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Preaching about science and religion
For Christians, continuing to celebrate Harvest Festival, giving thanks for the world around us, or mentioning natural disasters in our prayers all show how seriously we take the links between God and God’s world. Science asks some difficult questions here, but they are not new questions. The precise ways in which God acts in the world have troubled thinkers since at least the time of Thomas Aquinas; that God does love God’s world, and acts in it, is a central part of Christian faith. Preaching must wrestle with the destruction of earthquakes, as well as the joy of a summer’s day.
Much of the extraordinary progress in science has come because scientists have deliberately chosen to be blinkered, to concentrate on a few simple facts. That simplification and concentration means that scientists have been able to solve many of the toughest problems. And that’s the point: science works because it only looks at the physical world. Its methods, and the way scientists are trained, mean that scientists value physical facts above all else. Scientists are simply not trained to observe, or to examine critically, anything beyond the physical. Preachers will be interested in the physical facts of God’s world, but their canvas is much larger: we are called to retell the whole story of God’s great purposes, from creation, through fall and redemption to the final coming and consummation.
Having noted the limits of science we should also note one of its great strengths. Science is one of the most inventive and adaptable of human pursuits. In the nineteenth century Darwin was often criticised because his theories required that scientists work in a new way. For some this meant that what Darwin did simply was not science. Most scientists, however, as soon as they understood what Darwin had managed to explain through his new methods simply adopted them. Thomas Huxley summed up the situation for many: ‘How extremely stupid not to have thought of that!’ Part of the excitement of science lies here: constantly to explore; to attempt new solutions to old problems; to push the limits. Christians might learn from this. We believe in a God who makes all things new (Revelation 21 and 22) and in a faith which turns the world upside down (Acts 17.6). We should rejoice in the sheer novelty of God:
Evermore, from his store
New-born worlds rise and adore.
My final points are rather more practical: The Church should be a meeting place. Sometimes literally: my local church in Cambridge organises a long running series of discussions on science and religion. Careful timing and publicity means that the discussions are a genuine meeting place between scientists and non-specialists; and between those of very varied faith and non-believers. When I led the session a convinced atheist engaged me in public questioning of the basis of belief and truth. Sometimes our worship can honestly reflect this meeting as the preacher sets the important concerns of today in front of a congregation, always alongside our understanding of Bible and Church. There is a careful skill in fairly presenting the genuine views of others, whilst at the same time proclaiming our gospel gently and with authority.
We live in a scientific age. For all the talk of post-modernism or the postscientific, the world we inhabit today has been changed utterly by science. To give a Methodist example, The Ministry of the People of God, the classic report on ministry, noted that the old circuit system had been destroyed. By what? The telephone and the car. The technological application of science has changed the Church. Individual congregations no longer minister to the needs of their communities alone, but expect that the ordained minister can easily be summoned, and will speedily arrive. The results of science confront us not simply outside, but within the Church. Many congregations need help to understand the changes, and find appropriate ways to the respond in the twenty first century.
What I have tried to do here is to sketch out the excitement which comes from exploring science as one of the supreme achievements of our – God-given – human creativity, alongside our – Godgiven – revelation of God’s love for the world, shown above all in Jesus Christ. The Book of Revelation and the Book of Nature both demand the attention of the preacher.