Reading: Science and Christianity
This material is adapted from "The Natural Sciences at Wheaton College," written by the natural sciences faculty at Wheaton College, a liberal arts school in Illinois.
WHAT IS SCIENCE?
In the contemporary academy, science represents a theoretical discipline that addresses natural phenomena; by its accepted standards and procedures, it does not go beyond the natural realm for explanations. The hypotheses and theories generated in scientific study are based upon empirically measured phenomena. Like all endeavors of disclosing truth, including theology, the practice of science is dynamic and the theories it generates are always in a state of self-correction as new data are evaluated. Although science uses a naturalistic methodology, the use of that methodology does not necessarily imply a metaphysical naturalism (a philosophical commitment to the idea that the material world is all there is), nor does it imply that the scientist who is a Christian believes that naturalistic factors can fully explain all phenomena. The following analogy should make this clear.
A Christian physician may witness the dramatic and seemingly miraculous recovery of a patient for whom many have been praying. Even while celebrating the unexpected but hoped-for "miracle," that physician, whose profession focuses on cures for "natural" disease processes, could and should explore whether there are "natural factors" (such as dietary changes, drug interactions, environmental factors, or non-traditional treatments) that might have affected the miraculous recovery. Such a search for natural explanations is by no means an indicator of any lack of faith in the supernatural by the doctor. Instead, it reflects the physician's respect for the physical processes affecting human health, which are created and sustained by God; it also demonstrates intellectual and professional curiosity.
Along with the Christ-centered medical practitioner, Wheaton faculty members reject the idea that we live in a closed universe, devoid of miraculous phenomena. Indeed, on the basis of Scripture, we affirm the mysterious manifestations of both divine and demonic realities in the created realm, acknowledging that many of these phenomena do not easily lend themselves to empirical analysis. We affirm that at least some aspects of the supernatural are understandable to humanity through divine revelation and through careful rational reflection, intuition, and other ways of human knowing.
One final but important point must be noted about science in relation to mathematics. As do the Christian natural scientists, the Christian mathematicians view the creative God as the source of knowledge in their studies. The way of knowing called mathematics develops its results differently from natural sciences. While the topics and results of mathematics are often motivated by the study of natural phenomena, mathematics may also be developed as an abstraction apart from the observable world. Its results are verified by logical axiomatic arguments, and are not subject to change unless the underlying axioms are modified. One of the wonders of mathematics is its effectiveness as a tool in modeling and understanding natural and social phenomena.
SCIENCE AS A LIMITED HUMAN ENTERPRISE
Modern Science emerged in the seventeenth century and has been in rapid development up to the present time. Aristotle is sometimes considered the founder of modern science, since he advocated the careful study of what is, of the observable physical world, and because he developed a comprehensive system of understanding ultimate reality (metaphysics). Only in hindsight have scholars recognized how profoundly Aristotle's prior philosophical commitments shaped and limited his science, despite his brilliance in observation. In the period preceding what was later called the Renaissance, Christian theologians and scholars began questioning the Aristotelian framework. Descriptive practices gave way to empirical observations, coupled with the logical process of induction for theory formation. Objectivity was strengthened by a strong process of questioning and challenging presuppositions, as well as a priori constraints. This was a period of explosive growth in scientific knowledge that later came to be called the Scientific Revolution. The best modern scholarship (e.g., John H. Brooke, Science and Religion, 1991) establishes that Christian theology was integral in these developments, serving as fertile ground for the advancement of science. It is no coincidence that modern science developed most rapidly in Western Europe and America, where its assumptions formed an ideal cultural framework in which science could develop.
The tremendous success of empirical investigation in discovering new truths about the physical world (and the resulting technological advances in everything from engineering and manufacturing to the discovery of new treatments for disease) led to growing support for ever-wider application of scientific methods of knowing. The Enlightenment was characterized by a confidence (even over-confidence) in the human mind's ability, often in a manner hostile to Christianity. When disciplined to utilize scientific methodology and when freed from constraining religious and philosophical beliefs, the mind was presumed to be able to discover all truth and to advance the cause of human welfare. Out of these developments, a movement declaring science and religion to be at war with one another began in the late nineteenth century, and it gathered momentum after the famous Scopes trial. Positivism, which reached its zenith in the mid-twentieth century, was one of the most extreme of these influential Enlightenment movements. Positivism explicitly denied the usefulness of any mode of human thought, outside of scientific empirical inquiry and formal logic, to discover or apprehend truth. The new conceptual framework of the Enlightenment, one in which all beliefs were expected to have empirical grounding, eroded religious belief systems and undermined the authority of the Church. Philosophy, religion, and metaphysical phenomena were discounted in light of the empiricist requirements for understanding reality.
Positivism has been in decline for fifty years or more. Most importantly, the movement lost credence due to an internal contradiction - the universal claim that "all valid knowledge is a product of empirical scientific study." Such a claim, ironically, cannot be conclusively shown through empirical scientific study. Therefore, by its own standard, it is neither true nor false. Moreover, for scientists interested in theory formation and those who wished to do comparative studies on certain phenomena of the universe, such as in verifiability of only one "universe," there were no bases for empirical comparison and/or controls. As a result, positivism went through decline as an effective means of explanation for natural phenomena once the challenges to the verifiability principle ensued. It must be noted that some positivist approaches are still practiced and a small number of positivist adherents still write in the twenty-first century.
There are two additional reasons why Christians must reject the positivist view of science. First, Christians must acknowledge that those doing science are limited and fallible human beings. We serve an omniscient (all knowing), omnipotent (all powerful), and perfectly rational God. We, in contrast, can know, but we can never know all. Likewise, we have power, but our power is always limited and partial. And we possess rational minds, but they are less than perfect. In short, we are human; our Creator is God. Therefore, the positivists' aspirations for near universal and perfect knowledge are unrealistic and out of keeping with biblical Christianity.
In addition, we recognize that humans are sinful and fallen. Where positivists promoted an ideal of human scientific rationality that was disconnected from and unaffected by human foibles, we recognize the effects of humankind's disobedience on all of our being, including our rational, scientific capacities. Insofar as the Fall also affects the power of intellect, especially by turning our knowledge and/or our own minds into idols, we acknowledge the corrupting influences of sin on our ability to see the world as it is. The struggle of scientific inquiry to discern something of the nature of the creation requires that we remain humble, conscious of the fallible outcomes of our efforts and of our tendencies to sinfully distort all of our knowledge (Proverbs 9:10; 11:2).
Many scientists in the larger science academy have philosophical commitments to metaphysical materialism. Proponents of this view assert that physical reality is the only reality, and they espouse the view that all things can be explained in terms of physical matter and phenomena alone. Needless to say, metaphysical materialism is not compatible with the views that Wheaton affirms. Some materialists go as far as to say that science rightly supplants the traditional role of religious beliefs, given that it fully answers humanity's ultimate questions about existence. We counter such overtly materialistic accounts of reality on several grounds: first, with the reality of God's own existence (since God exists, materialism is simply wrong); second, with the growing realization among many scientists that neither the existence of the universe nor of life explain themselves; and third, with the confidence that comes from knowing that God is working in creation through the laws He designed and created. We are convinced that God is active in His creation and in the work of providence; He is not just a "mystery variable," plugging a gap in the knowledge that is undemonstrated by scientific means. His purposes in creation remain clear and His direction of the cosmos, including phenomena and living creatures, is governed by His wise and holy providence.
As teachers of natural science, we train students at Wheaton College, acquainting them not only with the practice and presuppositions of science, but also with the history and philosophy of science, highlighting the points of intersection between Christian worldviews and scientific practice. With this type of training, students are prepared to see scientific excellence as fully compatible with devout, biblically-grounded Christian faith. Clearly then, we believe that science and Christian faith are not at war. The facts speak for themselves: among world-renowned scientists of the past and present, Christians represent a significant number. Notwithstanding, some continue to promote the erroneous notion that science and religion are at war, including those who object on scientific grounds to the claims of Young Earth Creationism, and those who use science to advance the case for metaphysical materialism (discussed above). But because advances in science have been repeatedly interpreted by philosophical materialists (who believe that nature - the natural world - is all that exists) to undermine Christian faith, it is insufficient to merely note that we dispute and reject the notion of warfare between science and Christian faith. We encourage scientific excellence among believing Christians so our lives can present a living witness to the truth that science and Christian faith, when properly construed, are not at war.
Furthermore, we can serve the Church by developing positive rationales for how accomplished scientists who understand the remarkable advances and findings of the sciences can still enthusiastically embrace biblical faith. Hence we encourage Christian students at Wheaton College to consider the possible "call" to serve as scientists. In so doing, we provide solid moral and ethical guidance for the application of scientific findings to establish standards of honesty, charity, and other Christian virtues in the pursuit of truth in the created order. We also encourage students to pursue the types of humanitarian goals demanded by a Christian worldview and establish alternative theoretical paradigms to the prevailing naturalistic ones. In this context, we urge students to examine new empirical research programs and conceptual frameworks for interpreting the results of scientific investigation.
CHRISTIAN FOUNDATIONS FOR THE STUDY OF SCIENCE
The goal of scientific inquiry, from a Christian perspective, is to explore and understand what we can of God's creation, particularly the entities, powers, processes, underlying structures, relations, and mechanisms of the natural world. God has made humanity such that we are able to grow in this type of knowledge through our rational encounters with the created world.
This temporal world, given to us by Christ, bears the marks of its Creator; consequently, some knowledge of the Creator God can come from the study of the good world that He has created. This type of knowledge of God, described by the Apostle Paul (Romans 1:18-20), has been called God's "general revelation" in His creation. The existence of such revelation means that we, as believers, can enhance our opportunities to worship and enjoy our Redeemer forever, through the study and understanding of His creative handiwork. Our knowledge of the creation provides an occasion to acknowledge, to thank, to praise, and to worship the Creator. The world was created and is sustained by Jesus Christ, who has all knowledge and power, and we acknowledge that the full scope and complexity of creation far exceeds the limits of human understanding. The sciences are ultimately grounded in the final authority of Scripture. As Christians engaging in the study of science, we are committed to discerning truth wherever it may be found, including God's general revelation in creation.
We cannot, however, only celebrate the created order as good. We also recognize the effects of the disobedience of humankind, both in the world around us and upon the human race. Even our own capacities to know truth have been adversely affected. We learn in Scripture that the creation groans in brokenness and decay (Romans 8:22-25) and awaits, just as we do as broken human beings, the final redemption, the ultimate healing of all that is wrong. Nevertheless, in this post-Fall context, we are to do our best in faithfulness to God to care for the physical world as its God-appointed stewards. The faithful steward does the work of his or her Master. Still, the effects of the Fall on the cosmos and our commitment to its renewal instruct our view of this work of stewardship (Genesis 3:17-19; Romans 8:18-23; Revelation 21:1-5; Revelation 22:1-5). We expectantly work as stewards of the land, and representatives of the Lord, who have received the blessing in creation and the command to rule it (Genesis 1:28 and Psalm 8:6-8), but insofar as the Fall also affects the power of intellect, we acknowledge the corrupting influences of sin on our ability to see the world as it is. At times, even our knowledge and our own minds can become idols. The struggle to discern something of the nature of creation, through scientific inquiry, requires us to remain humble and conscious of the fallible outcome of our efforts (Proverbs 9:10; 11:2).
SCIENTIFIC INQUIRY AS WORSHIP
An important goal of Christians in science is to comprehend what can be learned about God's creation, particularly the entities, powers, processes, underlying structures, relations, and mechanisms of the natural world. As those whose hearts have been illumined by the Holy Spirit, we recognize the created world as the "theater of God's glory" (John Calvin), and we see evidence of His majesty and power all around us (Psalm 19). Knowledge of God that results from reflection on the creation complements our knowledge of God that comes through His special revelation of Himself and our experiential knowledge of Him. Through prayer, reflection, and careful study of God's creation, we can come to know Him more fully and praise Him more worthily. As stated previously, our knowledge of the creation provides an occasion to acknowledge, to thank, to praise, and to worship the Creator. Our world was created and is sustained by Him who possesses exceedingly great knowledge and power. Therefore, we realize that the full scope and complexity of creation far exceeds the limits of human understanding.
For serious students, an in-depth study of science provides insight into the invisible qualities of God, including His eternal power and divine nature. All creation speaks of His glory. In addition, the study of science provides occasions for thanksgiving, for praise, and for worship of the Creator. Considering our faculty's dedication to the Word of God and their ongoing application of scriptural truth to their disciplines, they have regular occasions to share spiritual reflections with students, who are also seeking to increase their knowledge of God.Through contemporary scientific approaches, we are privileged to study and comprehend the creation to a degree unfathomable to previous generations. We also are thankful for this unique and privileged glimpse into the creation. Science has allowed us to understand more and more about God's creation. And with such a tremendous increase in knowledge, compared to that of previous generations, we should be even more enthusiastic in directing our praise to God. Through the eyes of faith, scientists who are Christians can understand and appreciate different aspects of the creation from those outside the faith; as a result, they can affirm God's handiwork. Most of us can see the beauty of a sunset, but not many get the opportunity to marvel at the mechanism that produces the proteolytic cleavage of proteins. Science makes that knowledge possible.
Adapted from "The Natural Sciences at Wheaton College," written by Wheaton College faculty.
Last modified: Monday, August 13, 2018, 8:24 AM