The Christian Faith and Scientific Inquiry

Douglas Groothuis, in his excellent book Christian Apologetics, spends quite a bit of time discussing Christianity and science.  I found many of his discussions helpful and refreshing.  Here’s one section where Groothuis gives ten ways “in which Christian belief creates a hospitable environment for scientific inquiry.”  These ten ways, Groothuis noted, are found in more detail in Ken Samples book, Without a Doubt (another book Andrew and I highly recommend).

1) The physical universe is an objective reality, which is ontologically distinct from the Creator (Gen. 1:1, John 1:1).

2) The laws of nature exhibit order, patter and regularity, since they are established by an orderly God (Ps. 19:1-4).

3) The laws of nature are uniform throughout the physical universe, since God created and providentially sustains them.

4) The physical universe is intelligible because God created us to know himself, ourselves, and the rest of creation (Gen. 1-2, Prov. 8).

5) The world is good, valuable, and worthy of careful study because it was created for a purpose by a perfectly good God (Gen. 1).  Humans…were created to discern, discover, and develop the goodness of creation….

6) Because the world is not divine and therefore not a proper object of worship, it can be an object of rational study and empirical observation.

7) Human beings possess the ability to discover the universe’s intelligibility, since we are made in God’s image and have been placed on earth to develop its intrinsic possibilities.

8) Because God did not reveal everything about nature, empirical investigation is necessary to discern the patterns God laid down in creation.

9) God encourages, even propels, science through his imperative to humans to take dominion over nature (Gen. 1:28).

10) The intellectual virtues essential to carrying out the scientific enterprise (studiousness, honesty, integrity, humility, and courage) are part of God’s moral law (Ex. 20:1-17).

“While Christianity and science have had their scuffles, there is nothing inherent in the Christian worldview that is inimical to science rightly understood.”

Douglas Groothuis, Christian Apologetics (Downer’s Grove, IVP, 2011), 102-3.

shane lems

Faith, Doubt, & Certainty in Christian Discipleship (Newbigin)

This is an amazing and truly outstanding book.  Lesslie Newbigin’s Proper Confidence (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1995) is honestly one of the best brief and to the point books I’ve read on Christian epistemology (i.e. knowing things – specifically how faith and knowledge relate).  I would love to do a series of blog posts on this book, but I don’t have the time right now.  Instead, I’ll blurb a bit now, and come back to it later.

In this book, Newbigin talks about modernism & fundamentalism along with postmodernism & liberalism.  He wonderfully describes them, critiques them, points out the strengths of each, but then says neither will ultimately do for a Christian pilgrim “on the way.”  In fact, says Newbigin, our knowledge is “partial here in via, but promised in its fullness at the end” (p. 7).  We cannot assume a sort of enlightenment or even fundamentalistic view of knowledge, that we know so much based on scientific, reasonable propositions.  Nor can we assume a sort of liberal or postmodern view that nothing can be known with any certainty.  Instead,

“If the place where we look for ultimate truth is in a story and if (as is the case) we are still in the middle of the story, then it follows that we walk by faith and not by sight.  If ultimate truth is sought in an idea, a formula, or a set of timeless laws or principles, then we do not have to recognize the possibility that something totally unexpected may happen.  Insofar as our knowledge is accurate, we shall be able to predict the future.  Future and past events are governed by the same laws, the same principles, and the same realities.  But if we find ultimate truth in a story that has not yet been finished, we do not have that kind of certainty.  The certainty we have rests on the faithfulness of the one whose story it is.  We walk by faith” (p. 14)

Again, I’ll come back to this book some other time.  If you want a lesson in epistemology, especially how to think and act when it comes to liberalism and fundamentalism or postmodernism and modernism, reason and faith, and so forth, you really have to get this book.

A few more reading tips: First, Newbigin appropriates Polayni well in this book.  Second, this adds a new “robustness” to Van Til’s presuppositional arguments.  Finally, I assure you that if you read this book of Newbigin along with Herman Bavinck’s Certainty of Faith, you will not only be edified, your faith will also be strengthened, and you’ll have a great set of lenses with which to read and view the Christian faith in light of science, doubt, and skepticism.   Both books are around 100 pages and probably easy enough for anyone who knows the basic outlines of the history of philosophy.

shane lems

sunnyside wa