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.
From Myth To Science: Can We Make Sense Of The Origin Of All Things? Marcelo Gleiser offers a thoughtful essay that students can evaluate for insight and/or subtle fallacy. “Contrary to what some scientists say in hyped-up statements in books and social media, we can’t build a scientific model out of nothing — science needs […]
In US, Belief in Creationist View of Humans at New Low: The conventional creationist view (down from 46% in 2012) and the God-guided developmental view (up from 32% since 2012) on human origins are currently at parity with 38% each. The evolution-without-divine-involvement view is at 19% (up from 15% since 2012). Gallup has been keeping count […]
Why We Forgo Self-Interest for Others’ Sake: The research linked here and in the study from Nature Neuroscience below addresses the issue of moral development and altruism. Students will benefit both from learning the current state of these studies but also by learning how to frame the underlying ontological questions that research cannot answer and […]
Science and Pseudo-Science: The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy has substantially updated its entry on science and pseudo-science (April 11, 2017). The discussion can help students realize the epistemological difficulties in sorting out data, hypothesis, information, theory, and ontology. The new treatment emphasizes “that there is much more agreement on particular cases of demarcation than […]
Dizzying New Evidence In Human Evolution Provokes Debates: Fossils found over the past several decades have increasingly complicated our understanding of human evolution. Our early ancestors did not simply become bigger brained and more upright over time. New information coming out of the Rising Star dig includes the excavation of a second chamber with more Homo […]
Five rational arguments why God (very probably) exists: Robert H. Nelson is Professor of Public Policy, University of Maryland, and author of God? Very Probably: Five Rational Ways to Think about the Question of a God (Cascade, 2015). This article begins with mathematics and offers a brief summary of the content, and can serve as a starter piece […]
There Must Be More Productive Ways To Talk About Climate Change: Katharine Hayhoe is a climate scientist at Texas Tech University and also an evangelical Christian who engages Christians and others in the ways we talk to and past each other on this issue and many controversial issues in science. This 5 min. audio-plus-transcript suggests methods […]
Lectures on Inhumanity: Teaching Medical Ethics in German Medical Schools Under Nazism — Students should learn that comparisons and analogies to Nazi Germany are often tenuous. Nevertheless this study from the Annals of Internal Medicine offers an informed examination of ethics gone awry in one of the most advanced cultures in history: “Course catalogs and […]
“Is Genesis History?” Revisiting an Age-Old Debate: This article reviews and critiques the film “Is Genesis History?” and the presentation of its perspective on the science/religion issues. The writer addresses how the film makes its case which he argues will increase rather than decrease confusion, particularly for college students.
The Real “Anti-Science”: Agree or disagree, this argumentative essay can assist students with teasing out the continuing public issues over science education, definitions of science, science and ideology, and who speaks for science. “There are at least three means by which these supposed defenders of science actually undermine it through their political tactics.”
True Paradox: How Christianity Make Sense of Our Complex World by David Skeel (Veritas Books IVP, 2014)
David Skeel teaches corporate law at the UofPenn Law School. This book calmly presents five chapters in 160 pages that explain the Christian account of life to a skeptical, distracted, yet still-interested society. No simple answers here to human complexities. Rather, Skeel discusses how these complexities point us toward Christ.
