Deeper understandings
Faith and science What are the gifts that science brings?
Editor’s note: This series is intended to be a public conversa- tion among teaching theologians of the ELCA on various themes of our faith and the challenging issues of our day. It invites readers to engage in dialogue by posting comments online at the end of each article at
www.thelutheran.org. The series is edited by Philip
D.W. Krey, president of the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadel- phia, on behalf of the presidents of the eight ELCA seminaries.
By Nelson Rivera and Gilson A.C. Waldkoenig
Gilson A.C. Waldkoenig: Science offers an organized way to sort evi- dence and remove false assumptions. It narrows the verifiable knowledge about a particular set of data or evi- dence, excluding grossly mistaken conclusions that we otherwise might have drawn by unchecked intuitions. A complex problem, such as a dis-
ease, requires persistent reapplication of the scientific method: gathering and testing data about the problem over and over until some clarity about how to address it emerges. Progress in some matters has shown science is a powerful tool kit.
Nelson Rivera: Science has become a global phenomenon since it is practiced in many places around the world. It touches the lives of billions of people in many ways. Science has been beneficial to humanity by its many practical applications, from improving living conditions, improv- ing health and longevity, and increas- ing work productivity. However, it also challenges us in a variety of ways, including physical threats to life (weaponry, pollution, climate change), as well as intellectu- ally and ethically speaking by push- ing us to rethink the question about what makes us human.
Rivera Waldkoenig
Rivera is associate professor of systematic theol- ogy and Hispanic ministry and director of Latino Concentration at the Lutheran Theological Semi- nary at Philadelphia; Waldkoenig is professor of church in society at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg (Pa.)
18 The Lutheran •
www.thelutheran.org
Contemporary science deals with questions concerning energy sources and consumption, the provision of medical services to vast populations, as it also pushes us to reconsider damages to the environment among other undesirable consequences. Sci- ence has become a global experience and therefore has helped create a global culture with its own language, with constant information exchange and analysis, and the search for solu- tions. All these developments can be said to be far reaching as they cross national, cultural and religious boundaries.
Science thrives in wonder of the world, in awe about everything that surrounds us, and by asking questions
about the “ways of the world” in its pursuit of knowledge.
One of the most striking things about science is that it often works: it actually offers solutions to the challenges of living in the complex worlds of nature and society. Science may not answer directly the so-called “big questions,” for example, our concerns for meaning in life and how to live ethically. Nevertheless, scien- tific descriptions about the mechanics of the world do bear on questions about human life.
What are the anxieties and problems that science brings?
Waldkoenig: While modern sci- ence has many achievements, it sometimes seems as if several new problems arise every time one is “solved.” Moreover, if absolutely everything is subject to testing and re-testing, it makes many people feel as if life were entirely unstable. Sci- ence is always challenging because it opens our eyes to change and fresh knowledge.
New scientific evidence for global warming, for instance, raises anxiet- ies. Though human beings warm the atmosphere through relentless burning of fossil fuels and consump- tion of earth’s habitat, some insist that science must be incomplete or misguided. God would not allow such troubles, they argue, as if God would pre-empt the consequences of our actions. If we accuse scientists of violating their commitments to the scientific method, instead of our realistically facing the findings they present, we are simply blaming the messengers.
Many Christians look at findings about global warming as real and present reasons to repent and change behavior, and an invitation to walk humbly in God’s shadow rather than
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