I'm very grateful for people who are leading and thinking in an area of faith that often seems out-of-reach to me: conversations between science and faith. I loved high school chemistry because I had a great teacher. Beyond that, science is usually not something I read or think about very much beyond occasional articles in the paper or on my Google News feed. I'm more of a Bunsen and Beaker kind of guy.
When we lived in the Seattle area, I encountered quite a few pastors, professors, and just 'regular' people who really invested a lot of time and thought into building bridges between the scientific community (and those who adhere to similar world views) and the church. A 'think tank' devoted to these very issues - which I found through one of the elders at my former church - is called The Discovery Institute, and I'd recommend their work if this field of study interests you - discovery.org.
A leading voice in this conversation - and in many others as well - is the pastor of Bethany Community Church, Richard Dahlstrom. Richard was one of my professors at Fuller and is one of my top podcast people. :) I love the way he communicates, both speaking and writing, and his church is doing tremendous things for the sake of the gospel in Seattle. He just published two articles about science and faith which I would highly recommend.
http://biologos.org/blog/two-books-two-eyes-four-necessities-for-christian-witness-part-1
http://biologos.org/blog/two-books-two-eyes-four-necessities-for-christian-witness-part-2
A friendly critique: I probably wouldn't go so far as Richard does as to elevate creation and God's word into the same playing field, but I like where he takes that argument. Especially in a context like Seattle which places a high value on creation and the outdoors, Richard's approach is helpful; it's just not necessarily a Reformed perspective, which I don't think he'd mind me saying. :)
This conversation becomes personal for me when I think about a particular friend of mine who very much believes that science holds the answers to all of life's great questions. We've had many conversations on the subject, and I respect and value his perspectives. I don't lean toward studying these kinds of issues, but because of our friendship, I take it more seriously than I used to. Maybe that's a good lesson in general: when it comes to our faith in Christ, the more we can personally care about other people with specific objections to faith, the more we can graciously and winsomely enter into those conversations, and hang in there for the long haul.
Blessings,
Travis Fletcher
No comments:
Post a Comment