRISPR be used to bring glory to God? Is part of God’s unveiling of God’s kingdom the fact that we now have a glimmer into how God creates or redeems creation?
An increasing number of people have questioned whether or not research into and the use of GMOs is ethical and whether Christians should be involved with this research. Can Christians in good conscience use GMOs to full our mandate to care for creation?
Dealing with Apparent Conflicts In my two previous articles I described four models of religion-science interactions. I argued against the conflict and independence models but noted that the dialogue and integration models also have challenges. If we should not embrace the conflict model because the same God is revealing his work in both religion and science, how then do we …