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Engaging Science in the Life of Your Congregation

Engaging Science in the Life of Your Congregation

With so many issues to discuss, Christians can easily get the feeling that science is always attacking the faith. It is essential to balance such conversations with positive responses to God’s creation. After all, the primary response to the natural world in the Bible is to praise the God who made it.
May 14, 2013 
Deborah Haarsma 
Education, Worship & Arts
9
<strong>Series:</strong> Understanding Randomness

Series: Understanding Randomness

In this series, Kathryn Applegate addresses the concern that randomness implies the absence of God's activity and involvement in the natural world. She begins by clearing up some common misconceptions about the concept of "randomness", and later focuses on the mechanisms of the immune system to demonstrate that God works through random processes to preserve life. Far from being an indication of a "godless" universe, one might conclude that randomness is one of God’s favorite mechanisms for creating and sustaining life!
Mar 23, 2013 
Kathryn Applegate 
Divine Action & Purpose, Randomness, Evolution - How It Works
<strong>Series:</strong> God and Creation

Series: God and Creation

In this four part series, David Opderbeck explores the interesting relationship between God and his creation. He first looks at his transcendence over the material world. In one respect, God is completely distinct from all creation, yet he is also immanent, or present within all creation. Another aspect of God reflected in creation is his Triune nature. Just as love, fellowship, and delight exist within the Trinity, so these characteristics are present in the world, and experienced by humans. He completes his thoughts with a discussion about God’s interaction with humans.
Mar 01, 2013 
David Opderbeck 
Divine Action & Purpose, Human Origins
Psalm for the January Thaw

Psalm for the January Thaw

God shows himself not just in the orderliness of nature, but powerfully, joyously and always surprisingly in its beautiful "non-order" as well.
Jan 18, 2013 
Luci Shaw 
Worship & Arts
9
Frenetic Sequence

Frenetic Sequence

We tend to think of creativity in terms of flashes of insight and brilliance, of novelty, and especially of unexpected things bursting upon the scene. But creativity is no less creative and no less remarkable when it proceeds step by step, according to discipline, according to rule.
Oct 27, 2012 
Mark Sprinkle 
Worship & Arts
0
<strong>Series:</strong> Genesis Through Ancient Eyes

Series: Genesis Through Ancient Eyes

In this talk, originally delivered at the BioLogos President's Circle meeting in October 2012, Dr. John Walton discusses the origin stories of Genesis 1-3, and why their focus on function and archetypes mean there is no Biblical narrative of material origins.
Oct 18, 2012 
John Walton 
Creation & Origins, Genesis, Ancient Cultures
Stumble On

Stumble On

The song is built around the image of a river flowing through a canyon it has sculpted—an image that can easily be played out as a picture of the way that the Lord has been at work preparing a path for us in the material world, complete with signposts to his former and present activity.
Sep 16, 2012 
Mark Sprinkle 
Worship & Arts
4
Did David Hume

Did David Hume "Banish" Miracles?

“I flatter myself,” Hume triumphantly proclaimed, “that I have discovered an argument . . . which, if just, will, with the wise and learned, be an everlasting check to all kinds of superstitious delusion, and consequently, will be useful as long as the world endures.”
Sep 05, 2012 
Rick Kennedy 
Divine Action & Purpose, Miracles
22
<strong>Series:</strong> Divine Action in the World

Series: Divine Action in the World

In this talk, Professor Plantinga addresses the fact that many contemporary thinkers—including many theologians—believe that God cannot perform miracles, providentially guide history, or interact in the lives of people, as these activities would be contrary to science. Plantinga, on the other hand, makes the case that this popular view is mistaken; excluding divine action in the world is not a central feature of natural science itself, but a philosophical or theological preference that has been added on to science (and can just as readily be removed). Plantinga concludes that it is completely logical to accept the miracles of the Bible and support contemporary science.
Sep 04, 2012 
Alvin Plantinga 
Divine Action & Purpose, Miracles, Atheism & Scientism
The Randomness Project

The Randomness Project

It is not uncommon to hear voices proclaiming that biology and physics have shown us that—at fundamental levels—nature is random, hence meaningless, purposeless, and without a creator. But how might God work providentially through indeterminate processes? The John Templeton Foundation has provided a generous grant of $1.69 million to support a new research initiative on the theme of Randomness and Divine providence.
Aug 31, 2012 
James Bradley 
Divine Action & Purpose, Randomness
6
<strong>Series:</strong> Beauty, Science and Theology

Series: Beauty, Science and Theology

It doesn't take a scientist to appreciate the beauty with which God has arrayed his creation. But scientists do have the opportunity (and training) to appreciate different kinds of beauty than do most non-scientists, whether they are ordinarily "hidden" in the extremes of scale, the elegant processes of an experiment, or in the abstraction of mathematics. Indeed the appreciation of various kinds of beauty has always played a critical role in motivating scientists to investigate the world, and in helping them decipher its workings. In the three-part essay, Ruth Bancewicz explores some of the ways beauty, science and theology intertwine.
Jul 25, 2012 
Ruth Bancewicz 
Worship & Arts
Randomness and Evolution: Is There Room for God? (Videocast)

Randomness and Evolution: Is There Room for God? (Videocast)

This BioLogos videocast addresses the idea of randomness as a part of natural selection, and whether it challenges the possibility of God using the evolutionary process as a means of creation.
Jun 15, 2012 
Joy Walters 
Divine Action & Purpose, Randomness
10
<strong>Series:</strong> The God Who Acts: Robert John Russell on Divine Intervention and Divine Action

Series: The God Who Acts: Robert John Russell on Divine Intervention and Divine Action

Does God need to supernaturally "intervene" in order to bring about the diversity of life that we observe today? Is that kind of action different from God’s ordinary action? We begin our three-part series with Robert John Russell’s description of how views of divine action have changed throughout history, excerpted from his book Cosmology: From Alpha to Omega. Part 2 addresses why “intervention” in the natural world is a problem philosophically, theologically, and scientifically; and Part 3 explains Russell’s own theory of divine action in the natural world.
May 25, 2012 
Robert John Russell, Thomas Burnett 
Divine Action & Purpose, Miracles
<strong>Series:</strong> Randomness and God’s Governance

Series: Randomness and God’s Governance

In this three-part series from Pruim’s chapter in the book Delight in Creation: Scientists Share Their Work with the Church, mathematician Randall Pruim explains what scientists and mathematicians mean when they speak of something being “random”. He also addresses God's use of apparent randomness in creation as a part of his sovereign rule.
May 21, 2012 
Randall Pruim 
Divine Action & Purpose, Randomness
Chance Creation

Chance Creation

It should not be surprising that John Cage asked the stuff he used to make paintings to take part in the process—to contribute its own identity to the intentional, purposeful, and determined work of creating “based on chance.”
May 13, 2012 
Mark Sprinkle 
Divine Action & Purpose, Randomness
0
The Heavenly Declaration

The Heavenly Declaration

The universe that inspired the psalmist three thousand years ago grows grander as each new generation of astronomers adds yet another layer of understanding.
May 04, 2012 
Karl Giberson 
Worship & Arts, Astronomy & Physics
0
A BioLogos Response to William Dembski, Part 1

A BioLogos Response to William Dembski, Part 1

We think that God created all living organisms, including humans, through the evolutionary process. But acceptance of creation through evolution does not mean that we reject the notion of a miracle-working God. On the contrary...
May 02, 2012 
Darrel Falk 
Divine Action & Purpose, Miracles, BioLogos
5
Wheat that Springeth Green

Wheat that Springeth Green

As we remember the narrative that takes us from Good Friday through Easter morning, the image of a buried grain of wheat invites us into the story rather than just describing what happens in it.
Apr 06, 2012 
Mark Sprinkle 
Worship & Arts
5
Jefferson’s Bible and the Tears of Christ

Jefferson’s Bible and the Tears of Christ

Predictably, "Jesus Wept" did not make into the Jefferson Bible. John 11 was cut out entirely, falling onto the floor of his Monticello home and discarded, along with Martha's confession.
Mar 31, 2012 
Makoto Fujimura 
Science & Worldviews, Worship & Arts
8
<strong>Series:</strong> Science as an Instrument of Worship

Series: Science as an Instrument of Worship

In this brief series (taken from a 2009 paper), Jennifer Wiseman uses an excerpt from the famous hymn “How Great Thou Art,” to explain why the study of God’s creation can lead Christ’s followers into meaningful worship and overcome the obstacles which impede true praise. Creation as encountered through our senses is pondered by our minds, which flows into wonder-filled songs from the soul. She further explains how knowledge of creation will help Christians to address the moral dilemmas of science, and she encourages all to see the process of scientific inquiry as a means to discover God’s truth.
Mar 19, 2012 
Jennifer Wiseman 
Worship & Arts, Science as Christian Calling, Astronomy & Physics, Creation Care
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