The Scientist After God's Own Heart

  1. What is science?

    The study of the physical world with the goal of discovering general principles from particular observations.

  2. Why should we care about science?

    1. Gen. 1:28

    2. Ps. 104:24-25,31, Ps. 19:1, Isaiah 5:12

  3. What presuppositions are necessary to do science?

    1. The universe is orderly and consistent. The past, the present, and the future have some relation to one another.

    2. The world of abstraction mathematics, universal laws corresponds to the physical world in a meaningful way.

    3. Our senses can reliably observe and interpret our observations.

    4. Our minds are equipped to understand both the abstract world and the physical world.

    5. The physical world is separate from God (or logic).

    6. The physical world is essentially good.

  4. How does Christianity undergird these presuppositions?

    1. Eph. 1:11, Gen. 8:22, Heb. 1:2-3

    2. Gen. 1:1

    3. Gen. 1:28

    4.  

    5.  

    6. Gen. 1:31

  5. What else does Christianity say about science?

    1. Science is a handmaiden to revelation, not an independent enterprise or worse, the ultimate source of truth.

    2. True science can never contradict the Bible rightly interpreted. However, the Bible is not a science textbook and usually speaks of the natural world as it appears according to ordinary observation.

    3. Contrary to our culture's assumptions, technological development is not by definition "progress".

    4. Science does not need to be "useful" to be God-honoring.

    5. The fall has radically impacted both the scientist and the world to be studied.

      1. Thorns and thistles (Gen. 3:17-19)

      2. Man's irresponsibility (Rom. 1:18-23; 8:20-23)

References

The Soul of Science: Christian Faith and Natural Philosophy, by Nancy R. Pearcey and Charles B. Thaxton, Crossway Books, 1994, 298 pp. This book traces how Christian assumptions undergirded the development of much of science and especially the scientific revolution. They also discuss and critique modern scientific developments in physics and chemistry (relativity, quantum mechanics, DNA) from a Christian worldview.
Availability: AU library

Lectures on Calvinism, Lecture 4: Calvinism and Science, Six Lectures Delivered at Princeton University, 1898 under the auspices of the L. P. Stone Foundation. Kuyper brilliantly demonstrates the truism that "ideas have consequences." One's theology is inseparably linked to one's views and practices of science. Science, rightly understood, flourishes in the context of Christian views of creation and ultimately withers in any other context.
Availability: AU Library or http://www.kuyper.org/main/publish/books_essays/article_17.shtml

Defeating Darwinism by Opening Minds, by Phillip E. Johnson, IVP, 132 pp. Although I haven't specifically addressed the creation/evolution controversy here, I highly recommend Phillip Johnson's thought as the best starting point. It is important to understand the philosophy behind evolution before you become inundated by all the details of the scientific arguments. This book examines the materialist philosophy that lies concealed underneath the so-called "fact" of evolution and provides a helpful treatment at a very accessible level.
Availability: CPC library