I watched as my eleven-year-old son, arms outstretched and eyes to the horizon, braved the edge of the mountain. We were on top of Pikes Peak, Colorado, more than 14,000 feet in elevation. And we weren’t alone. Hundreds of others had braved the white-knuckled trek up (and back down) the mountain just to perch at the precipice where heaven and earth meet.
As I watched them, I wondered, “Why?”
We humans might be described as “cosmic toddlers” in the universe—daring; full of wonder; insatiably curious; and busy, busy, busy finding the next unexplored place, whether it’s deep in the brain or deep in the cosmos. At the same time, we are creatures who long for meaning and purpose. We don’t just have experiences. We reflect and ask what those experiences mean as we write the narratives of our lives. This—all of this—is who we are. We will continue to explore and make new discoveries that will, again and again, cause us to contemplate meaning, purpose, and our place in the universe. And this is why our physics will always meet our metaphysics, why our science will always meet what we hold sacred.
Sadly, for many people today, the meeting of science and faith causes perceptions of conflict and an inability to reconcile these two ways of knowing and experiencing the world. In the individual life, the resulting cognitive dissonance often manifests as angst or despair. In our corporate life together, it manifests as culture wars where some reject faith, others reject science, and both sides ‘dig in their heels’ against each other. Both sides lose.
That’s why the work of Discovery & Faith matters. We are helping the next generation experience the harmony between science and faith. We train and equip pastors, Christian educators, and parents to facilitate constructive dialogue and engagement with science and faith in the ministry setting. We speak to youth groups and pub theology groups. We answer your questions!
We invite you to learn more and connect with us.
