Emerging Scholars Blog

InterVarsity's Emerging Scholars Network

naturalism

Book Review: Where the Conflict Really Lies

Where the Conflict Really Lies: Science, Religion, and Naturalism by Alvin Plantinga. Oxford University Press, 2011.

Most people think there is a basic antagonism between faith and science that has to be overcome if one is to be both a theist and a scientific practitioner. Alvin Plantinga [1] says, au contraire. It is in fact the naturalist who has the real problem.

In Where the Conflict Really Lies: Science, Religion, and Naturalism, Plantinga carefully works this out over 352 pages. He begins with the areas often thought to be in contradiction, in particular the questions of evolution and miracles, and demonstrates that in neither case is there a logical contradiction or conflict. He then goes on to discuss evolutionary psychology and biblical criticism. Through a discussion of the nature of “defeaters”, Plantinga shows that even in these areas, the sources of conflict are superficial at best and do not “defeat” theistic belief. [Read more…] about Book Review: Where the Conflict Really Lies

What role does Christianity play in our scholarship?

George Marsden
George Marsden, Francis A. McAnaney Professor of History at the University of Notre Dame

I’ve been writing about George Marsden’s talk to InterVarsity Graduate and Faculty Ministries at our recent staff conference. Over the last two weeks, I’ve written about Dr. Marsden’s belief that metaphysical naturalism is losing its hold on the academy and his endorsement for methodological naturalism as an appropriate stance for Christian faculty. Last week, I shared the question that I asked him:

Since we agree that methodological naturalism is a good way of doing academic work, but that privatization is a bad way of living out our faith, how do Christian scholars integrate their faith with their academic work?

Dr. Marsden suggested that a primary way that our faith influences our work is in the questions we ask. A common framework gives the same sets of facts to Christians and non-Christians alike, and the answers to our questions are found through a common methodology, but our ideological commitments shape the questions we pursue. He compared this process to the ways in which scholars have brought questions related to gender into the academic mainstream. So, then, Christians scholars will be asking different questions than non-Christians.

I think this is true, to an extent, though I was actually more intrigued by what came next. As with gender, Marsden said that Christian scholars need “consciousness-raising” about the influence of faith on their work. Scholars have to think hard about the ways that faith commitments already shape their scholarship.

Here, Marsden expresses something I’ve been wondering about for some time. A few years back, a senior engineering professor at a major research university told me that he had repeatedly seen Christians struggle to get tenure at his institution, primarily because their values were in conflict with the values of the university. The young Christian faculty wanted to be good teachers, good community members, active participants in the life of the university; meanwhile, the university was interested in their research, and not much else, at least in terms of their tenure decision.

I don’t want to suggest that this professor’s experience is paradigmatic — not all universities have such a narrow view of faculty. However, his observations imply that there is something different about Christian faculty, something that faculty themselves don’t always recognize, and which isn’t likely to appear in their publications. We need an understanding of “academic integration” that goes beyond research output and includes the full life and work of students and faculty.

What do you think? Does your faith affect the questions that you ask? Have you seen your faith shape your academic work?

How can Christian scholars avoid privatizing their faith?

George Marsden
George Marsden, Francis A. McAnaney Professor of History at the University of Notre Dame

Last week, I wrote about George Marsden‘s address to InterVarsity Graduate and Faculty Ministries staff, “The Soul of the American University Revisited.” Dr. Marsden suggested that worldview naturalism — also called ideological or metaphysical naturalism — was losing its hold on the academy. In contrast, methodological naturalism remained strong and, indeed, was an appropriate stance for Christians in academia. It’s this form of naturalism that I want to focus on today.

Here’s how J. P. Moreland and William Lane Craig describe methodological naturalism in their (massive) book, Philosophical Foundations for a Christian Worldview [n. b. this is Moreland and Craig’s description of the position, not necessarily their own positions]:

[In the natural sciences, e]xplanations should refer only to natural objects and events and not to the personal choices and actions of human and divine agents. Natural science seeks knowledge of the physical properties, behavior and formative history of the physical world….Within science, we should adopt methodological naturalism, according to which answers to questions are sought within nature… (358, emphasis added)

I appreciate their inclusion of human agents in this definition, because I think it can build a bridge to scientists who don’t share a theistic perspective. If I’m a scientist asking why a cannonball falls toward the earth, it’s not appropriate to answer “because I dropped it out the window,” even though that might be a perfectly acceptable answer in, say, a court of law in which I’m being prosecuted for assaulting someone with said cannonball.

Likewise, there are other contexts in which methodological naturalism is highly inappropriate. Staying with the law court example, I would be cited for contempt if I began describing gravity wells when the prosecutor asked me, “How did the cannonball come to strike Tom Grosh in the head?” [Read more…] about How can Christian scholars avoid privatizing their faith?

Is Naturalism Losing Steam?

George Marsden
George Marsden, Francis A. McAnaney Professor of History at the University of Notre Dame

Last week, Tom and I attended the national staff meetings for InterVarsity Graduate and Faculty Ministries, which continued the theme of Campuses Renewed from our national staff conference in January. Our speakers could not have been better: historian George Marsden, the Francis A. McAnaney Professor of History at the University of Notre Dame, who wrote the seminal book The Outrageous Idea of Christian Scholarship (see our online book discussion for more details), and University of Cincinnati Provost Santa Ono, who serves on the InterVarsity Board of Trustees and impressed us all with both his vision for higher education and his bold-yet-winsome faith. Their talks were recorded, and I hope that we’ll be able to share them with you soon. Today, however, I want to share a question generated by Dr. Marsden’s talk. Next week, I’ll have a second, related question.

 

Is ideological natural losing its hold in the academy?

Dr. Marsden spoke on “The Soul of the American University Revisited,” updating the conditions he identified in his landmark history of Protestant higher education, The Soul of the American University, a 1994 book based on a 1991 essay published in First Things. In Soul, Marsden traced the path of American universities “From Protestant Establishment to Established Nonbelief;” in this talk, Marsden asked “What has changed in the past 20 years?” [Read more…] about Is Naturalism Losing Steam?

You never hear apologists attacking Melville…

Campus Map
Campus Map

Does your choice of undergraduate major affect your religious faith? Inside Higher Ed recently reported on a study by Miles S. Kimball, Colter M. Mitchell, Arland D. Thornton and Linda C. Young-Demarco, all of U. Michigan, that asked that very question. Using data from the long-running Monitoring the Future study, Kimball et al. tracked the religiosity of college students (based on how frequently they attended religious services and how important they viewed religion in their lives, along with some secondary indicators) to see how their choice of college major affected them.

Photo: Campus map of Minnesota St.-Moorhead by xavierla, via Flickr. Did you ever choose a class based on how close it was to your dorm or parking lot? I never did, I swear.

What did they find? In (very) brief,

  • Education or Business major increased religiosity.
  • Humanities or Social Sciences major decreased religiosity.
  • Biological or Physical* Sciences major had no effect on religiosity.

*Physical science majors showed a decrease in how important they viewed religion, but no change in how often they attended services. Biological sciences had no effect on religiosity. [Read more…] about You never hear apologists attacking Melville…