Language of God

One of the foundational practices of faith, prayer is an essential part of Christian life. But what is prayer? How does it work? Can we see its effects? Does science have anything to tell us about prayer? In this episode on prayer, Language of God producer Colin Hoogerwerf explores the relationship between science and prayer with Dr. David Myers, journalist Barbara Bradley Hagerty, author Philip Yancey, and Dr. Jimmy Lin. They discuss a 1997 Harvard experiment meant to measure the effects of prayer, the findings of neurotheology, and why we should pray at all. By melding their personal prayer lives with their research, our guests find a more robust understanding of the sacred practice.

Read David Myers’ response to the Harvard Prayer Experiment here.

Find a conversation about this episode at the BioLogos Forum.

In this week’s episode, Language of God host Jim Stump is joined by Dr. Bethany Sollereder to wrestle with the problems of natural evil and the origin of death—topics Bethany addresses in her new book God, Evolution, and Animal Suffering: Theodicy without a Fall. They delve into the traditional answers to these questions, probing their strengths and deficiencies, and grapple with challenging Biblical passages on these issues. Bethany discusses the possibility of animals going to Heaven and what that would mean for how humans interact with them now. In all, she hopes to uncover how evolution is suffused with God’s love.

Dr. Bethany Sollereder is a Postdoctoral Fellow in Science and Religion at Oxford University. Her research focuses on theology regarding evolution and the problem of suffering. She received her PhD in Theology from the University of Exeter after earning an MCS in interdisciplinary studies from Regent College in Vancouver.

Original music from Carp.

Find a conversation about this episode at the BioLogos Forum.

In the second half of our conversation with Francis Collins, he recalls writing Language of God over ten years ago and how the excited public response to the book sparked his idea for BioLogos. We reflect on the early days at the organization as well as Francis’ departure to become the head of the National Institutes of Health. Despite his departure from BioLogos, he still shares a firm commitment to gracious dialogue, to finding common ground with those with whom we disagree. Francis hopes we can learn to approach each other with respect and spend time with people who are different from us. We discuss the perception of religion in the scientific community and which questions science can answer and which ones it cannot. Finally Francis looks forward to the future of science—the exciting new horizons afforded by single-cell analysis, cryogenic electron microscopy, and treatments for genetic diseases.

Dr. Francis Collins is a physician and geneticist known for spearheading the Human Genome Project and for his landmark discoveries of disease genes. Collins founded BioLogos in November 2007 and served as its president until August 16, 2009, when he resigned to become director of the National Institutes of Health. You can find his landmark book on science and faith—Language of God—on Amazon.

More information on the concern about gene editing of human embryos can be found at the following links:
Call for a moratorium on heritable genome editing in the journal Nature
Francis Collins supports international moratorium on germline editing

Original music from Carp.

Find a conversation about this episode at the BioLogos Forum.

Philip Yancey is one of the most compelling and popular Christian authors of our time. But the Church has not always been good him: growing up in Atlanta included absorbing the confidently racist doctrine his childhood pastor distributed from the pulpit. At one point, an inability to reconcile his experiences with the Christianity he was brought up to practice caused Yancey to abandon the faith. Yancey is not free from the pangs of doubt and disappointment today, but he gathers courage from the selfless love played out in people like Dr. Paul Brand, a medical doctor who dedicated his life to treating leprosy. In this episode’s conversation, Philip Yancey and Language of God host Jim Stump discuss rediscovering faith after messy first encounters, disappointment with the state of the world, and stepping into a life colored with hope.

Philip Yancey, author of books like Disappointment with God, The Jesus I Never Knew, and What’s So Amazing About Grace, is one the best selling Christian authors alive today. Early experiences in a toxic church environment as well as co-authoring several books with Dr. Paul Brand inform his writing on faith, the problem of pain, and unexpected grace. He holds graduate degrees in Communications and English from Wheaton College and the University of Chicago. Yancey lives in Colorado as a freelance writer and avid hiker.

Find a conversation about this episode at the BioLogos Forum.

Amidst a culture fostering skeptical apathy and fatalist visions of our planet’s future, how can we begin to strive toward a renewed creation? In this episode, our producer, Colin Hoogerwerf appeals to Dr. Steve Bouma-Prediger, Dr. Dan Richter, and Dr. Norman Wirzba in order to gain a richer view of these complicated issues. Colin invites these experts to reflect on how the role dirt has played in our lives has evolved since Biblical times, and how this may be connected to humility. They examine etymology, reflect on the Biblical call to be stewards of creation, and review findings in soil science to confront these questions with an eye for hope. The result—a fresh vision of our human relationship to the Earth.

Dr. Steve Bouma-Prediger is Professor of Reformed Theology at Hope College in Holland Michigan. He received his Ph.D. in religious studies from the University of Chicago in 1992 and has also earned a Master of Divinity from Fuller Seminary and a Master of Philosophy from the Institute for Christian Studies. He holds a B.A. in math and computer science from Hope College. Dr. Bouma-Prediger chairs the Campus Sustainability Advisory Committee in addition to overseeing the Environmental Studies minor at Hope.

Dr. Daniel D. Richter is Professor of Soils and Forest Ecology at the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University. He co-authored Understanding Soil Change (Cambridge University Press) and his research has further revealed the extensive concomitance soil shares with ecosystems and the earth’s environment as a whole. He received his B.A. from Lehigh University in 1973 and his Ph.D. from Duke University in 1980.

Dr. Norman Wirzba is Professor of Theology, Ecology, and Rural Life at Duke University. He holds a Primary Appointment at Duke University’s School of Divinity and a Secondary Appointment at the Nicholas School of the Environment. His research explores the intersections of philosophy, sustainable agriculture, and ecology through a theological lens.

Find a conversation about this episode at the BioLogos Forum.

As she recounts her life in science, astronomer Jennifer Wiseman discusses faith in her work, human significance in a vast universe, and the mysterious awe inspired by investigating the cosmos. Spanning her life from gazing at the night sky as a child in the Ozark mountains to searching for life outside our galaxy as an astronomer, Wiseman’s passionate work in science and Christian faith have been the warp and woof of her life story.

Jennifer J. Wiseman is an astrophysicist, author, and speaker. She studies the formation of stars and planets in our galaxy using radio, infrared, and optical telescopes. Dr. Wiseman studied physics for her bachelor’s degree at MIT, discovering comet Wiseman-Skiff in 1987. After earning her Ph.D. in astronomy from Harvard University in 1995, she continued her research as a Jansky Fellow at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory. Dr. Wiseman also has an interest in national science policy and has served as an American Physical Society Congressional Science Fellow on Capitol Hill. Dr. Wiseman enjoys giving talks on the excitement of science and astronomy to schools, youth and church groups, and civic organizations. She is a former Councilor of the American Astronomical Society and a former President of the American Scientific Affiliation.

Find a conversation about this episode at the BioLogos Forum.

From Praveen’s childhood, growing up in a Hindu family, to his later conversion to Christianity and his entry into science, he has gained great insight into the science and faith conversation. With grace and humility, Praveen shares some of that insight as he considers what it means to be made in the image of God in light of our understanding of evolution and DNA. He has long felt the importance of fostering healthy dialogue among Christians and the scientific community and discusses how such a dialogue might actually bring us closer together.

Praveen Sethupathy is a Professor in the Department of Biomedical Sciences at Cornell University, where he directs a research laboratory focused on human genomics and complex diseases. Praveen received his B.A. in Computer Science from Cornell University, his Ph.D. in Genomics and Computational Biology from the University of Pennsylvania, and he continued his training in genomics and gene regulation as a post-doctoral fellow with Dr. Francis S. Collins at the National Institutes of Health. Praveen was recently selected by Genome Technology as one of the nation’s top 25 rising young investigators in genomics. He has published nearly fifty articles in scientific journals, including Science, Nature Communications, PNAS, and Genome Biology and serves on the advisory board for AAAS Dialogue on Science, Ethics, and Religion as well as the Board of Directors for BioLogos.

Find a conversation about this episode at the BioLogos Forum.

Dr. Francis Collins is a physician and geneticist known for spearheading the Human Genome Project and for his landmark discoveries of disease genes. Collins founded the BioLogos Foundation in November 2007 and served as its president until August 16, 2009, when he resigned to become director of the National Institutes of Health.

Collins sat down with us at his home to talk about his own journey in finding a harmony between faith and science. He talks about the early part of his career studying medicine and leading the Human Genome Project, shares stories of some of the people in his life who were influential in his conversion from atheism to Christianity, and discusses the role that music has played in his life.

Find a conversation about this episode at the BioLogos Forum.

Language of God is a podcast on science and Christian faith from BioLogos.

For more information about BioLogos visit our website at biologos.org.