Stories
in Current Science
Jack
Haas searches the web and finds interesting Faith-Science
Stories
in the News. (and try the "Filters" for stories
from the recent past)
Science
News Flash offers free podcasts (by
Hugh
Ross,
Fazale
Rana, and colleagues) from Reasons
to
Believe, with news and commentary about
science/religion
issues.
Stories about a Flat Earth, Moving Earth, Old Earth, Evolving Life, and More, plus Science Fiction:
The
Myth of Flat-Earth Beliefs
One question — In the
time of Columbus, did educated people believe the earth was flat? — leads
to a second question that is more interesting: When responding to the
first question, why will most modern people say YES, when the correct answer
is NO?
To see why, and to learn about
a fascinating abuse of history, read an introduction (by
Mark Hartwig), The
Myth of the Flat Earth (by Jeffrey Burton Russell, a historian), and review-excerpts about
his book. { Most modern
scholars who have studied this topic — including evolutionist Stephen
Jay Gould in his essay "The Late Birth of a Flat Earth" — agree
with Russel, but the myth remains widespread and influential. }
Moving
Earth — Galileo
and the Church
One of the most famous stories
in science involves Galileo and the Church. Because it is intrinsically
interesting, is complex (with many factors to consider), and has become
a standard illustration of "science versus religion" that plays
a dominant role in our culture, eventually this episode will be examined
in detail. For
now, however, here are some interesting pages I found during a quick look
at what's on the web:
• a brief introduction, Galileo:
Science-and-Religion
Conflict? (based
on quotations from David Lindberg and Stillman Drake)
•
an overview (by
John Polkinghorne)
•
a page combining a brief abstract (by
the Catholic Educator's Resource Center) and a detailed essay (by
George Johnston)
•
a journal
article (by Thomas Lessl) about the rhetorical strategies that
are used to support The
Galileo Legend. Lessl begins his
paper with a summary, "Popular legends are
strange mixtures with curious effects." Later, he
observes that "science popularizers and
educators write selectively, playing up every hint of historical conflict
between science and Christianity but omitting to mention the most egregious
offenses against scientific freedom committed by secular ideologies." One
example of selective distortion is in the section above, about flat-earth
beliefs.
• Truth
in Science: Proof, Persuasion, and the Galileo Affair by Owen Gingerich,
argues that it would have been difficult for Galileo to persuade the scientists
& churchmen of his day, because they did not yet
have the post-Galileo framework of Newtonian physics.
Age of the
Earth
I.O.U. — There
will be history about age-of-the-earth science later, hopefully in late 2009.
• The Genesis Flood in Pre-Darwinian American Geology: The Case of Edward Hitchcock
by Rod Stiling (Abstract that
links to Powerpoint)
Evolution of
Life
I.O.U. — There
will be history about Darwin (and responses to his ideas) later, hopefully in late 2009.
Modern Physics
The Joy of Science and Excitement of Discovery, in a Brief
History of Modern Quantum Physics
I.O.U. — And
there will be stories about other topics later, hopefully in late 2009.
More Stories
Studies
in the History of Science and Christianity — a Topics Page from
Jack Haas
I.O.U. — And
there will be stories about other topics later, hopefully in late 2009.
Science Fiction & Christian Faith
I.O.U. — There
will be more about science fiction later, hopefully in late 2009.
Eventually, we'll explore the "good, bad, and ugly" of sci fi,
the benefits and detriments, how it can be edifying or degrading to faith.
Using
Science Fiction to Launch Faith Discussions by Laura Harrington (MS
Word)
The
Empath (about sacrificial love) in Star Trek has reviews {but
overall, Star Trek [in 5 major series and 10 movies] is not Christian-friendly}
All links on this page were checked-and-fixed on June
29, 2006.