DAY 102
CHALLENGE
“Science is superior to faith, as shown by the way Christians adapt parts of the Bible to the findings of science.”
DEFENSE
All truth is God’s truth, and the fact that we learn new things in one field does not mean it is superior to another field.
This is true within the scientific disciplines themselves. What is learned in one field has ripples that affect others. For example, a discovery in physics may impact astronomy or chemistry. The reverse is also true. The scientific fields thus exist in a state of creative tension with respect to one another, and this is true of every other area of study, including theology. Yet this does not mean that one form of study is superior to another. They are all explorations of different aspects of the truth.
When we learn something new in one field, it is natural to seek to relate it to other fields, including religion. If a scientific discovery is well established and seems to contradict a common religious view, it is natural to revisit that view and see if we have understood the matter correctly (see Day 184).
Thus when astronomical discoveries suggested that the earth might not be the center of the universe, or paleontological and biological dis- coveries suggested that the earth might be much older than commonly thought and that biological evolution occurs, it was natural to revisit certain texts of Scripture to see whether they had been understood correctly.
In both cases, a careful reading showed that they were not, in fact, in conflict with the new scientific perspectives. Passages that talk about the sun rising and setting merely describe natural phenomena according to the language of appearances and do not imply the motion of the sun around the earth any more than we do today when we speak of “sunrise” and “sunset.” Similarly, long before the rise of modern science, perceptive exegetes like St. Augustine had pointed out features of Genesis 1 that indicated its days were not literal (see Day 90; cf. St. Augustine, The Literal Meaning of Genesis 1:10[21–22]).
Investigating the proper way to harmonize Scripture and science is no different in principle than investigating how to harmonize the discoveries of physics with those of astronomy. The findings of every field are properly understood in harmony with the others.