This post first appeared in our blog Today’s Minister. It is provided here for our skeptical friends as a gateway toward a discussion on the perceived opposition of science to faith.
On December 21st, 1613, Galileo Galilei wrote a letter to his friend Benedictine Benedetto Castelli. In this letter Galileo presents the idea that God is the author of two books. The Bible is the book of God’s word and nature is the book of God’s works. This is a useful concept that can help us understand how our observations of nature in conjunction with scripture can lead us into deeper understandings of creation. This concept can also help us overcome the false dichotomy between science and the Christian faith which is everywhere in culture.
There is the book of God's works and the book of God's word. The book of God's works is primarily explored scientifically through mathematics and observation. The book of God's word is primarily understood theologically through revelational discernment of interpretative language. Both books can be consulted in conjunction with each other and neither book contradicts the other, but the two books have different manifestations, purposes, and emphasis. It is the exploration of these books through distinct methods but in conjunction with each other that can create the building blocks for our constantly growing understanding of the truth of existence. In this way our limited and even mistaken understandings of both books can give way to improved and larger understandings as we explore their depths and horizons.
Both books have been constantly before humanity granting stoic yet dynamic absolution. They have endured our violation and misinterpretation of their most basic truths. Yet they have guided humanity forward in our ever-changing understanding of the fundamental and universal nature of existence. The tension that now exists between them in the scientific West is a function of the nature and motives of the interpreters not the books themselves. They share a common author which means they are in complete agreement and all appearances to the contrary are due to human error in the interpretation of one of the books.
Scripture is the linguistic representation of God's soteriological truth that leads man to salvation and theological exploration. Nature is the material representation of God's creative truth that frames man’s physical existence and scientific exploration. God’s scriptural and natural truths inform each other and can be used to develop a greater overall understanding of the human condition. Our understanding of the truth of humanity and creation grows with new spiritual revelation and material discoveries as we explore the contents of both expressions of God's truth.
In today’s world those who strive to understand humanity and the material universe generally rely heavily on the interpretation of the book of God's works and for all intents and purposes ignore the book of God's word. However, the revelational interpretation of the Bible's material truths would expand our current spiritual and material perspectives. This would allow the Holy Spirits necessary and indispensable leading of humanity forward into larger understandings of the material world and its spiritual components. Any exploration of scientific or philosophical truth that does not acknowledge spiritual realities or examine material truth found in scripture is essentially hobbled.
History is replete with examples of error caused by the pursuit of truth limited to a contemporary understanding of scientific knowledge and the subjugation of scripture to that knowledge. One of the most blatant examples of such an error is when the scientific world and the Church adhered to the idea that the universe revolved around the earth. There is nowhere in scripture that states or implies that the earth is the center of creation. But because the biblical creation narrative is told from an earthly perspective and the scientific community's knowledge was limited to an earthly perspective the popular scientific theory that the earth is the center of the universe became the default position of the Church.
This led to the tragic irony of the Church, together with much of the scientific community, opposing the next scientific step in the understanding of the cosmos. This step was the yet mistaken idea that the sun was the center of the universe. This opposition to the new theory claimed scriptural authority when scripture made no such claim. An exploration of the Genesis narrative free from the scientific prejudices of the day could have led to an openness to the new scientific and theological ideas or even suggested that a more dramatic change to their understandings was possible.
Our current day culture has not outgrown such error. We can see it similarly displayed in the arguments connected to whether humanity is alone as advanced life in the universe, if advanced is what we truly claim to be. Scripture does not state or imply that God created or did not create life elsewhere in the universe. But because the biblical narrative focuses exclusively on life on this planet the conclusion is drawn by those defending and attacking the credibility of scripture that the Bible implies that earth is the only place that life exist. I am not making an argument for one belief or the other, but I am making the larger point that neither belief can look to the Bible for support or opposition.
On this point scripture is silent and any belief you develop is your own and is not somehow part of a larger biblically endorsed scientific cannon. At some future time if this theory is confirmed or disproved by scientific evidence it will in no way speak to the credibility of scripture.
It is this type of disciplined yet expansive exploration of scripture that is essential to overcome the apparent conflict between scripture and science. This is a way forward to reestablish biblical credibility in the larger culture as it addresses the myriad questions that society faces. Because our society has exalted an examination of the book of God’s work as cultural mythos and rejected the book of God’s word as archaic myth, our society is incapable of providing cogent answers to these essential questions that will shape the future of our Children. If the Lord Tarries.
Although it is completely unaware of it, our world needs access to an expansive presentation of scripture even as a drowning man needs access to oxygen.