Why Science and Faith Need Each Other

Howard Ecklund Elaine

Description

Science and faith are often seen as being in opposition. In this book, award-winning sociologist Elaine Howard Ecklund questions this assumption based on research she has conducted over the past 15 years. She highlights the ways these two spheres point to universal human values, showing readers they don't have to choose between science and Christianity.Breathing fresh air into debates that have consisted of more opinions than data, Ecklund offers insights uncovered by her research and shares her own story of personal challenges and lessons. In the areas most rife with conflict--the origin of the universe, evolution, climate change, and genetic technology--readers will find fascinating points of convergence in 8 virtues of human existence: curiosity, doubt, humility, creativity, healing, awe, shalom, and gratitude. The book includes discussion questions for group use and to help pastors, small group leaders, and congregants broach controversial topics and bridge the science-faith divide.

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie
• History of science

Informations

• Publié par: Baker Publishing Group
• Date de parution: 19 mai 2020
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781493423774
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

Cover
Endorsements
“We’ve all heard the stereotypes—that all scientists are hardcore atheists or that all Christians reject science. But what do people actually think and feel about science and faith? Ecklund’s world-class research in this area sheds light on the views of scientists and people of faith.”
— Deborah Haarsma , astronomer; president of BioLogos
“In her excellent and insightful book, Ecklund brings a desperately needed breath of grace-filled air to the suffocating and suspicious atmosphere polluting many faith communities and many science communities. In an increasingly polarized culture, few things are more important than building epistemic bridges of humility, respect, and curiosity. I wish every one of my parishioners would read this book.”
— Tom Nelson , senior pastor, Christ Community Church; president, Made to Flourish
“The contemporary church is fighting against so much today, and in the process we are losing one of the most profound gifts the church uniquely offers the world: community. In chapter 4, an interview subject named Jill had been told that her own unique gifts of wonder and curiosity were not valued. In reality they are desperately needed; without these gifts the Christian world struggles to grasp the transformational beauty that is the mystery of the kingdom of God. A thoughtful and spirited treatise.”
— Juanita Rasmus , senior pastor, St. John’s Church, Houston, Texas; author of Learning to Be
“Through the lens of sociological data and personal experience, Ecklund paints a thought-provoking and compelling picture of how both science and Christian faith, properly understood, help drive out fear of the unknown and cultivate shared virtues, including humility, intellectual curiosity, and even doubt. Ecklund’s voice is refreshingly honest.”
— Praveen Sethupathy , Center for Vertebrate Genomics, Cornell University
“Ecklund helps us see how faith and science are not opposing forces. When understood and embraced, they can in fact reinforce and strengthen one’s faith and scholarship. Ecklund’s contagious hope for the people of God to see the breadth and depth of God’s glory made plain to us through the marvels of science is inspiring.”
— Korie Edwards , Ohio State University
Other Books by Elaine Howard Ecklund

Secularity and Science: What Scientists around the World Really Think about Religion
Religion vs. Science: What Religious People Really Think
Science vs. Religion: What Scientists Really Think
Korean American Evangelicals: New Models for Civic Life
Title Page
Copyright Page
© 2020 by Elaine Howard Ecklund
Published by Brazos Press
a division of Baker Publishing Group
PO Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287
www.brazospress.com
Ebook edition created 2020
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
ISBN 978-1-4934-2377-4
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com. The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™
Scripture quotations labeled ESV are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. ESV Text Edition: 2016.
Scripture quotations labeled The Message are from THE MESSAGE, copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress. All rights reserved. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.
The author is represented by the literary agency of Creative Trust Literary Group, LLC.
Dedication
To Karl and Anika
To Teresa (1955–2019)
Contents
Cover 1
Endorsements 2
Other Books by Elaine Howard Ecklund 3
Title Page 4
Copyright Page 5
Dedication 6
Acknowledgments 9
Part 1: Building Blocks 11
1. From Fear to Understanding 13
2. Overlapping Communities 23
3. Creative Evolution: Moving Past the Origins Debate 39
Part 2: Process 55
4. Curiosity 57
5. Doubt 67
6. Humility 79
7. Creativity 93
Part 3: Redemption 109
8. Healing 111
9. Awe 123
10. Shalom 133
11. Gratitude 147
Further Reading 159
Notes 163
Back Cover 177
Acknowledgments
T HE EXPERIENCE of writing this book has left me profoundly grateful for my communities. Thank you, in particular, to Hayley Hemstreet and Laura Achenbaum; to Deidra Coleman and Robert A. Thomson Jr.; to Dan Bolger and Sharan Kaur Mehta; to Rose Kantorczyk and Shannon Klein; and especially to Michael McDowell and Rachel Schneider Vlachos for their help with research for the book. I am grateful to the advisory board members for this project: Harvey Clemons, Greg Cootsona, Daniel Espinoza, Deborah Haarsma, Se Kim, Richard J. Mouw, Wayne Park, and Steve Wells. Thank you to Jeff Smith and to members of our Science in Congregations team at St. Andrews, with whom I discussed the ideas in this book often, and thanks especially to the late Teresa Phillips, who embodied them. I am grateful for Heather Wax’s editing and the guidance she provided. Special thanks to my agent, Kathryn Helmers, for initially believing in the idea for this book. Special thanks to my editor, Katelyn Beaty; to Melisa Blok; and to everyone at Brazos Press. I am most grateful for the support of my family and especially for my husband, Karl, and my daughter, Anika, who give me all my best stories.
This publication was made possible through the support of a grant from Templeton Religion Trust (“Reaching Evangelical American Leaders to Change Hearts and Minds,” TRT0191, Elaine Howard Ecklund PI). The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Templeton Religion Trust or Rice University.
Part 1: Building Blocks
1 From Fear to Understanding
T HE GAME IS OVER . Come out now!” Anika yells to her friend. “Come out now, or my mom will give you a spanking!” There is no truth behind her threat, yet my eight-year-old daughter delivers it with incredible conviction. It has its origin in an incident that occurred several years earlier.
Anika was three years old and I was picking her up from day care. That day, I was tired from work and parenting solo while my husband was away. I parked, found Anika, and started to slowly lead her to the car. She begged to stay a few more minutes to play with her friends. I acquiesced.
They started a game of hide-and-seek, and I turned away for a minute to talk with another parent. Daylight was starting to fade, and I expected that at any moment Anika would sidle up to me and wrap her arms around my leg. After a few minutes, when that hadn’t happened, I started to look around. “Anika, it’s time to go,” I called out. No response. One by one, the parents and children got into their cars and drove away. I called again, “Anika, I really mean it; it’s time to go!” Still nothing. I picked up my bag and walked over to where she and her friends had been playing, but I did not see anyone. “Anika! Where are you?” I said, this time louder and with more urgency. A friend left her child buckled in the car and came to help me look. We did not see any movement near the bushes where the children had been playing. Full-fledged anxiety had set in and my heart was beating more quickly. The day care’s associate director assured me she hadn’t seen any children come inside the building. I kept yelling out as my heart rate continued to rise. “Anika, Anika! Where are you?!” I was now panicking. There were no sounds except my own voice.
I checked up and down the street, opening the doors of parked cars to look inside. “Ma’am, are you trying to break into my car?” I heard a man ask, not particularly angry but very perplexed. I did not answer him. I had a singular mission. With tears streaming down my face, I commissioned this stranger in the search. The associate director checked inside the center and around its perimeter, then activated the safety protocol for a missing child. If we did not find Anika in five minutes, she would call the police.
In that moment, I truly believed that I might not find her. I felt fear like I never had before, and my fear motivated my actions. The mother who stayed behind to help took her son out of his car seat, and they checked a side street. “Anika, where are you?!” I yelled at full capacity. I did not hear what anyone said, and I did not care what anyone thought.
Suddenly, I felt a familiar touch on my right leg, and then I heard, “Mommy, will I have my TV taken away tonight?” I grabbed her and hugged her so tight that she asked me to loosen my grip. Even now, nearly five years later, my heart races as I write this.
It was the little boy who found her. After he was released from his car seat, he walked over to some bushes by the day care center; he told us he had heard her breathing and her giggle as he came near. The entire time I was searching, Anika had been hiding within ten feet of me. She had heard me. She had heard the associate director. She had heard my friend and the others helping in the search. She had heard all of us calling to her, and yet she had chosen not to answer.
I let her down softly onto the sidewalk, then grabbed her arm again, looked into her face, and, again not caring what others thought, yelled, “I am so angry. I want to give you such a spanking!” She started sobbing, and the little boy who found her started sobbing too. “Let’s take a step back,” the associate director of the day care said as she gen