What’s Church Scientific all about?
The big idea is this: scientific theories don’t just pop out of telescopes, laboratories or spreadsheets: they come from human beings grappling to match up their observations with ideas about the world and how it works. And human beings are intrinsically religious: we may see the world as the creation of a God who calls us to unfold its exciting potential in fruitful ways, or we may see it in some other way – maybe a giant machine that we can reverse-engineer, or a sea of competing animals and plants out of which humans have emerged to threaten everything else. But seeing the connections between Christian faith and scientific thinking isn’t so easy in our post-Christian culture.
So Church Scientific will be exploring how sciences like physics, chemistry, geology and biology have developed through history, and how a Christian worldview might enhance scientific work today. We want to help Christian scientists build understanding and confidence about linking their faith and their research, so that they may be better equipped to make ground-breaking contributions to their fields, as well as living a joined-up life of worship and service to God. It’s a challenging vision, and church members can be an important part of making it fruitful.
So how can I participate?
- If you have experience of academic research, could you offer to mentor one of our student participants? You needn’t be an active scientist or scholar; we just want experienced Christian congregation members to come alongside younger scientists to encourage them and support them as they explore new perspectives on their work. This might mean meeting up every few weeks to chat about ideas, successes and failures, and generally taking an interest in their studies. If this might be you, please register your interest and tick “mentor”.
- If you live in Leeds, could you help us organise the monthly café evenings from January to May 2017? There will be various roles to fill in helping these events run smoothly, from serving coffee to collecting questions, and from facilitating discussion to media support. Please register your interest and tick “Practical support”.
- The project will culminate in a day-conference next summer. If you’re interested in helping out with this, please mention this in the box when you register your interest and tick “Practical support”.
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Whatever your interest, come to the launch event on Tues 25 Oct to meet the team and find out more.
