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Science and Faith: Friends or Foes?

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This is a jewel of a book--carefully argued, insightful, and well informed in natural science, theology, and Biblical exegesis. While it has many assets for anyone interested in the dialogue between science and Christianity, what stands out in my mind is its treatment of the relevant Biblical texts. Collins' knowledge of the nuances of Hebrew is staggering. I find his treatment of the ever-controversial "days" of Genesis 1 to be especially satisfying. I suspect that his arguments will be widely considered, and highly regarded, in coming years.

Dr. Collins has his undergraduate and first graduate degree from MIT, and his Ph.D. is from the university of Liverpool. Professor Collins produced an excellent balanced book on Intelligent Design (ID), which unlike most books in this area he looks at both the science of ID and the implications of this field for theology. Chapter 20 "Cultural Wars and Warriors" is an excellent refutation of the foolish claims of Eugene Scott and her organization. Collins shows why ID is critical for theology and why Fundamentalist Darwinism is lethal for theism. In chapter 17 he answers some common objections to ID, and shows why professional science organizations, such as the National Association of Biology Teachers (of which I am a member, even though I teach biology at the college level), are so hostile to this world view. As a scientist, the most useful part of the book was from page 217 to the end. The first part covered theology which I did read very carefully, due to lack of interest and knowledge in this area. The 2nd half was well worth the price of the book and highly recommended.

Many Christians worry that science undermines the Christian faith. Instead of fearing scientific discovery, Jack Collins believes that people of faith should study the natural world.

Collins first explains that science is controversially defined, but that it is best viewed as "a discipline in which one studies features of the world around us, and tries to describe his observations systematically and critically." (pg. 34) In his definition of faith, Collins lauds a statement by C. S. Lewis who said, "Faith ... is the art of holding on to things your reason has once accepted, in spite of your changing moods. For moods will change, whatever view your reason takes." (Quoting C.S. Lewis, pg. 38)

Finally he shows their relations and explains what each has concerning truth.

Collins also delves into the public debate, teaching his readers how to think critically about Darwinist arguments. In a chapter entitled, "Culture Wars and Warriors," he critiques the arguments of Darwinists such as Barry Lynn and Eugenie Scott. Lynn, he observes, aims to "mold your emotional reaction" to design proponents by comparing them to "fundamentalists" and proponents of "astrology." Lynn's misrepresentations draw attention to the need for "education that fosters sound critical thinking and keen awareness of rhetoric." (pg. 335) Next Collins scrutinizes the arguments of Eugenie Scott:

"First, she wants you to think that she speaks on behalf of science and scientists--you can see that from how she uses "we." Second, she wants you to think that your religious values--"whodunit" and "ultimate causes"--are safe with her version of science. And third, she uses a harmless definition of evolution that almost no one can be bothered about." (pg. 336)

Scott had defined evolution as simply "change through time" and the notion that living organisms "have shared common ancestors and descended with modification." (quoting Scott, pg. 335) But Collins had already explained that "Neo-Darwinism claims to have discovered, not just that `these [lifeforms] have transformed and differentiated,' but how they did so: namely by `an unpredictable and natural process of temporal descent with genetic modification that is affected by natural selection, chance, historical contingencies and changing environments.'" (pg. 272) Thus, if theists "believe that God `controlled' the process of evolution, they would do well to define `controlled.'" (pg. 272)

Collins' book is worth reading for any person attempting to obtain a realistic understanding of the relationship between science and faith.

John Collins has done an exceptionally good job at tying together the world of science and faith. The high degree of training he has received in both science and Biblical languages is evident. The discussion on the Genesis days and how they relate to the age of the Earth/universe was especially enlightning, i think his interpretation will go a long way in the future. What about the issue of plant and animal death before the fall of Adam? Well he offers great insights to this controversial issue as well. All in all a terrific book, i highly recommend it to anyone that is interested in science faith issues.

I also recommend The Case for a Creator by Lee Strobel as well as A Matter of Days and The Fingerprint of God by Hugh Ross for excellent treatments of the science/faith issues.

Jack Collins is my kind of guy - a fellow MIT nerd. But he is much more: a brilliant scholar of biblical languages and a keen observer of the interaction between science and the Christian faith. This is a wonderful book, and I recommend it most strongly.

As an Old Testament scholar and professor at Covenant Theological Seminary, and as a scientist educated at M.I.T., Collins is able to combine his areas of expertise and present a case for an interpretation of the Bible and its doctrines that is at once faithful both to the Hebrew original, including the doctrinal setting of the OT, and to the latest discoveries of modern mainline science. Collins does this by favoring the "analogical day" view of Genesis 1.

In addition to the time of creation controversy, Collins deals with other issues where science and theology intersect. He favors a "realist" philosophy, according to which we are able to observe the actual universe, and are able to make true inductions from what we observe. He provides an excellent treatment of the doctrine of humanity, including an extensive discussion of the relation of the soul to the body, the mind and the spirit to the brain, and related topics. He discusses the effects of our fall into sin to the "curse" on the earth, and relates it to the promised new heavens and new earth. Collins also offers help in relating Christian theology to the questions of God's providence in the world, to methods of apologetics, and to our relation to the environment. His discussion of the Intelligent Design movement is up-to-date and sensible.

Especially helpful are the extensive notes, unfortunately placed at the end of the book. These notes provide documentation, and interesting expansions of the discussion in the text. Particularly interesting is the full text of the letter by the linguist James Barr, a letter often quoted by recent creationists; this letter does not support the idea of a recent creation in the Bible to the extent touted by recent creationists.

I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in studying the relationship of modern science to the Bible and the Christian faith.

Exceptionally frank and seemingly fearless look at the modern Sciences from the perspective of an MIT-educated electrical engineer turned Old Testament-Hebrew scholar. One wonders what other authors would think of this work.

What would the Physicist turned Episcopalian priest William G. Pollard who wrote Physicist & Christian say about Collins views?

What would the Dutch Historian and self-avowed Calvinist Reijer Hooykaas who wrote Religion and the Rise of Modern Science say about Collins views? Do they meet Hooykaas's standard that a Reformed, Biblical and wildly successful understanding of the modern Sciences rests upon an early Modern Science de-deification of Greek, pagan views of Nature?

What would the MIT Dean Benson R. Snyder who wrote The Hidden Curriculum think of Collins as an MIT graduate? Would Snyder say that part of Collins' character remains angst/anxiety-ridden or would Snyder see Collins as one of that institutions 1st tier graduates: thoroughly well-adjusted and deeply insightful? Or somewhere in between?

This book is possibly an Evangelical/Reformed hybrid. Its sympathies towards Intelligent Design seem to represent the hopes and dreams of a certain group of Christian Evangelicals who have aligned themselves with non-Christians who are simply anti-Darwinist. Are such sympathies within the Reformed Christian realm? I think that Christian liberties do in fact allow for such intellectual/political adventure, but periodic re-evaluation of the value to Christendom in light of the political consequences should be done now and then, sooner or later.

Now here is a strange book written by an educated Christian who teaches at a seminary in St. Louis. Collins has come up with the analogical days theory to explain the six days of creation (he thinks the six days were several years). He builds his entire case on a very poor interpretation of Genesis 2:5. We'll probably be hearing more about this in the next few years, and for that reason it is good to know what his case is (and it is very weak). Collins suggests a literal interpretation of the Bible is bad, but then he continually leans on this method to build his cases for a variety of bad expositions including long ages (millions of years) having passed since the universe was created and support for macro-evolution. His book is written in a very friendly manner that kind of warms you up to him, but his shared opinions and interpretation of some Scripture is very, very bad. The sad thing is knowing that this stuff is actually being taught in a seminary.