The Intersection of Faith and Science

NOTE: I will be posting my reflections to all of the 2011 January Series lectures at Calvin College as a part of my Interim class, "An Inside Look at the January Series." Feel free to check out http://www.calvin.edu/january/2011/ to listen to the archived lectures or to learn more about the series.

Krista Tippett, award-winning host of the radio show On Being, presented a lecture on January 5, 2011, as a part of the annual January Series at Calvin College.

My personal response to Ms. Tippett’s lecture, as well as her question and answer session with the January Series interim class and interview with Karen Saupe on the Inner Compass broadcast, was a very positive one. As a chemistry major and a follower of Christ, the dialogue between faith and science is a subject that both intrigues and excites me. I also identified strongly with Krista’s description of “wonder” and “mystery” as forces which can drive both spiritual and intellectual discovery and provide a common ground of inquiry within the disciplines of academia and religion. This sense of wonder, as Ms. Tippett described it, echoed the thoughts of C.S. Lewis, a Christian thinker whose writings I have recently been studying. In The Weight of Glory, Lewis describes this wonder or mystery as the pursuit of, “The inconsolable secret...which we cannot hide and cannot tell, though we desire to do both.” This desire for truth, or what Lewis terms, “The inconsolable secret,” I believe is synonymous to Tippett’s “wonder” or “mystery.” This desire has revealed itself in my own personal experience as an insatiable longing for truth and reality in all areas of life, whether intellectual, spiritual, or otherwise. As Krista spoke, she awoke in me this longing for ultimate reality, and fanned my passion for a deeper knowledge of my Creator and his creation in which I live.

The morning of Krista Tippett’s January Series lecture, I ate breakfast with my mother and we discussed some of my future plans for graduate work in the field of chemistry. I had recently changed my career focus from pre-medicine with the intention of becoming a missionary doctor - to chemistry research, and my mother expressed concern about this shift. She posed the question, “You used to be so passionate and focused on God’s work; what has changed?” Her implication took me off-guard. It had never once occurred to me that a missionary necessarily possessed greater devotion to Christ than a chemist, nor that any career could represent greater or less passion for one’s faith. I was perplexed by her question, and therefore was quite astonished when Krista addressed this perceived conflict between the realms of religion and science. Ms.Tippett’s statements did not give a resolute answer to my mother’s inquiry; she did, however, affirm that the wonder, mystery, and humility that is central to a truly devout faith can be pursued in all avenues of human experience, including through academics. As I continue to wrestle personally with the interactions between faith and science, Krista Tippett’s diligence in the pursuit of truth gives me great encouragement that I am not alone in this gargantuan endeavour. I thoroughly enjoyed her brief time at Calvin College, and will, no doubt, be permanently impacted by her spiritual, philosophical, and intellectual example.