Unite the Two So Long Disjoined
Knowledge and Vital Piety: A
Pastor’s Perspectives on
Scientific Discoveries and Faith
Rev. Mark V. James
E. Stanley Jones
• I’m not afraid of science being too scientific;
I’m afraid it won’t be scientific enough. Halfbaked science brings doubt; real science
brings faith.
• (How to be a Transformed Person, p. 103)
Theological Currents
• Liberal
• Fundamentalist
• Neo-orthodox
Creation narratives
Genesis 1 (“E”)
• Light
• Sky dome
• Dry land, plants
• Sun, moon, stars
• Birds, fish
• Land animals, humans
• Sabbath (Genesis 2:1-3)
Genesis 2 (“J”)
• Male human (the rest of
creation seems assumed)
• Plants (for food and beauty)
• Animals
• Female human
Biblical Inspiration
• The Bible is all human.
• The Bible is all divine.
• The Bible is both human and divine.
Uh-oh!
• Slavery (Leviticus 25:39; Ephesians 6:5; Colossians 3:22;
Titus 2:9.
• Polygamy (Jacob, Leah and Rachel; King David, King
Solomon)
• Shellfish (Leviticus 11:10-12)
• Clothing of blended fibers (Leviticus 19:19)
• Women silent in church (1 Timothy 2:11-12)
• Women to have covered heads (1 Corinthians 11:5-6)
• Working on Sabbath punishable by death (Exodus 35:2)
Genesis 1:1-5
In the beginning when God created the heavens
and the earth, the earth was a formless void and
darkness covered the face of the deep, while a
wind from God swept over the face of the waters.
Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there
was light. And God saw that the light was good
and God separated the light from the darkness.
God called the light Day, and the darkness he
called Night. And there was evening and there
was morning, the first day. (NRSV)
John Polkinghorne
• We have very good reasons to believe that the universe
is 13.7 billion years old; that initially it was an almost
uniform expanding ball of energy which gradually,
under the condensing effect of gravity, became lumpy
with stars and galaxies; that in the first generation of
these stars, processes in their internal nuclear furnaces
enriched the chemical potentiality of the universe,
adding many heavier elements to the hydrogen and
helium that were its aboriginal constituents, thereby
enabling the possibility of an eventual development of
carbon-based life;…
• (Testing Scripture, p. 21).
Crab Nebula
Genesis 1:6-8
And God said, “Let there be a dome in the midst
of the waters, and let it separate the waters
from the waters.” So God made the dome and
separated the waters that were under the
dome from the waters that were above the
dome. And it was so. God called the dome
Sky. And there was evening and there was
morning, the second day. (NRSV)
Lewis Thomas
• The word is out that the sky is not limitless; it is finite.
It is, in truth, only a kind of local roof, a membrane
under which we live, luminous but confusingly
refractile when suffused with sunlight; we can sense its
concave surface a few miles over our heads. We know
that it is tough and thick enough so that when hard
objects strike it from outside they burst into flames.
The color photographs of the earth are more amazing
than anything outside: we live inside a blue chamber, a
bubble of air blown by ourselves.
• The Lives of a Cell, p. 43.
Leviticus 13:2-3
• When a person has on the skin of his body a
swelling or an eruption or a spot, and it turns
into a leprous disease on the skin on his body,
he shall be brought to Aaron the priest or to
one of his sons the priests. The priest shall
examine the disease on the skin of his body,
and if the hair in the diseased area has turned
white and the disease appears to be deeper
than the skin of his body, it is a leprous
disease; (NRSV)
Leviticus 13:24-25
• Or, when the body has a burn on the skin and
the raw flesh of the burn becomes a spot,
reddish-white or white, the priest shall
examine it. If the hair in the spot has turned
white and it appears deeper than the skin, it is
a leprous disease; it has broken out in the
burn, and the priest shall pronounce him
unclean. (NRSV)
Leviticus 13:29-30
• When a man or a woman has a disease on the
head or in the beard, the priest shall examine
the disease. If it appears deeper than the skin
and the hair in it is yellow and thin, the priest
shall pronounce him unclean; it is an itch, a
leprous disease of the head or the beard.
(NRSV)
Leviticus 13:47-49
• Concerning clothing: when a leprous disease
appears in it, in woolen or linen cloth, in warp
or woof of linen or wool or in a skin or
anything made of skin, if the disease shows
greenish or reddish in the garment, whether is
warp or woof or in the skin or anything made
of skin, it is a leprous disease and shall be
shown to the priest (NRSV).
Leviticus 14:37-40
• He shall examine the disease; if the disease is
in the walls of the house with greenish or
reddish spots, and if it appears to be deeper
than the surface, the priest shall go outside to
the door of the house and shut up the house
seven days...if the disease has spread in the
wall of the house, the priest shall command
that the stones in which the disease appears
be taken out and thrown into an unclean place
outside the city (NRSV).
Leprosy—Hansen’s disease
• Caused by Mycobacterium leprae—discovered by
Norwegian physician, Dr. Armauer Hansen in
1873 (using Koch’s postulates).
• Long incubation period following exposure
• Skin lesions, muscle weakness, numbness
• 100 cases per year diagnosed in US
• Diagnosing early is important
• Several antibiotics are effective; often prescribed
together
• (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
Dr. Francis Collins
• [Speaking of DNA
research] It is an
opportunity to feel
closer to God in a
special kind of way—of
being able to appreciate
one more detail of
God’s amazing creation
(“Interpreting the Language of
God,” Sojourners, Feb. 2010, p. 37).
Karl Giberson, Ph. D
• [writing about a recent
trend in evangelical
fundamentalism] “…a
funny thing happened
on the way to the 21st
century: God and
religion came back.”
•
(Rebuilding the Evangelical Mind
Requires Courage.” Huffington
Post. 3-3-2012.)
Rev. Dr. John Polkinghorne
• But the whole of the
universe is teeming with
matter and energy—dark
and otherwise—and is
amazingly finely tuned to
carry within it the
potential for intelligent
life. Behind this, some
see nothing: others
discern the mind, and the
love, of God (Questions of
Truth, p. 98)
Dame Kathleen Lonsdale
• If we know all the
answers there would be
no point in carrying out
scientific research.
Because we do not, it is
stimulating, exciting,
challenging. So too, is the
Christian life, lived
experimentally. If we
knew all the answers it
would not be nearly such
fun (The Christian Life, p.
37).
An Invitation
• There is inspiration to be found all around us,
in the natural world, in the sciences and arts,
in our work and friendships, in our sorrows as
well as in our joys. Are you open to new light,
from whatever source it may come? Do you
approach new ideas with discernment?
• (Advices and Queries, #7, The Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of
Friends (Quakers) in Great Britain)
Further Information
• www.wesleynexus.org
• www.biologos.org
• www.hillcountryinstitute.org