Language of God

There is probably no one who has done more scientific work on the genetics of race than Dr. Joseph L Graves. Dr. Graves has been writing, thinking, and doing research on this topic for almost 30 years. In the midst of a national uprising of anger and frustration at the continued systemic racism in this country and around the world, this conversation probes the scientific reality that there is no genetic basis for race and addresses some common misconceptions as well. 

We split our conversation up into two parts. In this first part Dr. Graves tells the story of his journey through higher education, which was not without hardships. Then, as a precursor to talking about the genetics, we discuss some basics of evolution and what it even means to be a species or a subspecies.

Dr. Graves is the author of The Emperor’s New Clothes and The Race Myth.

Need a refresher on Evolution? Check out Evolution Basics, an introductory series on the BioLogos website.

Hear Dr. Graves on the Science Vs podcast episode on race.

Find a conversation about this episode on the BioLogos forum.

Last time we talked to Lynette Strickland, she told us all about the work that she was doing to show that tortoise beetles, which vary greatly in their appearances, are actually one species. We play some of that conversation but then we catch up with Lynette to press further into the beauty and importance of diversity within a species. And it’s a short step from talking about beetles to talking about humans. Lynette tells some of her own stories that highlight the ways that science as a discipline can benefit from increased diversity and inclusion. 

Lynette Strickland received her Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and her B.S. in Marine Biology from Texas A&M. Her research focuses on how ecological factors and genomic factors shape a naturally-occurring color polymorphism in a species of Neotropical tortoise beetle and her work has been published in journals including Science and Hereditary.

Without Inclusion, diversity initiatives may not be enough, Science Magazine

Why Black Lives Matter for Science and Faith, video recording (with Lynette Strickland)

The first part of this interview is from episode 19, broadcast on October 3, 2019.

Find a conversation about this episode at the BioLogos Forum.

We find ourselves three months into a global pandemic, and one week into a movement of nationwide protests in response to the death of George Floyd. For this episode Jim Stump, vice president of BioLogos and host of the podcast, and Deb Haarsma, president of BioLogos, take a moment to talk about where we are, where the church and science can fit in, and how the work of BioLogos might have a role in moving forward.

The Prayer episode mentioned in this episode is Episode 8 and can be found in the Language of God podcast feed. 

Deb’s story about the doctor who prayed with his patient and family can be found here. 

Check out reopeningthechurch.com for resources and information on how to resume in person worship.

Join a conversation about this episode at the BioLogos Forum.

Leading evangelical thinker Tim Keller joins Francis Collins, who heads our country’s biomedical research, in a conversation that includes updates on the latest COVID-19 research, a discussion on the value of human life and what it means to care for the most vulnerable among us, where God is during a pandemic, and much more.

Check out the livestream video!
NIH Director’s Blog Article
Francis Collins Templeton Prize Announcement
Tim Keller articles at BioLogos
Francis Collins articles at BioLogos

Thanks to the sponsors who made this conversation possible: Vijay and Susan Aggarwal | Don Ammerman | Barbara Bryant | Greg and Antje Campbell | Deborah and Loren Haarsma | Jason Jones | Josh and Jane Kwan | Alan and Cindy Marty | Phillip and Shauna Schneider | ServingLynk, Inc. | The BioLogos Board of Directors

Join a conversation on the BioLogos Forum.

In the episode, Jim talks with Bishop Claude Alexander about his growing up in the south with parents esteemed in the medical field--his mother was the first black psychiatrist in Alabama, Mississippi, and Arkansas and his father was family practitioner who was assigned to Martin Luther King, Jr. whenever he was in Mississippi--and about the role of science in racial reconciliation in America today. Claude provides some pastoral and poignant notes of hope at the end of the episode.

Bishop Claude Alexander is the senior pastor for The Park Church in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Join a conversation about this episode at the BioLogos Forum.

We were made in the image of God, but what does that really mean? Whom does that apply to? What does that call us to? The Bible is very central to understanding the answers to these questions, as is cultural context. In this episode, biblical worldview professor, Richard Middleton joins Jim Stump in an attempt to answer some of the questions about human identity through both of those lenses.

Richard Middleton is Professor of Biblical Worldview and Exegesis at Northeastern Seminary (Rochester, NY). He is adjunct professor of Old Testament at the Caribbean Graduate School of Theology (Kingston, Jamaica). From 2011-2014, he served as president of the Canadian Evangelical Theological Association. Richard is the author of A New Heaven and a New Earth: Reclaiming Biblical Eschatology and The Liberating Image: The Imago Dei in Genesis 1.

If you want to hear more from Richard, you can find the articles he’s written for our website here.

Find a conversation about this episode at the Biologos Forum.

Many of us find rest and comfort in having good health, secure jobs, and a vibrant community. Of course we do. But what happens when that is taken away, like it was for Job? Some of us, while stuck in our homes during the coronavirus pandemic, may have started to ask some questions about the way the world works and how God could let this kind of a thing happen. Well, we’re not the first to ask those questions and the book of Job is about someone doing just that. 

John Walton is an Old Testament scholar and he leads us through the book of Job with an eye toward our current situation. Walton walks through three elements of the story of Job that might help us today: rest (our ability to rise above tumultuous circumstances), peace (freedom from our feelings of fear), and coherence (finding order among confusion). The episode was recorded digitally with a live audience and so we were also able to take questions from the audience, which you’ll hear throughout. 

Walton’s Lecture Series on Job 

A list of Walton’s many books

Walton’s Resources from Biologos

Join a conversation about this episode at the BioLogos Forum.

Water is mysterious. It is cleansing, it is dangerous, and it is life-giving. In our everyday life we can tend to overlook just how fascinating and important water is. Water is interesting both scientifically and biblically, so it’s only fitting that we explore it. And in this episode we do just that.

Because this is a complex topic, we asked several experts to join us in this episode. You’ll hear from Kent Frens, Jenni Brandon, Sandra Postel, and Ben McFarland who each talk about water through their areas of expertise.

Check out Applied Ocean Sciences.

Here’s some fun Ocean Facts.

Join a conversation about this episode on the Biologos Forum.

When Brian McLaren got a call from his editor asking if he’d like to travel to the Galapagos Islands and write about it it took all of a few seconds to agree. The book he wrote is called the Galapagos Islands: A Spiritual Journey. In this episode Jim Stump talks to him about the book and about a theology that is informed by wild places and the scientific knowledge that helps us understand those places. 

Brian McLaren is an author, speaker, activist, and public theologian. He is a former English professor and pastor, he is an advocate for “a new kind of Christianity”. His most recent projects include an illustrated children’s book called Cory and the Seventh Story and The Galapagos Islands: A Spiritual Journey.

Want to hear more from Brian? Find more resources here.

Join a conversation about this episode at the BioLogos Forum.

With an overwhelming amount of news about the coronavirus coming out daily, we thought it would be best to go all the way to the top, with updates on the coronavirus from the Director of the National Institutes of Health, Francis Collins. Francis Collins is also the founder of BioLogos and a committed Christian. In this conversation with Jim Stump, he answers questions from listeners about the current scientific knowledge of the virus and talks about how he views the pandemic through the lens of his own faith. 

This conversation originally aired as a live video conversation. You can watch that version here.

Find the NIH Director’s blog here.

Join a conversation about this episode at the BioLogos Forum.