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As We See ItScience

Lunar Stories: The Violence of Creation

THE FORMULAS AND EQUATIONS THE AUTHOR USES IN HIS MOON RESEARCH. Tales of the moon’s creation abound in myth, legend, history and science. Given its conspicuous brightness and nearness, we should not be surprised that the moon has captured the imagination since the dawn of human consciousness, variously treated as a deity or a vessel of the divine (such as J.R.R. Tolkien’s lunar Isil, guided by the reckless Tilion) or in a significant departure from other ancient Near East cosmologies,…
April 30, 2016
As We See It

Integrating Science and Faith

A 2015 Pew Research poll indicates that 59 percent of Americans believe that science and faith are “often in conflict.” Sadly, an even larger percentage (73 percent) of nonreligious Americans believes that science and faith are “often in conflict.” These data suggest that Christians are not doing a very good job of helping people understand the proper relationship between science and faith within or outside our faith communities. In this issue of Perspectives, you will hear from scientists and theologians…
April 30, 2016
Essays

Wrestling with Miracles

As a scientist, I find reading Scripture can sometimes be difficult. I believe that the Bible is the living word of God, a text written for me, even if it is not written to me. But when I encounter stories about a man who walks on water, spit that gives sight to the blind or a crowd who walks through the Red Sea, I sometimes squirm with discomfort. I have the opportunity to teach the miracles of God’s creation every…
April 30, 2016
Essays

Let Us Behold

In his monograph Called to the Life of the Mind, Richard Mouw recalls teaching his first philosophy class, which included the thought of the philosopher Anaxagoras of Klazomenai. He mentions (via Josef Pieper) that Anaxagoras, “while engaging in catechetical exercise, answered the question, ‘Why are you here on earth?’ with the stark reply ‘To behold.’” In Only the Lover Sings, Pieper applied the comment to artistic endeavors, while Mouw expands the context to “all that we encounter in our scholarship.”…
April 30, 2016
As We See ItScience

Science and Faith: My Personal Journey

For most of my life, I have been a carefree young-earth creationist. Because I had no reason to believe otherwise, I assumed the creation of the world played out precisely as described in Genesis 1 and 2. That’s what my teachers seemed to believe, that’s what my parents seemed to believe, and that was, apparently, the only real Christian way to approach the matter. The theory of evolution was reserved for poor heathen atheists who because they refused to acknowledge…
April 30, 2016
EssaysScience

For I Am Convinced

I was one of those kids who always responded to altar calls. Being raised in a conservative Christian household during the turbulent ‘60s, I had plenty opportunities to answer them. The moving words of pastors, evangelists, youth leaders and summer camp counselors appealed to me. Some speakers made me feel unsure of my salvation and fearful of eternal torment. Others walked me down the aisle with descriptions of Christ’s love and his sacrifice for me. Members of both communities asked,…
April 30, 2016
Essays

Live As Saints (Not Heroes): Justice and Jesus

When one of the authors met little Kunthy and Chanda in Cambodia, they were 11-and 12-year-old girls living as children should live – going to school, playing, laughing. They were free. But only months earlier, these young girls were living as chattel, kept prisoner by the adults in their lives who profited from their daily rape. The girls were beaten if they tried to go outside of the brothel in which they were held. They were beaten if they cried…
February 29, 2016
Essays

The Heart of the Matter: Augustine of Hippo on the Will

In 1974, two scholars were scheduled to deliver prestigious lectures on opposite sides of the Atlantic. The political theorist Hannah Arendt, an American citizen, traveled to Scotland to give the Gifford Lectures at the University of Aberdeen. Meanwhile, the classical philologist Albrecht Dihle journeyed from Germany to the U.S. to give the Sather Lectures at California State University, Berkley. More striking even than the crossing of their paths across the ocean was a convergence in the content of their talks.…
February 29, 2016
As We See It

A Theological Community Speaks

We hear a lot these days about the impending demise of print media. Isn’t it remarkable that in such a difficult market, Perspectives keeps chugging along? There are two secrets to our success: On the expense side, the writing and production of the magazine are labors of love. Our writers don’t get paid, and our co-editors, review editors, poetry editors, board of editors and contributing editors all are volunteers. We pay a proofreader, and we do pay our managing editor…
February 29, 2016
Essays

Christianity and Whiteness

“And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.” – John 17:11, ESV The relationship between Christianity and people of color in the United States has been characterized by injustice. In his classic Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Frederick Douglass described the Christianity of his…
February 29, 2016