There is an old joke or adage that goes something like this: A physicist labors to climb a mountain and when at last he reaches the summit he finds the theologian at the pinnacle, waiting for him. In the 19th century, scientists laughed the opening verses of Genesis to scorn; “How ridiculous,” they said, “in the Bible, light appears before the sun and the moon and the stars.” Later, however, the intellectual heirs of these same scientists grew silent when their own theories pointed to the primacy of light, before sun, moon or stars. And there is much more. Consider, how the Bible points to the need to take care of the oceans even before the earth (Genesis 1:28b). Only now are do we begin to understand how connected we are to the oceans. God gave us to be gardeners, caretakers, helpers to all creation beginning by quieting and comforting the places where we live but then immediately looking to the oceans, coral reefs and icebergs. God gave us to be stewards and helpers of these things at the very beginning, how much more in the new creation in Jesus? Or consider Jesus' emphasis on guts. Yes, you read that right. When the Good Samaritan has compassion on the man who has fallen among thieves, what it actually says in the original language, is that the “guts,” the “innards” of the Good Samaritan were moved when he saw the wounded man. All of us understand this feeling but science is now beginning to see how the guts, the innards, are actually the cornerstone of the immune system and have been called “the second brain.” Or consider the first man, Adam. His name comes from the Hebrew word “adamah” or “earth.” Adam was formed from the earth; he and Eve are dirt. Only now is science beginning to discover its importance. To the horror of their watchful mothers and fathers, babies routinely put little things found on the floor into their mouths, but immunologists have discovered that this dirt is essential for the baby; it is is child’s immune system training itself. Society and science are learning more and more about the soil—it can be amended, it can “grow” (terra preta), it lives. To our sorrow we have also learned that the earth can be poisoned and deadened, but, I would hasten to add, it can and will be revived, by a people following Jesus; Jesus, “who does not fail or become discouraged” until he has righted all that is wrong, Jesus who is the chief gardener. There is no need for theologians in the pulpit, pew or professor’s chair to “harmonize” science with the Bible. Students of the Bible, professional or amateur (and that’s all of us) simply need to do the work that Jesus has given us to do, namely to hear the Bible (large swaths of the Old and New Testaments) read on the Lord’s Day (Sunday), together in our congregations, then to study the Bible the rest of the week, on our own or in our bible study groups. There is one more task though. It is to be confidant, remembering that theology is “queen of the sciences,” remembering so that we are not overcome with shock when we find ourselves with an insight that has not yet occurred the physicist, astronomer, historian or cancer researcher. God loves the world and gave himself the work of making us a “people in the know.” He does all things well.
