InterVarsity's Emerging Scholars Network
We’re on our final week discussing the English translation of Stefano Mancuso’s The Revolutionary Genius of Plants, a colorful and wide-ranging survey of recent developments in our understanding of plant biology. Mancuso is particularly interested in what sets plants apartRead more…
In chapter 4, [Mancuso] brings up what I thought was the most intriguing difference: plants stay put. OK, maybe that’s obvious, but what’s intriguing are the implications Mancuso teases out from it.Read more…
Mancuso has a lot to say about the uniqueness of plants, how they can expand our understanding of life, and how the features of plants can be harnessed to address challenges faced by humans.Read more…
Although Lloyd was not overtly concerned with any religious intersections, I found the discussion of the universe as a quantum computer relevant to a couple of issues that come up in science & faith conversations.Read more…
While we don’t have evidence of plant intelligence here on Earth, we may still have underestimated our local flora and overlooked their capacity to communicate.Read more…
…understanding the chemical and physiological reactions that generate emotions can enrich rather than impoverish my relationship to music and art.Read more…
If your experience is anything like mine, your 2018 wrapped up with a blitz of requests for end-of-year charitable contributions.Read more…
If you have some extra time for a holiday or winter break and are looking for something to read, allow me to remind you of the books we’ve discussed over the past year.Read more…
The grandest ambitions of the human race require always more, and so we imagine living out among the stars, or at the very least on other planets.Read more…
We are imperfect creators, and so not everything about our new world is good. We may still have the ability to mitigate some of the imperfections, but to do so we first need the humility to accept our limitations as creators.Read more…
When Jesus was born as the Son of God incarnate, the future arrived in a very tangible way.Read more…
Some weeks it can be tricky to find a way into the science news that might be of interest to those outside the specific community of investigation. But not this week.Read more…
Tomorrow is Thanksgiving in the United States, a time for gratitude and community. Intangible qualities like these challenge science, since they don’t lend themselves as readily to quantifying or to controlled investigation.Read more…
The result is a wide-ranging exploration of questions, some specific to the present science-faith conversation and some raised perennially by skeptics and curious seekers.Read more…
Neither humanity’s first nor last widespread encounter with influenza, the 1918-19 pandemic is notable for how quickly and widely it spread: in less than 6 months it was on every continent and ultimately infected as many as 1 out of every 3 people on the planet.Read more…
This week, I want to highlight the science of Frankenstein.Read more…
[Scientism and Secularism] is clearly aimed at fellow Christians who agree with Moreland that science is taking influence away from the church and who need help articulating why theology and religion are still relevant.Read more…
Topology is a standard topic in mathematics; topiary less so. That’s why I thought it was pretty cool to read about a mathematician-designed maze in celebration of the Abel Prize.Read more…
Truly universal truths can be more elusive than they seem.Read more…
Regardless of how one understands our relationship to the animal kingdom, many of us are interested in what distinguishes us biologically from animals, especially the animals most similar to us: chimpanzees, gorillas, and the like.Read more…
God created the universe(s) to provide the space and conditions for the emergence of habitable bio-niches in which agape-capable beings would eventually emerge to live in agape-love relations with God and with others. Earth is one such emergent bio-niche, and Homo sapiens are an instance of such emergent agape-loving beings. In other words, the telos (purpose) of the universe is to be birthing-space, nursery, and home for agape-capable beings in relationships and actions of agape-love towards God and others. – Christian Barrigar, Faith All the Way Up: God and the Meaning of Life in a Scientific Age, 21Read more…
We talk a lot about science here, but science isn’t just talk. I thought maybe we could roll up our sleeves and try a little science.Read more…
What would it take to preserve all vertebrate life, and to what end?Read more…
What inspired you to write Faith across the Multiverse? “Inspiration came from many directions, including the story I tell in the book about making a spontaneous connection between math and theology during a group Bible study. But I think the biggest one was spending time chatting with comic book fans and seeing how many of them took for granted that being intelligent or scientific automatically ruled out belief in God. . . .”Read more…