Science and Faith
Who are we? What is our place in the cosmos? What is the meaning of life? As humans, we constantly ask these profound questions in one setting or another.
Both science and faith have provided ways to reflect on these questions. Yet every day stories appear in the news or on social media that change how we understand who we are and what is meaningful in our lives. Suddenly we realize that the potential of science and technology to alter and transform human beings far exceeds our ability to deal with those changes.
The human story is moving faster than our species expected. The plot races ahead of us into what seems like a science-fiction movie in which we are simply characters.
Christians believe that we live in a world created by God. To understand this creation, we need help interpreting the world in which we live.
Why is it important to integrate scientific perspectives into our churches? Because Christian leaders are called to interpret the word(s) of God — both the Bible and the “book of nature” — and science helps disclose the composition of our universe that is being continually refashioned by God the Creator.
Science is also a creative process, which, like religion, engages the meaning of life and the broad questions of existence. Science, like religion, is a kind of multilevel story that reveals who we are and where we belong in the universe. Science helps us realize that what we already know from the creation story in Genesis in a way that is outside of the narrative and into the technical aspects of how things happened.
How do we engage scientific perspectives in our faith life? First, we do so with “sound wisdom and prudence,” according to Proverbs 3:21.
Second, churches can extend invitations to scientists inside and outside their congregations to share wisdom about their disciplines and explain how their scientific perspectives shape their Christian faith and vice versa.
Third, we can care for our neighbor by expressing our faith through informed engagement with the sciences.
Inviting the insights of scientists is part and parcel of good pastoral practice. When bad science is promulgated, it can visit disaster upon the Christian community in many ways — in the form of bad medicine or bad environmental science.
As we look for areas in which scientific insights may serve the world, we are helping all Christians reflect more deeply upon God’s marvelous creation. We join with all who seek faithful and fruitful ways of living together on this planet we call home. Areas where we might join hands include environmental concerns, genetic counseling, medicine and health care, and agricultural practices.
Grateful that “the earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it” (Psalm 24:1), we seek to incorporate the best that science can offer with the best that theology proclaims.
To learn more about the ways science and faith work together, read profiles on the following Lutheran scientists:
- NASA Engineer Carol W. Carroll
- Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory Senior Scientist Steve Nahn
- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Meteorologist Ida Hakkarinen
Find out more about the Lutheran Alliance for Faith, Science and Technology at luthscitech.org.
Source: Living Lutheran article “Science and Faith”.
