Integration of Faith and
the Scientific Professional Career:
A Christian Calling
Paulo F. Ribeiro, PhD
Professor of Engineering
Calvin College
3201 Burton Street S.E.
Grand Rapids, Michigan 49546 - USA
Pribeiro@calvin.edu
http://engr.calvin.edu/PRibeiro_WEBPAGE/
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Outline
Worldview Issues, Science, Technology/Engineering
Background
Pilgrimage …
Motivation for Integration
Challenges for Integration
Strategies for Integration
Actions for Integration
Conclusions
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Introductory Question
“The questions of all questions for humanity, the problem
which lies beyond all others and is more interesting than
any of them is that of the determination of men's place in
nature and his relation to the Cosmos. Whence our race
came, what sort of limits are set to our power over nature
and to nature’s power over us, to what goal are we
striving,…[these]…are the problems which present
themselves afresh, with undiminished interest, to every
human being on earth.”
T. H. Huxley (1863)
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J. Sire: Worldviews:
seven basic questions
1. What is prime reality?
2. What is the nature of external reality, that is, the
world around us?
3. What is a human being?
4. What happens to a person at death?
5. Why is it possible to know anything at all?
6. How do we know what is right and wrong?
7. What is the meaning of human history?
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The nature and purpose of Science
• Science as a way of knowing
• Science as explication of nature
– Explaining the patterns, orderliness, laws of
nature
• Science as pursuit of knowledge
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God
Law
Christ
Word
World
Human
Human
Stewardship
Servanthood
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Science as a human activity is
influenced by worldviews
• Some examples of worldviews:
• Scientism
• Naturalism
• Evolutionism
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Core of Christian Conceptual
Framework or worldview
• Rom. 11:36: From Christ, through Christ, and unto
Christ are all things.
• Col. 1:16-17: For by him all things were created: things
in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether
thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were
created by him and for him. He is before all things and in
him all things hold together…For God was pleased to
have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to
reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or
things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, she
on the cross.
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The nature of law (lawfulness)
• Law as ordering principles
• Distinction between descriptive and
prescriptive laws
• Concerns the question of: whence is the
lawfulness?
• Relation of God to the creation is that of law
– Law-Word
– Creation Word
– Christ as Word (Jn. 1)
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Sketch of a Biblical view of nature
• Bible seldom uses the term “nature”
• Bible usually talks about nature in terms of
ordinances, commands, and decrees
–
–
–
–
–
–
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Ordinance, dominion (Jer. 31
Command (Job 37:15; Ps. 148:5; 147:15)
Fixed order (Jer. 31)
Decree (Job 28:26)
Meter, measure (Job 28:25
Set bounds (Ps 104:9; Ps. 148; Ps. 119:91)
Call (by name) Is. 40:26
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Biblical sketch of nature
• Relationship between God and nature
• God is Maker of Heaven and Earth
• The creation world is firmly rooted in the
creation covenant (Jer. 33:20-25; Ps. 111:58)
• Creation reveals God’s Power & Wisdom
(Ps. 104:24; Ps. 136:5; Prov. 3:19; Is. 40:1214; Jer. 10:12-13; 51: 15-16)
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Biblical sketch of nature -3
• The creation – created and maintained by or
through God’s Word which embodies God’s
power and wisdom
• Jn 1:1-3: In the beginning was the Word, and
the Word was with God, and the Word was
God….through him all things were made:
without him nothing was made that has been
made
• Ps 33:6; Ps. 148:5; Is. 48:13; P. 119:89; Jer.
10:12; 51:16; I Cor. 8:6; Eph. 2:10; 3:9; Heb.
1:1-3
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Biblical sketch of nature
• The order (orderings) which the Bible talks
about isn’t simply the physical laws of modern
science, but the concrete structures which
become expressed in created reality and which
determine their functions
• The meaning of Law in view of the above: The
condition for the existence of reality; the
relation between God and the world
• God loves the creation (cosmos) John 3:16-17
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Some implications of a Biblical view of
nature
• Summary definition (as expressed by J. Diemer)
– “Nature is an order established by God within which
all His works are enacted”
• The createdness of reality as the basis for science
• Limitations of science: science is bound to the creational
order; to that which is created
• Human beings, created in God’s image
• The tension that often exists between culture and nature,
resulting in a disintegration of the shalom in creation, is
due to human’s misdirected cultural activity – the Fall
into sin
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Knowledge involves understanding basic
relationships
•
•
•
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Relationship of God to world (cosmos)
Relationship of God to humankind
Relationship of humankind to world
Relationship of human beings to human
beings
• Vertical and horizontal relationships
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Engineering Program Philosophy
• Engineers are designers
• Engineering courses are taught within a design
perspective
• Unity of ideas from the mathematical to the
political
• Design curriculum includes analysis, problem
solving, and the liberal arts
• Responsibility toward people and the natural world
• Engineering design is viewed as a vocation and a
calling of God
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Educational Objectives:
1. individuals who are firmly grounded in the basic principles
and skills in engineering, mathematics, science, and the
humanities, for correct, perceptive, and sensitive problem
assessment at a level appropriate for both entry level work
in industry and in graduate school;
2. designers who are able to creatively bring a project from
problem statement to final design while realizing the
interdisciplinary and interdependent character of the
engineering profession; and
3. servants whose Christian faith leads them to an engineering
career of action and involvement, to personal piety,
integrity, and social responsibility.
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Enacting the Vision
-- Grounding Engineers in the Basics
•
Engineering is a “synthetic” discipline
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•
Curriculum reinforces that with:
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Brings together knowledge from many areas
Working with God’s creation and the people in it
breadth in liberal arts, science, and engineering
depth/concentration in one engineering area
Faith gives the context for how we serve as
designers
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Modal Aspects of Things
Human
pistic / faith
Beings
moral
juridical
aesthetic
economic
social
X
lingual
historical
logical
Sapientia
sensory
Animals
Plants
morpho. / differentiative
biotic
Living
Physical / chemical
Non-living
things
kinematic
spatial
numerical
God
Law
Sientia
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Enacting the Vision
-- Designers for The Designer
“Design” takes you from requirements to a
solution
• As image bearers, we are able to design
• Design is central to engineering and is central
in the curriculum
–
–
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Nearly every course includes opportunities for
students to design/synthesize
Hope Network/Goodwill projects
Senior design projects
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Enacting the Vision
-- Learning to Serve
•
•
Engineers must learn to serve
Opportunities to see/participate:
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Goodwill/Hope Network projects
Senior design project selection
Research
Consulting in local industry
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Background
Pilgrimage …
Motivation for Integration
Challenges for Integration
Strategies for Integration
Actions for Integration
Conclusions
Questions
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