Last week, I stuck a link on Facebook to a short blog post I wrote for Abbotsford Christian Schools blog, InsideOut called,” My Coffee Cup and Genesis 1.” I received some heat for this post; I was called “yet another science bashing Christian.”
This appellation, I believe, is misapplied.
Although it’s difficult, if not impossible, to separate out my “Christianness” from anything I do or say, I think that it might be just as appropriate to call me “yet another humanist insisting that science has limits.”
What science does, it does well, but it’s not very useful for what it doesn’t do. This idea ought not offend anyone, unless they believe that science can do everything. There are people who think that science is more than just a good thing–it’s the ultimate thing. This belief is called Scientism.
Many scientists and nearly all philosophers would have no problem with the limitations I suggest. Science looks at the material world, it cannot tell us about everything unless everything is material. There are some who suggest this is the case.
But as soon as anyone suggests this, they are no longer in the realm of science, but of philosophy. Scientism and philosophic materialism are among the names for this philosophy. Once in the realm of philosophy, one must play by the rules of philosophy.
Philosophy is one of the humanities–there’s a lot of critical thinking in philosophy. Like science, it seeks objective knowledge, but it is not limited to the physical reality–one of the branches of philosophy is metaphysics. Other branches include logic, epistemology, and ethics. Although philosophical materialism can be argued, it’s not easy because there are pretty good arguments from each of these philosophical disciplines that challenge the fundamental tenets of Scientism.
History is another of the humanities. History helps contextualize the current age with those that have gone before. Without history, we might think that, just because we are progressing technologically, we are progressing in other ways as well. One well-supported reading of history suggests that humanity is not, essentially, progressing as Scientism often assumes.
Literature, my favourite branch of the humanities, explores ideas with imagination–it asks, “What if?” From Frankenstein to The Wise Man’s Fear literature warns of science stepping beyond its natural limitations.
Humanities and science complement each other. We are all the weaker without both being strong. One of the many tasks that those of us in the humanities have is to maintain this complementary relationship. My Facebook critic is not alone in thinking that arguments promoting the humanities are a defense of a bronze-age mentality.
I believe that science (mathematics, physics, biology), philosophy, history, and literature–freed, within their natural boundaries, to do what they each do best–will lead to the truth.
As a Christian, I believe this Truth to be Jesus Christ.