Read about the life of one of this year’s Chemistry Nobel Laureates, Christian John B Goodenough (what a surname!). Jeff Hardin read his memoir and concisely picked out some great highlights. I also read he’s the oldest named laureate, at 97.
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I have been looking for this book for years, if anyone has it and would like to sell a copy then I’d be very interested.
Hard to find in print, but it looks like a digital copy is available on the google play store for ~$8 USD
The author of the Biologos article offers this quote from the book:
“Science teaches why things are the way they are and how to use this knowledge to achieve a specified goal; but it does not distinguish between the moral qualities of the human goals this knowledge serves.”
Notably absent are the following two:
Jesus was not a genuine miracle worker? Salvation history is made up? Did Jesus rise from the dead? Was he actually God’s son? I certainly don’t knowingly put my faith in a mere mortal and call myself a Chris-ian because of a good moral teacher 2,000 years ago.
I don’t think belief in supernatural miracles is a prerequisite for salvation or for calling oneself a Christian by any means, but I suspect for most Christian readers struggling to make sense of science and their faith, this Nobel Laureate’s Thomas Jefferson like theology might not be “good-enough”. I think the Biologos article may border a little on the misleading side here. Honestly if I removed all the miracles in scripture, I don’t think I would be a Christian anymore. I would consider myself a theist within the Christian tradition. I am not sure how much of a “friend” his intellectual beliefs are in helping bridge the gap between science and faith. It seems per Goodenough that one has to reject the vast majority of very basic Christian faith and belief to be a scientists and a Christian.
What Bible is he reading?
Mark 11: 20 In the morning as they passed by, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots. 21 Then Peter remembered and said to him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree that you cursed has withered.” 22 Jesus answered them, “Have faith in God.[b] 23 Truly I tell you, if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and if you do not doubt in your heart but believe that what you say will come to pass, it will be done for you. 24 So I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received[c] it, and it will be yours.
Matthew 7:7-11 “Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. 9 Is there anyone among you who, if your child asked for bread, would give a stone? 10 Or if the child asked for a fish, would give a snake? 11 If you, then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him!.
I wish I could say I strongly disagreed with him on prayer. I don’t and I certainly know God is not a cosmic vending machine but can we deny all claims to answered prayer?
Vinnie
I love these:
(1) the beauty of holiness; (2) the art of metaphor; (3) the sacredness of dialogue, and (4) the meaningfulness of service.
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