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When is the last time your minister, pastor, or rabbi gave a sermon on science? Probably not recently if you go to the average church or synagogue today. The people of the book (Christians, Jews, and Muslims) all believe that the original autographs of the book known today as the Bible were inspired by God. Although Muslims and some Christians and Jews believe the Bible we have today is corrupted, all hold to it as a book that contains the word of God worthy of detailed study.
Many people today are unaware that Christians, Jews, and Muslims all historically have taught that God has given his people two books, his word, the Bible, and his works, the book of nature. It is for this reason that for centuries clergy were required to study science as part of their seminary training. This is also why many scientists – until recently – were originally trained as clergy and later became scientists. Examples include Charles Darwin, Rev. Adam Segwick, a prominent geologist “who interpreted all sciences as aids to religion” and Rev. Jon Henslow who devoted his life to observing nature “for evidence of divine handiwork.”
This history explains why all branches of science were once called – not science, a word coined relatively recently – but natural theology. Old book lovers soon learn that when looking for old, pre-1900, books on chemistry physics, or biology, they often contain the words “Natural Theology” in the title. Pastors historically would preach both from the Bible and the book of nature, and for this reason, many ministers once studied science, both in seminary and as an avocation. Scriptures such as Psalm 19:1 that exclaim “the heavens declare the glory of God” illustrate this fact.
In fact, our modern university system was originally established to train pastors. Only much later did theology – once called “queen of the sciences” – break off into a separate area of study. The language that science uses today to name everything from animals to body parts, as anyone who has studied biology or anatomy knows, is Greek and Latin. This is just one legacy of the ecclesiastical past of science. Even today the No. 1 reason people give for their belief in God is the existence of the wonders and beauty of the natural world, especially the living world.
Some people feel closer to God when communing with nature, leisurely strolling in a forest, or even resting by a stream or river enjoying the sounds of nature. This is a major reason why modern science was birthed in Christian Europe. Cathedrals were designed to imitate an old growth forest, and stained-glass windows designed not only to tell a biblical story but also to mimic the sun shinning through the trees as well.
This other book is important because the dominant reason, even today, why people hold to theism is the argument best articulated by William Paley in his 1802 book appropriately titled “Natural Theology.” Paley argued that if one came across a watch lying on the road, he would conclude that the watch had an intelligent designer. Likewise, one who studies science is led to ask the same question: Who is the intelligent designer of the universe and the life in it? Paley’s book of science argued in over 400 pages that, after studying the wonders of creation, one could only conclude that, like the watch, it must have had an intelligent watchmaker to explain its origin.
Likewise, the living creation must also have a creator behind it. Thomas Aquinas, often regarded as the greatest Christian philosopher who ever lived, eloquently argued that wherever complex design exists there must have been an intelligent designer. Life, the most specified complex machine in the universe, likewise must have had an intelligent designer. The key is not complexity, but specified complexity. A junkyard is complex, as is a modern jet airplane, but only the airplane is complexity specified for a purpose, to rapidly carry passengers in the air from one point to another.
And it is for this reason why ministers throughout history have preached from the book of nature, called science today, and should continue to do so.
As studying an artist’s art works is an important way to learn about the artist as a person, so, too, studying the works of God is an important way to learn about the Creator.
As Proverbs 3:19 says “The Lord by wisdom hath founded the earth; by understanding hath He established the heavens.” Likewise, we can better understand the Lord by understanding the products of his wisdom.
