Get this product
Preaching about science and religion
Many people know that Albert Einstein responded to the suggestions of chance and strangeness introduced by the new science of Quantum Mechanics with a famous put down: ‘God doesn’t play dice!’ The response is less well known. Nils Bohr, the great architect of Quantum Mechanics, immediately responded: ‘Stop telling God what to do.’
In late 2010 the publicity for Stephen Hawking’s new book, The Grand Design, made much of the suggestion that Hawking had removed any need for God. Of course this wasn’t true – even in Hawking’s own terms – but the claim was widely reported and commented on. ‘Stop telling God what to do’ is an appropriate response here.In this case a well respected scientist has made the mistake of assuming that because he has suggested a scientific speculation that would remove the need to use God as a physical explanation in one particular branch of physics, then he has removed God from the picture altogether.
A year earlier in 2009 the scientific world celebrated the achievement of Charles Darwin and the theory of evolution by natural selection. Many Christians were troubled by this and took care to state again their unease over Darwin’s science. Again my instinctive response was: ‘Stop telling God what to do.’ Some ways to read the Bible cannot make room for this well attested part of science – something which underlies virtually all contemporary biological science. The problem is not with the science but with our misuse of the Biblical text. As the writer of a recent introduction to the Bible insists, to read the Bible as a scientific textbook is to do violence to a text to which we should give more respect. We must learn to read it in its own terms as history, poetry or instruction, rather than limiting it to the pedestrian role of a text book (John Polkinghorne, Encountering Scripture: A scientist explores the Bible).
Most preachers will not have a scientific education, but all of us live in a world formed by science. We should not pretend that entering the pulpit makes us experts in all areas, but we can all help congregations to explore the wonders around us:
We believe in God who is Creator of the Universe.
This isn’t simply, or perhaps at all, a scientific statement. In part speaking of the Creator is a theological affirmation of God’s control over everything. Before the advent of modern science Mother Julian of Norwich understood this well:
And he showed me more, a little thing, the size of a hazelnut, on the palm of my hand, round like a ball. I looked at it thoughtfully and wondered, ‘What is this?’ And the answer came, ‘It is all that is made.’ I marveled that it continued to exist and did not suddenly disintegrate; it was so small. And my mind supplied the answer, ‘It exists, both now and for ever, because God loves it.’ In short, everything owes its existence to the love of God. In this ‘little thing’ I saw three truths. The first is that God made it; the second is that God loves it; and the third is that God sustains it.
A few scientists do not see the wonder of the universe which they study, but they are in a small minority. Most happily acknowledge their wonder at the universe whether or not this leads them to a belief in God. One strand of the origin of science lies in the religious delight in knowing more about God’s creation, and celebrating its wonder. This isn’t to claim anything about how God works, and science may have real surprises in store here; but it is to claim that the Book of Nature can help us to learn about nature’s God. This sense of wonder is something Christians must proclaim, as common ground shared with most of humanity.
In Part 2 Philip looks at the limits and strengths of science and some practical implications for the Church