Science or Scientism?
Have you ever wondered if science has all the answers? If you have explored the question, I trust that you have realized that the answer is no, it doesn’t. At the same time, a pervasive message we receive from our culture is that science does have all the answers. Here I am going to address the broader cultural message that science can answer and solve everything. I will also address another message we often hear in our culture, that science and faith, I am focusing on Christianity here, are at odds. Another falsehood.
Though the idea has been around for decades I first came across the concept of scientism through J. P. Moreland’s work. He said of the distinction between science and scientism, “In scientism, therefore, science is the very paradigm of truth and rationality.”[1]
Moreland is not a disparager of science. He was heading into a career as a respected chemist when he encountered Jesus. He says of science, “It would have been a wonderful calling to be a Christian chemist. Science is a noble and strategic vocation. And far from fearing science and what it will reveal, I regularly pray that God will send many Christians into the sciences to conduct their work and make discoveries with humble Christian confidence.”[2] Though he loved science Moreland’s encounter with Jesus led him into apologetics, theology and philosophy (he became a philosophy professor). As his journey shifted, he says he encountered scientism, “…the view that the hard sciences alone have the intellectual authority to give us knowledge of reality.”[3] He further noted of the issue, “Because scientism is in the air we breathe, we consider it both normal and essential. Very few people are aware of what it does to a culture and to the church. It puts Christian claims outside of the “plausibility structure” (what people generally consider reasonable and rational), which has led to a number of shifts in how our culture processes reality.”[4]
Of course, the irony here is that the belief that only science can answer the important questions about life is not a scientific statement – it is a philosophical and faith statement! Science can tell us what, it cannot tell us why or whether or not we should. Science cannot tell us how much love weighs or the scientific formula for hate because these things fall outside the purview of science. To understand love, hate and morality we need to turn to ethics, theology and philosophy.
Another man who recognized the errors of scientism is John Lennox. He is now Professor Emeritus at Oxford and spent his career in science and mathematics. Outside of his formal work Lennox was a very effective Christian apologist. Without using the term ‘scientism’ Lennox describes the issue in his summary of how many view science in our western culture, “Science is an unstoppable force for human development that will deliver answers to our many questions about the universe, and solve many, if not all, of our human problems: disease, energy, pollution, poverty. At some stage in the future, science will be able to explain everything, and answer all our needs.” [5] While deeply appreciating science, as a scientist and mathematician Lennox’s book is about refuting this false view that science has all the answers.
In his book on the issue Lennox shares about lecturing some decades ago at a university in Siberia on why he as a scientist believed in God. He writes, “I spoke about the history of modern science and related how its great pioneers—Galileo, Kepler, Pascal, Boyle, Newton, Faraday and Clerk- Maxwell – were all firm and convinced believers in God.”[6] He says he detected anger in the audience in response to his statement so paused his lecture and asked what the anger was about. It turned out that these Russian scientists were all angry that they had never heard this before as they had been taught that science and faith in God were at odds. Through Lennox they learned the truth that committed Christians were the majority of the chief architects of modern science in the west.
What does this mean for us? We need to appreciate both science and our faith. Think of driving on the highway. There are lines to demarcate the lanes where we should be driving. Science is a very important lane, yet science needs to stay in its lane. Theology is another lane and on a four-lane highway they drive side by side and observe one another. Theology can be informed by science. Science can tell us something about what David wrote.
13 For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb. 14 I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well. Psalm 139:13–14 (NKJV)
Through science we can make many amazing discoveries about the intricacies of the human body and marvel at how we were created. Theology can tell us that we were created, that human life is of infinite value, that a baby in the womb was created in His image and is not merely ‘fetal tissue.’
If we learn to operate in this way and honour what each discipline has to offer, we avoid the terrible error of scientism and can embrace what Jesus said when asked what the most important commandment in life was.
37 Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ Matthew 22:37–39 (NKJV)
Let us love Him passionately with our hearts, wisely with our minds, and give our all to Him.
[1] Moreland, J. P.. Scientism and Secularism: Learning to Respond to a Dangerous Ideology (p. 29). Crossway. Kindle Edition.
[2] Moreland, J. P.. Scientism and Secularism: Learning to Respond to a Dangerous Ideology (pp. 22-23). Crossway. Kindle Edition.
[3] Moreland, J. P.. Scientism and Secularism: Learning to Respond to a Dangerous Ideology (p. 23). Crossway. Kindle Edition.
[4] Moreland, J. P.. Scientism and Secularism: Learning to Respond to a Dangerous Ideology (p. 31). Crossway. Kindle Edition.
[5] Lennox, John. Can Science Explain Everything? (Questioning Faith) (pp. 4-5). The Good Book Company. Kindle Edition.
[6] Lennox, John. Can Science Explain Everything? (Questioning Faith) (p. 14). The Good Book Company. Kindle Edition.