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Sara Sybesma Tolsma

Sara Sybesma Tolsma is a Professor of Biology at Northwestern College.

Book Reviews

Anxious People

This was a story I needed to hear. It reminded me that the world is a lonely place filled with lonely people but healing can be found in community. The kindness of others, even strangers, is cleansing and when we open our lives to others with transparency and honesty, we may just find the cure to what ails us whether we recognize what ails us or not.
January 12, 2022
Book Reviews

Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro

This novel is a masterpiece. Its themes stick with you and it is the best thing I’ve read in a very long time. Pick it up, share it with a friend, read it with your book club, then talk together about its provocative themes over a glass of wine or a cup of coffee. It is a novel worthy of extended time.
September 23, 2021
FeaturedScience

Consciousness in a Petri Dish?

From the point of view of this biologist who is a Christian, science is a gift from God—the Creator of all things, including scientific questions and research that makes us uncomfortable. I am not afraid of asking hard questions or living in the tension of not understanding how a scientific discovery fits with my Christian faith. The gospel is strong enough for our questions and lack of understanding.
August 9, 2021
As We See It

I Believe in Hairy Legs

On a hot, humid summer afternoon, my sons, then  4 and 7, came rushing, breathless, to ask me to watch the praying mantis they caught in our weedy flower garden eat the cricket they just put in its cage. It was one of those days. The past week had been exceptionally busy. The lawn and garden desperately needed attention. The laundry, accumulated over the past week or more, needed to be done. I had work to catch up on, and…
September 1, 2018
Essays

The Wide, Wild World of Sex

In the dramatic opening scene of Disney’s Finding Nemo, parents Coral and Marlin anxiously wait for their offspring to hatch. Their mood is light and hopeful, but the music signals an ominous shift. As a barracuda approaches the reef, Coral rushes to protect their eggs. Marlin is knocked unconscious as he tries to protect Coral. When he wakes, Coral is gone, and Marlin finds a single egg remaining from their large clutch. The egg hatches, and Marlin names his only…
August 31, 2017
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