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Christianity Today, December, 2008

God's Other Good Book

'God never wrought miracle to convince atheism, because his ordinary works convince it.'

Karl Giberson | posted 1/05/2009 08:59AM

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The Faith of Scientists: In Their Own Words
By Nancy Frankenberry
Princeton University Press, August 2008
542 pp., $21.99

'God Never wrought miracle to convince atheism, because his ordinary works convince it.' Francis Bacon

I have often wondered what Christianity would look like if Jesus had appeared after the Scientific Revolution. Would our awareness of the vast cosmos and the likelihood of other life forms have altered the emphasis on the universal character of the Incarnation? How would our understanding of nature's order and rationality have informed the doctrine of Creation and God's revelation in nature? Would we be so inclined to say that "all Creation is fallen" if we knew that Creation included planets orbiting stars a billion light years away that are perhaps populated by creatures cavorting in blissful ignorance of Eden's shenanigans? How would knowledge of our kinship with the rest of the animal world, especially our primate cousins, reshape our understanding of humanity and our role in Creation?

These questions burned in my mind as I read Nancy Frankenberry's ambitious new volume, The Faith of Scientists: In Their Own Words (Princeton University Press), a collection of the writings of leading scientists from Galileo to Richard Dawkins.

Advisors who were totally unskilled at astronomical observations ought not to clip the wings of reflective intellects by means of rash prohibitions.
Galileo (1564—1642)

Frankenberry's volume is a frustrating reminder of science's struggle against numerous would-be wing clippers to find a home within the Christian faith. This struggle, I suspect, has much to do with its arrival so long after the biblical canon was closed and the creeds created.

Frankenberry starts with Galileo, Johannes Kepler, Francis Bacon, Blaise Pascal, and Isaac Newton, who all lived in the deeply religious 17th century. Their uncritical, even naïve, acceptance of the truth of difficult biblical passages—such as Joshua's long day, or the psalmist's assertion that the earth is fixed—is striking. But these architects of modern science all labored mightily to prevent their new science from contradicting the Bible.

An undercurrent of natural theology permeates their writings, born of their excitement in uncovering the deep and rational structures built into Creation. But they were frustrated that so many of their peers rejected the new science. Kepler, the most enthusiastic of the group, critiqued anyone "too weak to believe Copernicus without affecting his faith," recommending instead that they go home to "scratch in [their] own dirt patch, abandoning this wandering about in the world."

The God of Christians does not consist of a God who is simply the author of mathematical truths and the order of the elements.
Blaise Pascal (1623—1662)

Faith for these founders of modern science was a given. But the Subject of their faith was neither generic nor confined. Christianity was not a limited, parochial worldview, or the Old Testament a collection of Bronze Age myths. Convinced that both nature and the Bible were revelations from God, they found ways to harmonize science and their faith. But they did more than harmonize. The eloquent and even devotional prose of Kepler, Pascal, Newton, and others shows that their science was inspired and even informed by their faith. This contrasts greatly with leading contemporary scientists who, if they care at all about religion, see it as something that interferes with science.

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December 2008, Vol. 52, No. 12

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Displaying 1–5 of 26 comments

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Chuck Anziulewicz

January 13, 2009 11:08am

I would highly recommend "Death By Black Hole," a collection of essays by astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson. He has quite a bit to say about faith and science. In his essay "Holy Wars" he writes the following: "In a recent survey of religious beliefs among math and science professionals, 65 percent of the mathematicians (the highest rate) declared themselves to be religious, as did 22 percent of the physicists and astronomers (the lowest rate). The national average among all scientists was around 40 percent and has remained largely unchanged over the past century." Of course, Dr. Tyson also recognizes the fact that at least SOME scientists have found a niche readership: "Publishers have come to learn that there is a lot of money in God, especially when the author is a scientist and when the book title includes a direct juxtaposition of scientific and religious themes."

Ephrem Hagos

January 11, 2009 11:48pm

It is clear that neither Francis Bacon nor Karl Giberson have "looked at him whom they pierced" (Zech. 12:10; John 19:37; Rev. 1:7) in HIS DIACRITICAL DEATH ON THE CROSS sufficiently armed with divine weapons to destroy strongholds, false arguments, and every proud obstacle that is raised against the knowledge of God (2 Cor. 10: 4-6).

Tesfatadelle

January 08, 2009 11:47am

"How would knowledge of our kinship with the rest of the animal world, especially our primate cousins, reshape our understanding of humanity and our role in Creation?" The answer is I have no primate cousins. An author who starts with such questions does not have a full understanding of the book of Genesis. So any following reasoning is delusional and have no Biblical basis.

SteveB

January 08, 2009 9:52am

Giberson’s musings about science and theology would be so much better if he understood either topic. While it is true that some scientists like to talk about the “likelihood of other life forms,” this is an article of faith, not science; there is no hard evidence whatsoever that such creatures exist. Thus, the only “blissful ignorance” involved would seem to rest in Giberson himself—not in his alleged extraterrestrials. But perhaps worse is his criticism of “the psalmist's assertion that the earth is fixed,” which he calls “striking.” It is indeed, but why stop there? Even more striking is the psalmist’s assertion that the earth will “bow down.” What are we to do with such statements? Giberson will no doubt read Psalm 64 and conclude that “the psalmist actually thinks that the earth can bend at the waist!” The rest of us can simply recognize that the Bible—and especially the psalms, which is POETRY—often employs figurative language in its description of the physical world.

Pauline

January 07, 2009 1:46pm

Blaise Pascal was a scientist, but when God called him in a holy night, he discovered the greatness and love of the Creator. Science is insecurity , because it always changes. But true faith isn't. Pascal: 'God of Abraham,God of Isaac, God of Jacob, NOT OF PHILOSOPHERS AND SCHOLARS. Certainty, certainty,heartfelt,joy,peace. God of Jesus Christ (Penséees,913) Pascal wrote his experience down,and he sewed it into his coat, and wore it for the rest of his life, so that he would never forget this. It was the protective coat for his soul,in a cold atheistic world! [St.Paul wrote: I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ (Phip.3:7)

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