GroshLink

On Friday, one of our engineering students asked for prayer for science. The rhetorical gulf between the scientific and the religious continues to grow in the day-to-day interactions on campus, to some degree provoked by the media's fascination with the topic and an embracing of polarizing perspectives which fail to foster a shared pursuit of truth through intentional, humble dialogue.

But followers of Christ are not stepping away from engaging the campus with a Biblical perspective on work in the University. On Thursday, David Snoke, a physics professor at Pitt, delivered a presentation on Can a Physicist Believe in Miracles. This first presentation in a Christian faculty forum series was a bold statement regarding how a follower of Christ's belief in miracles challenges secularism/pluralism and the fortress mentality of some which cling to an axiomatic faith. He looked at the common objections

1. It's not scientific to believe in miracles
2. To believe in miracles is a curiosity killer
3. To believe in miracles yields a chaotic picture of the world
4. Why believe in the Biblical miracles in particular?

David defined a miracle as a mighty act of God accompanied by a Word of God. A miracle is not a random strange thing happening, but a rare, well identified act for the particular purpose of demonstrating God's lordship over nature. Much more was said, most importantly in my mind, he pointed out that the relationship between science and Christianity is a 2 way street. If Christians want to speak to the whole world, then uncomfortable questions will arise. Furthermore, our Biblical data is not equal to our theological theories. As new data from the creation becomes available we may need to adjust our theology within the range of Biblical data, this interaction enables us to speak to/with the world.

For more of David's work, click here.

For a hot topic on the relationship between science and faith check out Our Faith in Science, which declares Buddhism's and science's shared search for the truth and for understanding reality, encourages neuroscience's research of Buddhist meditation and . . .

A deeper dialogue between neuroscience and society - indeed between all scientific fields and society - could help deepen our understanding of what it means to be human and our responsibilities for the natural world we share with other sentient beings.

Just as the world of business has been paying renewed attention to ethics, the world of science would benefit from more deeply considering the implications of its own work. Scientists should be more than merely technically adept; they should be mindful of their own motivation and the larger goal of what they do: the betterment of humanity.