Items included on this page come from a variety of sources. The perspectives conveyed may or may not express a Lutheran ethos. They can serve our instruction as discussion-starters, examples (positive and negative), and illustrations of intersections between God’s two kingdoms, intersections sometimes characterized by tension, sometimes by congruence. Inclusion does not imply endorsement.
Religion and the Social Sciences, edited by R.R. Reno and Barbara McClay (Cascade, 2015): More often than not it’s a class in the social science that challenges the faith of students, not a class in biology. Does critical understanding of our religious traditions, institutions, and convictions undercut them? Or can a modern social scientific approach deepen faith commitments, making […]
NPR’s Astrophysicist, Adam Frank, encounters the old question about God, faith, and death (1 Cor. 15:12-19). Frank re-frames the question with a quotation from mathematician and former president of Columbia University Frederick Barnard, who says he would choose the hope of faith over any sort of science absent of meaning or purpose. Dr. Frank is […]
From the website FiveThirtyEight, this in-depth article includes no overt faith content but may be useful for discussing the validity of science and the difficulty of research. Research fraud and research journals have been receiving some deserved bad press. “Science Isn’t Broken” acknowledges this while offering some perspective and may be useful for examining topics […]
An exchange students can learn from is going on between sociologist Robert Wuthnow and the Pew Research Center. Wuthnow raises several concerns about the accuracy and conclusions of polling and surveys, particularly about culture shifts in religion. The Pew Research Center responds. Check the highlighted links here for content useful in sociology, statistics, journalism, psychology, […]
Network scientists have discovered how social networks can create the illusion that something is common when it is actually rare. Statisticians have known about the paradoxical nature of social networks for some time such as the friendship paradox: on average your friends will have more friends than you do. A related paradox called “the majority […]
God and Set Theory: How Big is Infinity? — No one argues that set theory proves God’s existence or anything about his character. But those with eyes of faith nonetheless see a reflection of God in it, according to this piece on a common yet disputed example of faith integration or intersection with mathematics.
Science, Stats, Research–and Trust — This article addressed current issues in research, replication, and the reliability of science methods and practitioners. While the author concludes with a positive outlook, the issues raise several questions about evidence, how evidence is collected and interpreted, and distinguishing evidence from non-evidential factors such as “trust,” gate-keeping, and the is-and-ought […]
Science, Trust, Stats, and Research — This article addressed current issues in research, replication, and the reliability of science methods and practitioners. While the author concludes with a positive outlook, the issues raise several questions about evidence, how evidence is collected and interpreted, and distinguishing evidence from non-evidential factors such as “trust,” gate-keeping, and the […]
