Language of God

Jessica Moerman’s scientific research has included the study of stalagmites in Bornean caves and digging up ancient lakes in Africa. Through this work, she and other paleoclimatologists—those who study the climate of the past—have started to piece together the puzzle of how earth’s climate has changed in the past, which helps us to understand how it could change in the future. For Jessica, science has always been a tool for ministry and for understanding God’s creation. That idea has led her to her current role as the CEO of the Evangelical Environmental Network where she is able to share her knowledge of science, her passion for ministry and the call to act to bring about a healthy future.

Theme song and credits music by Breakmaster Cylinder. Other music in this episode by Northern Points, courtesy of Shutterstock, Inc.

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Joanna Ng has worked on many projects which have been turned into tools we use everyday. In the episode she talks about the journey to become a Master Inventor and some of the highlights of her career and then discusses some of the risks that come from putting too much trust in computers and artificial intelligence.

Glossary of Terms:
Groundtruth: The information or data that acts as a reference point against which we can measure the performance of computer programs or algorithms.
Compiler: A special computer program that turns the code that programmers write into something a computer can understand and run. It's like a translator between humans and computers.
Parsing: Parsing in computer science is like grammar-checking a sentence. It looks at the code to make sure all the parts are in the right order and make sense together, so the computer can understand what to do.
Black box: A system or device where you can see what goes in and what comes out, but you don't know exactly how it works on the inside. 
Bootstrap: The initial push that gets a computer or program running so it can do more complicated tasks on its own. Just like you need that first push to start pedaling a bike, a computer needs a bootstrap to get going.

Theme song and credits music by Breakmaster Cylinder. Other music in this episode by Titan Sound, courtesy of Shutterstock, Inc.

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Sy Montgomery has been writing about animals for over 30 years and has befriended many fascinating creatures in those years. Both turtles and octopuses, subjects of two of her books, are ancient relatives of ours, separated from humans by millions of years of evolution. That hasn’t stopped Sy from connecting with individuals of each of these species, learning something about their amazing and special capabilities but also finding a surprising commonality that allows for a deep connection. In the conversation Sy shares her love for all creatures and calls for us to reach into our limitless compassion to care for the creatures that make our world bright and beautiful. 

This conversation was recorded live in Grand Rapids, Michigan at the BioLogos Creation Care Summit on October 7th. 

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Janet Kellogg Ray is a Christian science educator and author. In the episode, she shares her personal journey of reconciling her faith with the science of evolution and discusses the challenges faced by Christians in accepting scientific evidence. She explores the connection between the denial of evolution, climate change, and COVID vaccines, highlighting the cultural and political factors that contribute to science denial within religious communities. Janet emphasizes the importance of science literacy and understanding the nature of science in order to build trust and engage in meaningful conversations about faith and science.

Learn more about Janet Kellogg Ray and see her books here.

Theme song and credits music by Breakmaster Cylinder. Other music in this episode by Pink Marble, courtesy of Shutterstock, Inc. 

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In our second ever BioLogos book club, we bring you a discussion on the book Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer. Our expert guests include Carol Bremer-Bennett, the Executive Director of World Renew; Rick Lindroth, a retired professor of ecology; and Debra Rienstra, a Professor of English. They discuss various themes from the book, including the importance of reciprocity and harmony in our relationship with the natural world, the dangers of consumerism and greed, and the need for a more inclusive and respectful language to describe non-human beings. They also explore the intersection of indigenous wisdom, science, and Christianity, and the potential for these perspectives to complement and enrich one another.

Download our discussion guide for Braiding Sweetgrass here.

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The question, what does it mean to be human, demands answers from many fields of study. Agustín Fuentes has looked to anthropology for answers to this question but the answers he has found speak to something that is bigger than science. He proposes that one of the things that make us human is our ability to believe. 

Fuentes teaches anthropology and primatology at Princeton University. His studies have brought him around the world, to cities and to remote jungles. He’s written several books, including his most recent, Why We Believe: Evolution and the Human Way of Being, a book that came out of his Gifford Lectures. 

This episode was originally aired on December 17th, 2020. 

Theme song and credits music by Breakmaster Cylinder. Other music in this episode by Northern Lights, courtesy of Shutterstock, Inc. 

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As the host of his own podcast, No Small Endeavor, Lee C. Camp is well-practiced at conversations that explore what human flourishing could look like. In this conversation, he looks back to his own experiences in which doors were opened to him in his thinking about faith. He tells about his journey from preaching sermons against the theory of evolution to coming to understand that scientific knowledge about the world was not a threat to his faith, even when that knowledge presented new and challenging questions.

Check out Lee Camp's podcast, No Small Endeavor Including this episode about science and faith with Francis Collins

Theme song and credits music by Breakmaster Cylinder. Other music in this episode by Titan Sound, courtesy of Shutterstock, Inc. 

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For some technology offers humanity a path into perfection. For others it is the means of our downfall. Somewhere in between there is Joe Vukov. In the episode, Joe helps to explain the pitfalls of both extremes—on one side, the transhumanists (who embrace technology as a way to become more human) and on the other, the neoLuddites (who shun certain kinds of technology)—and begins to clear a path somewhere in the middle. 

Original music in this episode is by Carp.

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Trees are often seen merely as backdrops or immovable scenery. When we start to learn about the physical realities of trees, their names and histories and the ways they interact with the world around them, we start to wonder if we’ve gotten the wrong idea about what trees are. In this episode, Jim and Colin go on a journey to see trees more completely, to see them as living, dynamic creatures. Learning about the scientific reality of trees leads to an enriched understanding of the role trees play as symbols in the Bible and helps eventually for trees to be seen as creatures who praise God.

Additional Resources:

Check out MyTree Calculator, mentioned in the episode.

There were a lot of trees in the bible we didn't have time to talk about in the episode. The BibleProject podcast has a great series on trees in the bible called Tree of Life.

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Kate Boyd has been learning to live out her faith in the messy middle in a culture that rewards picking a side. While her journey didn’t begin with a conflict between science and religion, her story explores the complexities of understanding the Bible in today’s context and anyone who has struggled with issues of science and faith will resonate with this conversation. Kate’s new book, which tells the story of her journey is called An Untidy Faith: Journeying Back to the Joy of Following Jesus. In the episode, Jim and Kate dive into Kate’s story of her realization of the “untidy” nature of faith and how she has come to embrace the messiness without letting go of core beliefs and how this might apply to the science and faith dialogue.

Learn more about Kate and find her book at www.kateboyd.co

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