Emerging Scholars Blog

InterVarsity's Emerging Scholars Network

dualism

Science Book Club: When Science & Christianity Meet Ch 10

Photo of crocheted Sigmund Freud doll
Yet another marvel of the human mind – crocheted dolls of notable scientists. (Photo by Zoria )

The more we evolve, the less we need God. That’s the proposition up for debate in a recent Intelligence Squared event. And if that phrasing wasn’t enough to raise the eyebrows of Christians, the pro-God side is represented by Deepak Chopra and Anoop Kumar, who share a concept of God that seems more pantheistic than personal. Of course, no two people could represent the full range of religious beliefs, and in many other comparable debates or dialogues one or a few Christians wind up standing for all believers of all faiths. So personally, my concern is not with Chopra or Kumar, but with the binary nature of such debates. Both sides are supposedly given equal hearing, but in reality this is not a topic with just two sides. God obviously means a variety of things to people of different faiths, not all of which have even have a single God. For that matter, there are plenty of skeptics, agnostics and atheists who don’t feel that Michael Shermer speaks for them either.
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Science in Review — May 2013

Diagram of the how the body, spirit and soul of a man might be relate if they are separate entities
This dualist representation of body, spirit and soul is typical of how I was taught, and I suspect of how many other Christians are taught as well. (Diagram by Clarence Larkin [Public domain])

Recently on the blog, some questions have arisen about whether biology plays a role in determining sexual orientation, and if so to what extent. Even though the relevant disciplines are not my area of expertise, I felt that, as a biologist, I should be at least broadly familiar with the available data and schools of thought. I figured I would investigate what is known, what the open questions are, and if it was worthwhile, summarize my findings for this blog. I don’t expect to provide the definitive Christian perspective on the topic; my goal was mainly to present the evidence, whatever it may be (and I honestly didn’t know what I’d find), so that we could have a more informed discussion.

While I continue to research the literature, I have already started thinking about how to organize and present what I’m learning. And I realized that how I generally think about the connection between the mind and the body framed how I approached the biology of orientation. I began to suspect the same is true for many of us, so I think it’s worth getting it out in the open first. [Read more…] about Science in Review — May 2013