Science in Christian Perspective

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Some Were Pleased.
VanDerVennen, Haas, Basinger, Hammond, Tomasche

From: JASA 31 (September 1979): 223

Robert E. VanderVennen  
Association for the Advancement of Christian Scholarship 
Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5T I R4

Thank you for printing in the June 1979 issue of the Journal ASA (an excellent issue in terms of the things I am interested in) the Pew Lecture given at Grove City College on 'The Relationship Between Christian Truth and the Natural Sciences." I like very much the approach, and especially the kind of emphasis on the partial nature of truth as we are able to deal with it.

While recognizing that in a single lecture it is impossible to deal with all facets of this important subject, nevertheless I'd like to call attention to two biblical aspects of "truth" that I believe have bearing on the topic.

One is the biblical teaching that Jesus himself is the truth. That can be taken together with the statement of John 8:32, in which Jesus says that the truth shall make us free, in which the truth means continuing in Jesus's way. An implication of this for scientific truth seems to be that a person cannot in any proper sense speak of knowing the truth unless he understands that truth in relation to Jesus Christ and subject to Him. This is a biblical response to the positivistic stance that one can and even must know scientific truth apart from any religious commitments. There are states of affairs that a person may accurately know apart from submitting his knowledge to Christ, but it is not appropriate to speak of such knowledge as partial "truth."

Second is the biblical teaching that a person must not only know the truth but also do the truth. It seems strange to speak of doing the truth because we have grown to believe that truth is something logical and cognitive. I think the Bible says that truth is more than that, and that this is something important for us as scientists to remember.
Thank you again for the article which I thoroughly enjoyed. May God continue to give you much strength and blessing in the important work you are doing for us as editor of JASA.

John W. Haas, Jr. 
Gordon College 
Wenham, Massachusetts 01989

I want to congratulate you on the June 1979 issue of the Journal ASA: a superb blend of articles which should inform and I suspect shake up your readers. Keep up the good work.

David Basinger  
Professor of Philosophy 
Roberts Wesleyan College 
Rochester, New York 14624

Just a note to express my appreciation for your "open" approach to theological issues. I thought the issues on miracles (Journal ASA, December 1978) and inerrancy (Journal ASA, June
1979) were especially excellent. Keep up the good work.

P. Hammond, 
Head of Department Professor of Electrical Power Engineering 
Department of Electrical Engineering 
The University, 
Southampton, England

I should like to express to you my appreciation of the March 1979 issue of the Journal of the American Scientific Affiliation and particularly of the article "The Significance of Being Human," which I have found very helpful. I also enjoyed the article on Behaviourism and the article by Dr. Pike.

I must say that I am delighted to have made the acquaintance of the Journal and I hope to become a regular subscriber.

For your part you may be interested to have this echo from an academic engineer in a distant country.

Harry Tomaschke,  
Department of Physics 
Greenville College 
Greenville, Illinois 62246

The June 1979 issue of the Journal ASA contained many articles of interest to me. I definitely will save this issue for future references.

I particularly liked your article entitled "The Relationship Be tween Christian Truth and the Natural Sciences." I think this would be valuable reading for our General Physics classes. Thus, I am asking for your permission to make copies of this article and distribute them to our physics students.