"Who built the Ark?" "Noah! Noah!" "Who built the Ark?" "Brother Noah built the Ark." This week, in our reading of When Science and Christianity Meet, Janet Browne takes up the topic of The Flood and Noah's Ark. If you recognize the children's song I'm quoting, you'll probably agree with Browne that the Noah story is "deeply embedded" in our minds and culture. Young children respond positively to animals, making Noah's Ark a natural motif for toys and accessories. My church has a large Ark mural outside the nursery and … [Read more...] about Science Book Club: When Science & Christianity Meet Ch 5
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Science Book Club: When Science & Christianity Meet Ch 4
Homonculi, animalcules, and hydra! O my! Sure, planets and moons and clockworks are interesting, important, and historically significant to the faith and science conversation. But start talking about morphallactic regeneration and now you've really got the attention of this biologist. This week, Thomas Broman introduces a significant dose of eighteenth century biology even if the chapter title "Matter, Force, and the Christian Worldview in the Enlightenment" doesn't really suggest as much. In part that's because Broman … [Read more...] about Science Book Club: When Science & Christianity Meet Ch 4
Science Book Club: When Science & Christianity Meet Ch 3
How can such a foreign idea feel so familiar? That was my recurring question from William Ashworth's essay "Christianity and the Mechanistic Universe." Ashworth's approach is wide ranging, weaving threads from ancient Greek philosophy with the nascent science of sixteen and seventeenth centuries. He focuses on how different thinkers approach the big questions about the fundamental nature of the universe and everything contained in it. I generally find it difficult to engage with classical and medieval science when it … [Read more...] about Science Book Club: When Science & Christianity Meet Ch 3
Science Book Club: When Science & Christianity Meet Ch 2
Was Galileo more lucky than right? I kept wondering about that as I read "Galileo, the Church, and the Cosmos" from When Science and Christianity Meet. Galileo was a champion of the heliocentric model of the cosmos, which ran counter to both well-established science and the prevailing doctrine of Catholic theologians. The alternative geocentric model, and more specifically the cosmology of Ptolemy and Aristotle, has long since fallen out of favor with both scientists and Christian scholars of all stripes. So of course … [Read more...] about Science Book Club: When Science & Christianity Meet Ch 2
Science Book Club: When Science & Christianity Meet Ch 1
"And that, my lord, is how we know the Earth to be banana-shaped." "This new learning amazes me, Sir Bedevere. Explain again how sheep's bladders may be employed to prevent earthquakes." I couldn't help but think of that quote from Monty Python and the Holy Grail as I read David Lindberg's essay on medieval science. Beneath the characteristic Python silliness lies a hint of what actually transpired among western European scholars of the Middle Ages. A New Learning was arriving in the form of classical texts and Arabic … [Read more...] about Science Book Club: When Science & Christianity Meet Ch 1