Summary Statements - 1 of X - What is Science?
Science is the search for the reality behind the appearances (Popper?). As such, it is interdisciplinary, covering the fields of Theology, Philosophy, Mathematics, Nature (Creation), History, etc. Historically, science has combined mathematics-geometry with experimentation and observation to affirm the likelihood that a given hypothesis accurately describes the phenomena of interest.
Modern science is based on naturalistic assumptions/presuppositions, which assume that everything has always and will always happen the same way (uniformitarianism).
The primary difference between modern science and medieval/Greek science was to use mathematics-geometry to describe how God (normally) works in His creation, and to add observation & experimentation to confirm/validate theories/hypotheses.
The scientific method claims to provide knowledge of (universal, neutral) “facts” (truth). Such knowledge is claimed to be “objective.” Science does NOT provide “objective” knowledge (to be discussed later). [See Newbigin]
Christianity is based on God's self-revelation as contained in the Bible and proclaimed by the Church through the centuries. The focus of God's self-revelation is the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ, God's Son and His loving concern/care for His people.
The Bible is the story and record of God's redemptive dealings with man and the cosmos from creation through the end of the cosmos. The Old Testament and the New Testament are an integrated whole – it is all one story (however disparate the individual books and the Old Testament-New Testament may seem).
The Old Testament is the story of God's acts in history, beginning with the creation, then man's fall, then God's choosing of Israel to be His people. The bulk of the Old Testament is the story of God's blessings & judgment of Israel as Israel responded to God's commandments/law. The Old Testament looks forward with anticipation to the coming of God's Messiah.
The New Testament is the story of Jesus' (the promised Messiah) life, death, resurrection, and ascension to the Father. Once Jesus ascended to the Father, He sent His (Holy) Spirit to His apostles and the Church to guide and strengthen them in Jesus' teachings, as described in the book of Acts and the New Testament letters of the apostles. The New Testament ends with the Revelation of Jesus Christ's judgment of evil and His ultimate victory, with the creation of a new heaven and earth.
A Biblical theology of modern science must start with God's self-revelation of His mighty acts in history (as revealed in the Bible), culminating in the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus (presuppositional approach).
God's self-revelation as contained in the Bible includes God's sovereignty, revealed/secret will, miracles/signs/wonders, the spirit world, angels, heaven, hell, providence, the Trinity, creation-fall-redemption, consummation, God, etc. Any inferences derived from the Biblical story regarding God's faithfulness (in normally/providentially ordering the world so that it operates in a regular way) must be tempered by God's free will/sovereignty (contingency) (His ability to act in any way He chooses at any time). In both the OT and NT, God could and did provide occasional “signs” (miracles) to His people to validate the message/messenger (that violated the so-called “laws” of nature).
God sent Jesus at a time when the Greco-Roman culture was dominant. Greek thought patterns conflict in several ways with Biblical thought patterns, esp. with respect to their views of God and His creation. It took several centuries for Christian theologians to formulate their views of God's working in His creation vs Greek views of the same (Plato, Aristotle).(see L Newbigin, “Proper Confidence,” pgs. 6-8, & C Kaiser, “Creation and the History of Science,” Section 1)
Questions to be answered:
What is a good working definition of science?
Did the early modern philosopher-scientists assume uniformitarianism?
How did the Greeks view science?
Does the scientific method reveal truth? Why? or why not?
What role does observation and experimentation play in science?
How are theories developed?
Are there such things as “neutral” facts?
What is the Biblical story? What is the Gospel?
What does Biblical theology mean?
How are we to view miracles from a Biblical perspective in relation to science?
Wasn’t the Christian worldview of the early scientists integral (necessary) to the development of modern science?’
As you saying that we can never trust science? It works so well….
Weren’t the early modern scientists convinced that God created the world in a fixed mathematical way?
Isn’t the law of gravity truth?
Did the early scientists have a deterministic view of the world? Is this view Biblical?
Do modern scientist have a statistical view of the world? Is this view Biblical?
What are the differences between Operational Science and Historical (Origins) Science?
Other questions ….
