From the chemistry of our morning cup of tea or coffee to the instruments that map the night sky. From breakthroughs that reveal great mysteries to medicines that improve our health outcomes. Science touches every part of our life.
Today I want to explore the relationship between Science and the Christian faith. I contend that Science and Christianity are indeed compatible and are two inseparable halves of a unified whole world view. Also, Christians through their faith in God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit have in fact enhanced Science. Many of the good outcomes of Science have been inspired by men and women of faith.
Partly as a result of the COVID epidemic, differing opinions of the relationship between Christianity and Science have been highlighted and sadly these have divided families and broken friendships.
In some Christian circles today, people contend there is no overlap between a belief in God and Science and would contend that a belief in Science is tantamount to idolatry. Even, if these same people would think nothing of entrusting their bread to a toaster every morning and sometimes more often.
Others contend that Science and Christianity go hand in hand and Science is one of God’s ways of repair and restoration.
Arguably the birthplace of modern Science is the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge university in England. It was in the Cavendish Laboratory that NZ Scientist, Ernest Rutherford, split the atom. As you enter this laboratory there is a verse from Psalm 111 inscribed in Latin. The English translation is “Great are the works of the Lord. They are pondered by all who delight in them.”.
The Christian writer Joyce Rupp goes further and says, ‘We can only speak about and proclaim you through the guiding help of symbol and story’. Science and Faith are about symbols and stories. Science and Faith is about observation, interpretation and inspiration.
I will look at the history of Science from the Middle Ages to now and use the example of three scientists who were inspired by their deep Christian faith to make lasting, valuable and life-giving contributions to Science. They are Robert Boyle-the father of Chemistry, John Dalton who also advanced Chemistry and Michael Faraday a key person in the field of Physics.
In both the Middle Ages and the Dark Age, most Scientists were called Alchemists and Science was defined as Alchemy. Alchemy was a search for a mysterious element or compound often called an elixir that could transform all metals to gold. Looking back at this time many scholars believed that the spiritual aspects of alchemy were at best not good and at worst occultic and evil. Science in those ages could be described as alien to Christianity.
Towards the end of the 17th Century, Robert Boyle, a scientist who was Christian, published a book “The Sceptical Chymist’. This book challenged the idea that matter was made up of a mix of all the 4 elements earth, fire, air and wind. He went further and advocated the notion that God created the universe according to different laws.
Instead, Boyle used new equipment and experiments to prove his theories about the world. As a result, Boyle is given the title ‘The Father of Modern Chemistry’ and was one of the key figures that set up the Royal Society which is still in existence today some 364 years later. It is the oldest continuously existing scientific academy in the world.
Robert Boyle is an outstanding example of a Christian scientist whose faith interacted fundamentally with his science. His faith in God was the driving force behind his interest in Science and his Christian character shaped the ways in which he conducted his scientific life. Boyle believed God gave humans three books to aid their salvation – the book of Scripture, the book of conscience and the book of nature’.
Boyle was born in Ireland and along with his siblings was raised as devout members of the Anglican church. He was the fourteenth of fifteen children in his family.
Another Christian scientist who built on Boyle’s pioneering work on the atomic theory of matter is John Dalton. Dalton developed methods to calculate atomic weights and to represent atoms pictorially. Among other things he also discovered colour blindness which at the time was known as Daltonism. He was described as the father of modern atomic theory.
Dalton was a committed quaker throughout his life and he was educated at a quaker school. He must have been a fast learner as he was employed as a teacher at the age of 13 and became Principal of the school at the age of 19.
He shunned publicity but when Dalton died in 1844, he was buried with honours in Manchester, England. More than 400,000 people visited his body as he lay in state.
The third Christian scientist I want to feature is Michael Faraday. He discovered many of the fundamental laws of Physics and Chemistry despite the fact that he had virtually no formal education. The son of an English blacksmith he had his first job at the age of 14 as an assistant to a bookseller and bookbinder. Faraday was extremely curious, questioning everything. He read every book that he bound and decided that one day he would write a book.
Faraday has been described as the father of Electricity and the discoverer of Electromagnetism and transformers and was a pioneer of radiocommunication. He also was a passionate Scientific educator and in the 1850’s established Christmas lectures on Science for children that still take place today.
Faraday’s family and Faraday himself belonged to a Christian denomination called the Sandemanian which according to Faraday was the most important influence on him and provided spiritual sustenance. Faraday was so involved in Church that he acted as co-pastor for a significant number of years where he preached in the services and also had spiritual oversight and pastoral care of the people in his congregation.
Faraday believed that in his scientific research he was reading “the book of nature… written by the finger of God”. He was a devout Christian who remained loyal to God throughout his life.
Faraday saw his faith as integral to his scientific research. One of the most respected organisations looking at understanding Science and religion is the Faraday Institute for Science and religion. It is a Cambridge based interdisciplinary research institute which aims to improve public understanding of religious beliefs in relation to the Sciences. It aims to provide accurate information in order to facilitate informed debate. Courses in 2025 at the Faraday Institute include ‘Caring for Creation, leading the Church Forward’ and “Science, Religion and Justice”.
I have only mentioned three Scientists who credited God as their inspiration. There are many others such as Sir Isaac Newton and the astronomers Galileo and Kepler. Francis Collins was once an atheist but through his work on the genome theory has become a committed Christian.
The Father of Chemistry, the Father of Modern Atomic Theory and the father of electricity were all committed believers and their faith in God was instrumental in their scientific work. They believed that because the universe was created by God and that human beings are made in God’s image it is perfectly possible and in fact necessarily logical that we could – and we should – try to understand the universe by observation, by interpretation and inspiration. The Father of the universe, God, has been both their inspiration and their sustainer. It has enabled Science to progress from a situation where theories were made to fit philosophies but not reflect observations to a situation where science is a powerful tool to promote human health and wellbeing as well as the ecological health of the world.
The writer of Genesis challenges us to be good stewards of the earth. Boyle, Dalton and Faraday have done just that and used Science as a valuable tool to progress humanity both physically and spiritually.
In terms of being stewards of the earth there are numerous biblical verses to support this. In 1 Corinthians 4:2 Paul states that it is required of stewards that they be found faithful. In Numbers 35 we are told not to pollute and defile the land in which we live. In Genesis 2 before the Fall, the Lord God took humans and put them in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. In Psalm 8 we read that God has given us dominion over the works of God’s hands and he has put all things under our feet and this includes beasts of the field, birds of the sky and fishes in the sea.
Currently we observe our world and we see the land, the sky and the sea that is being destroyed by needless wars and we also see the rapid increase in numbers of species of animals, birds and fishes that are now considered endangered. We need more than ever leadership and help from Christian scientists whose motivation is built on a Christian worldview.
Finally, the Bible makes it clear that Science is a gift from God who is the source of all good things (James 1:17). “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the father of the heavenly lights who does not change like shifting challenges”.
The fact is we can use our intellect along with our Christian worldview to explore the physical world and make discoveries that can improve our living conditions and heal the world. This is not only good but is biblical.
I would like to conclude by sharing a story of how reading Scripture enabled a Scientist to gain a new perspective on his field of interest that benefited humanity.
Matthew Maury was a naval commander. His research and charts pioneered the field of oceanography and navigation. In 1839, Maury sustained a leg injury that left him bedridden. As a sailor he had been around the world many times. While he was recovering from his injury, his wife read to him from various books, including the Bible.
One day Mrs. Maury read to him from Psalm 8, which talks about God’s creative power and might. As he listened, Matthew wanted to have his imagination and thinking ignited. The particular words that caught his attention were verses 6 to 8, where it is written, “you have made him to have dominion over the works of your hands, you have put all things under his authority – all sheep and oxen, even the beasts of the field, the birds of the air and the fish of the sea that pass through the paths of the sea”.
Maury began thinking, “How can the sea have paths?” Then he thought that if he ever got back to sea, he would do some research on the paths of the sea. Two years later he went back to the navy and was put in charge of their depot of charts and instruments. In this post he launched an investigation of the ocean currents which kept him busy for the next 20 years and earned him the title “Pathfinder of the Seas”.
He designed logbooks and gave them to sea captains from many nations. He asked them to keep a daily record of their locations, wind speed and weather conditions. He persuaded sailors to drop bottles in the sea with messages recording the date and the location.
Eventually, Commander Maury was responsible for charting the Gulf Stream and the Labrador Stream and laid the foundations for the US Naval Observatory. Maury’s work cut precious days from travel time as captains took advantage of the natural currents of the sea. His discoveries saved countless lives by helping navigators to avoid dangerous storm times at sea. It all stemmed from his belief that “the paths of the sea” was not a piece of poetic expression but an accurate statement that science had not yet caught up with.
The Bible of course is not a scientific document. Rather it is a book which seeks to present God’s perspective on things. This is an example of how Science and Christian faith work together for the benefit of humanity.
Benediction
So now we offer our thanks
for the beauty of these islands.
for the wild places and the bush
for the mountains and the coast and the sea.
We offer thanks and praise to God
for this good land.
for its trees and pastures,
for its plentiful crops
and the skills we have learned to grow them
Our thanks for marae and cities
we have built.
for science and discoveries,
for our life together,
for Aotearoa, New Zealand.
Amen.
Tawa Baptist 