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'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. ...
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A Fractured and Beautiful Faith
Streaming This Weekend, May 24, 2013
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Chuck Anziulewicz
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
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
"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.