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Faith and Science: How and Why — Transcript

by McGrath Institute for Church Life · 7,523 words · 1,394 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:02[Music]
0:10[Music]
0:15all right well this talk is basically
0:17about setting the stage for everything
0:19we're going to do
0:20so i feel a great deal of pressure so i
0:22start to stammer and sweat just
0:24understand that's why it is
0:26um i want to talk a little bit about how
0:28to relate faith and science to one
0:30another
0:31and to do that actually the first and
0:33most important step as you learn from
0:35reading john paul ii
0:37is to distinguish them right
0:39the philosophers of the middle ages had
0:41a saying
0:43that a cherished principle of thinking
0:45about the interrelation of various
0:47truths come on in fellas
0:51uh
0:52that in order to unite truths or ways of
0:54knowing truths what we could call
0:56perspectives and what i'm calling
0:57perspectives on truth
0:59that we must first distinguish them we
1:01must show how they're different let me
1:04see it again
1:06it was working a moment ago
1:09we must distinguish in order to unite
1:12so in light of this the first thing i'd
1:14like to do of the three things i'd like
1:16to do
1:18in this first presentation
1:20is offer a couple of elementary
1:23imprecise but i think helpful ways of
1:26distinguishing faith in science as two
1:28ways of knowing
1:30using the adverbs how and why
1:33with a couple of analogies and then also
1:36i'm talking about the difference of
1:38faith in science using the words
1:39thinking and asset
1:42i'll explain why so how and why thinking
1:44and dissent
1:47and i'm actually going to try to
1:49illustrate those various ways of knowing
1:51by reference to two lives that are quite
1:54exemplary in relation to either right
1:57one in science and one in faith
1:59but we only distinguish in order to
2:02unite
2:03to properly you know what
2:06i think i might move a little bit
2:08can i do this yeah because i i'm going
2:10to be blinded by the time this is over
2:12and also
2:13you can't really see the middle thing so
2:16just one in a moment you guys want to
2:18give me a hand with that
2:20podium which is very cranky
2:24[Music]
2:27well done thank you much ah much better
2:29okay
2:32it's always a bad sign when they clap
2:34when you're no longer center stage
2:38we uh we only distinguish faith in
2:41science in order to properly unite them
2:44so in the next part i want to provide
2:46for the second part i'm going to provide
2:48two ways of relating faith in science
2:50the first first way is about how
2:53faith can embr embrace the vision of the
2:56universe that science gives us
2:59which is a vision of order and openness
3:03the second way involves a rather
3:05surprising commonality that has been
3:07uncovered by modern science
3:10that some of the most important
3:12scientific discoveries
3:14show a parallel with some of the central
3:16doctrines of the faith because they
3:18involve paradox and mystery
3:22and finally i'd like to introduce you to
3:25one more life one that beautifully
3:26united faith and science in a way that
3:28can serve as a model
3:30for believing scientists
3:33right
3:34and that is the life of a man named neil
3:36stenson
3:37or nicolas stenna
3:41okay so on to the first heart the first
3:43as heather would say
3:46both science and faith
3:48involve encountering if i could move
3:50that forward
3:53and understanding the same universe but
3:55they do so in unique ways
3:58ways i propose that are so different
4:00that despite all the claims to the
4:02contrary that can never be in any real
4:05conflict
4:07in the words of rabbi jonathan sax
4:10science takes things apart to see how
4:12they work
4:15and religion brings things together to
4:17see what they mean
4:19or i say john paul ii once said
4:22the theological teaching of the bible
4:25like the doctrine of the church
4:28does not seek so much to teach us the
4:30how of things
4:32as rather the why
4:34of things
4:36now
4:38help us understand that distinction join
4:40me in this thought experiment
4:43imagine
4:44enjoying the finale of an incredible set
4:46from a favorite band on a sunny
4:48afternoon at the new orleans jazz and
4:50heritage festival everyone who knows me
4:53well knows that sooner or later i'm
4:54going to end up in new orleans my wife
4:56tells people in my talks and in my life
4:59my wife tells people if new orleans was
5:01a woman i never would have married her
5:02which is a lie
5:04so anyway
5:06anyway you're here
5:08wonderful beautiful afternoon
5:10and while it's going on an alien
5:12spacecraft lands
5:14and extraterrestrial
5:16who strangely can understand and speak
5:18english it seems like they always can in
5:20the movies right
5:21approaches you afterwards and asks about
5:24the noise that'll be coming from the
5:26stage
5:29and you mean oh the music you say and
5:31you begin by explaining what the music
5:33being played is called
5:35blues folk rock and roll zydeco
5:38you go through the type of music they
5:40talk about the type of music it is the
5:42instruments that type of music involves
5:45and because you've had a few beers and a
5:47little bit of education tell them a
5:48little bit about music theory harmony
5:51keys octaves right
5:53and once you've said enough for the
5:55alien to understand she responds
5:58now i understand
6:00how the music is played
6:03but i don't understand why everyone here
6:05is so excited about it
6:08at that moment you realize
6:10that the extraterrestrial still has no
6:12idea about why music is composed and
6:15performed and what meaning it has to you
6:19to the other fans present
6:22stop for a moment and think about that
6:24isn't it true that you now have an
6:26entirely different task of explaining
6:30ultimately you might say that people
6:32love music because it moves them by
6:34putting the experience of being human
6:37into beautiful sounds right
6:39music is about experiencing your
6:42ordinary life but from a new perspective
6:45or you might say that it unites music
6:48fans into a common experience
6:50that music is about relationships
6:55or you might say that through poetry and
6:57musical art artistry you were drawn out
7:00of ordinary life you're drawn out of
7:02your ordinary experience for a moment
7:05that music is about transcendence right
7:08those are a few of many
7:10valid and true
7:12ways you can explain why music is
7:14enjoyed
7:16so
7:17notice that in order to explain the
7:19music you have two choices
7:22you can explain the internal logic of
7:24the music
7:26you can describe how it is composed and
7:28played
7:30but in order to explain the meaning of
7:32music to those who play it or enjoy it
7:35you have to go beyond how it is played
7:37and answer why questions about it
7:41questions about the purpose of making
7:42music
7:44i hope you can already see the parallel
7:46right
7:47science approaches
7:49the physical universe
7:51according to its internal rules and
7:53patterns
7:56telling us how it all works
7:58like your first explanation of music
8:02faith approaches the universe according
8:04to what the whole system of the universe
8:06means
8:07which by the way in order to know you
8:09would have to be outside the universe
8:11wouldn't you
8:12the meaning of any system lies outside
8:14the system i won't go into that too far
8:17but that brings us to the full idea of
8:19divine revelation
8:21if you want to understand why the
8:23universe is
8:26right you have to move to
8:29things like its role in human happiness
8:31but above all
8:33questions about its creator and his
8:35intentions for it like your second
8:37explanation of
8:38music so just as they are in
8:41understanding music why questions
8:44and how questions about the universe are
8:46very different
8:47but
8:48taken together
8:51they can provide a fuller picture a
8:53deeper understanding of reality
8:55now
8:57before i move on to thinking and ascent
9:01i just want to observe why the
9:02distinction i've just offered you is
9:04imperfect
9:06and the main reason it's imperfect is
9:08linguistic
9:09because in the english language we often
9:11use the words how and why
9:13interchangeably right
9:15the answer to the question why is there
9:16an element called oxygen
9:19can be answered with an explanation
9:22about how oxygen was first formed
9:25right so in the process of helium fusion
9:27in the cores of stars
9:30so in the how wide distinction here it
9:32works as long as we remember that we are
9:34using the word why the way we use it
9:36when we talk about meaning and purpose
9:39as in why did you go to mass last sunday
9:43or
9:43why did michelangelo paint the sistine
9:45chapel right or to your toddler why did
9:49you just paint the entire wall
9:52of our living room
9:56that's one way of distinguishing
9:58favorite science how and why the next
10:00one goes i think a little bit
10:02deeper but i think is equally important
10:07in a wonderful
10:10um
10:11lecture that he gave which is now part
10:12of a book called philippine fellowship
10:14of faith
10:15joseph ratzinger
10:17talked about
10:18faith in science following saint thomas
10:20aquinas
10:21as
10:22the relationship of thinking and ascent
10:25and he used those two to distinguish
10:28so he says
10:30both science and faith
10:32are the use of reason by which one
10:34reaches a conclusion about reality
10:37thinking
10:40and both science and faith involve an
10:43ascent to the truth that is
10:46seeing the truth and saying yes this is
10:48true yes this is true right we do that
10:51in faith and we do that in science
10:55but he says what makes them different is
10:58the order in which thinking and assent
11:00occur
11:02in science
11:03thinking occurs first
11:06and it makes ascent possible and even
11:08necessary
11:11but in faith
11:13ascent and thinking will and intellect
11:15walk hand in hand
11:18in faith in a sense ascent comes first
11:22god reaches out to us in grace
11:24right
11:25and we respond he touches the whole
11:28person and we respond
11:30understanding that
11:33sorry the distinction is crucial
11:35so
11:36in science ascent must be suspended
11:39from the truth of a hypothesis
11:41you cannot decide right science teachers
11:43the scientists cannot decide in advance
11:46what they'll find out when they do their
11:48experiment right
11:50they have to rigorously avoid ascent
11:53in developing a hypothesis
11:55and ascent only comes later when you've
11:57demonstrated this or that to be true
12:00but in faith ascent comes first as a
12:04response to god's offer of himself
12:07but in faith now your mind has to catch
12:11up with your yes to god
12:13and this bad singer says in faith
12:16thought has not attained to ascend
12:20in its own way but on the basis of the
12:22will it has not that is thought yet
12:25found its rest
12:27it's still reflected and still in a
12:30state of seeking
12:32it has not yet reached satisfaction
12:35it has been brought to an end only from
12:38outside
12:40this is why the apostle saint paul says
12:42it has been taken captive
12:45he's referring to second corinthians
12:46chapter 10 verse 5 where paul says we
12:49destroy arguments and every proud
12:52obstacle to the knowledge of god and
12:54take every thought captive to obey
12:56christ
12:58in other words
12:59what faith needs in its thinking is what
13:02we call theology right
13:04faith seeking understanding
13:06god reaches us but then we have
13:08questions right
13:10thank you jesus for dying on the cross
13:12for me why did god's son have to die on
13:13the cross to save me from my sins do you
13:15have to do it that way isn't there
13:16another way it could have happened you
13:18see what i'm saying
13:19that the questions emerge organically
13:23out of the ascent
13:25and so you can see
13:27the difference there it's very important
13:29right
13:30science thinking
13:33and
13:34applying discipline to sort of take away
13:37any kind of assent to something that has
13:39not yet been demonstrated
13:41in faith ascent
13:43and then
13:44while still assenting asking questions
13:48asking questions
13:54i want to offer two profiles
13:58that i think illustrate well these two
14:00ways of knowing i'll start with science
14:05friedrich miesha
14:061844-1895
14:10was a 19th century pioneer in the field
14:12of cell biology
14:14and the center of his scientific
14:16curiosity was the center of the cell the
14:19nucleus
14:20in his day
14:22no one knew what was in the cell nucleus
14:25nor what purpose
14:27it served
14:29in 1869 his lab assigned him to the
14:32study of white blood cells
14:34so he focused on the nuclei of these
14:36cells
14:38now white blood cells as biologists
14:39would tell you are very common in pus
14:42so much of his time was spent collecting
14:45bandages
14:46from a nearby hospital and going through
14:49the difficult process of collecting the
14:52cells
14:53and then extracting their nuclei
14:56using painstaking and tedious
14:58applications of chemicals
15:00that took weeks
15:02weeks
15:04ultimately he extracted a great chemical
15:06compound not comparable to any known at
15:09the time
15:11it wasn't a protein
15:12the most common kind of compound found
15:14within cells so misha named it nuclei
15:18and for that discovery he received the
15:20honor of publishing perhaps the most
15:22unattractively titled article one can
15:24imagine
15:25on the chemical composition of plots
15:29later in his career misha discovered
15:32that nuclea could be found in high
15:34quantities and animal sperm
15:37and he thought it might have something
15:38to do with fertility
15:42now did he assent to that best guess
15:46no
15:47he was never able to obtain conclusive
15:50evidence of the function of new cleaning
15:52despite spending almost all of his time
15:54in his lab
15:55which had to be kept very very cold
15:59very cold and after stressing himself
16:01through overwork and extremely cold lab
16:03conditions he developed tuberculosis and
16:06died of pneumonia at the age of 51.
16:08only after his death would nuclea be
16:11renamed
16:13deoxyribonucleic acid or dna for sure
16:17and only half a century later misha's
16:20discovery would become the chemical
16:22foundation of all modern genetics what
16:25we now understand about heredity we owe
16:27to dna studies
16:29and measures was the first and perhaps
16:31the most difficult to accomplish
16:35right that is a passionate
16:37and honorable
16:39and admirable
16:41seeking of the how of things
16:44of of thinking
16:46and not even having the opportunity to
16:48ascend to some discovery and getting
16:50one's life for it
16:52mixture's life exemplifies the how
16:54approach to reality the thinking then
16:57ascent approach to reality
16:59now let's consider a life that
17:00exemplifies the why approach
17:04the african-born saint the next slave
17:06saint josephine bakita
17:09she was a contemporary of misha she was
17:11born around 1869 so a younger
17:13contemporary she herself did not know
17:15the precise data
17:18at the age of nine she was kidnapped by
17:20slave traders beaten so she fled
17:23and sold five times in the slave markets
17:26of sudan
17:27eventually
17:28she found herself working as a slave for
17:31the mother and the wife of a general
17:34and there she was flogged every day till
17:36she bled
17:37as a result of this she bore 144 scars
17:40on her body throughout her life
17:43finally in 1882 she was bought by an
17:46italian merchant for an italian
17:48government official
17:50here she was introduced to jesus christ
17:53she learned that there is a master above
17:55all masters
17:57a lord above all lords and that this
18:01lord is good
18:03is goodness in person
18:06she came to know that this master even
18:08knew her that he had created her that he
18:10actually loved her
18:12she was known and loved
18:15and in her own words was awaited
18:18by her master
18:20what's more this master had himself
18:22accepted the destiny of being scourged
18:24like she had
18:26and now he was waiting for her at the
18:29father's right hand
18:31now she had hope
18:33no longer simply the modest hope of
18:35finding masters who would be less cruel
18:37but the great hope and as we learned in
18:39our reading yesterday hope does not
18:41disappoint right
18:43she said i have definitively loved and
18:45whatever happens to me i am awaited by
18:48this love
18:49and so my life is good
18:52now at any point do you imagine she
18:54created a hypothesis
18:56whether god loves her and then went
18:57through a serious process of testing
18:59that
19:02no she would certainly have never
19:04ascended in faith if she had tried to do
19:05that right just like if you try to do
19:07that to say your spouse i'm going to
19:10rigorously verify whether or not
19:11christine loves me he would destroy the
19:13relationship in that way
19:15and maybe lose your life
19:18right in other words
19:20she assented
19:22but then she also thought
19:24right
19:25she also thought
19:27so through the scientific method misha
19:29helped explain how we become who we are
19:31biologically speaking
19:33through her faith in christ bakita came
19:36to know the deepest meaning of why we
19:38are
19:39the essential truth about why we exist
19:41in the deepest truth about ourselves
19:44now let's pause here
19:47and see
19:48and hopefully this has become very clear
19:51why faith in science can never be in any
19:53real conflict
19:55right
19:56they are so essentially different
19:58approaches to the same reality right
20:01but i also also hope it has demonstrated
20:04how important they are to have both
20:07right that one without the other is
20:09missing something the how without the
20:11why is sad
20:13and the why without the why without the
20:15how is oftentimes
20:17filled with error and superstition as
20:18john paul ii would say
20:21we need both
20:24okay i'm going to move on to part two of
20:26my talk
20:27i want to consider two ways that we
20:29might relate faith and science to each
20:31other
20:33and
20:34this is purely my own invention so it
20:37doesn't help you just ignore it right
20:40the first approach has to do with order
20:43and openness and it requires that we
20:45place side by side you can do this
20:48imaginably
20:50the vision that science gives us of
20:52history in the universe
20:54and the vision that faith gives us of
20:56history and the universe
20:59and i think that when we do this i would
21:02propose
21:03we see two concepts that they share
21:06order
21:07and openness
21:10now i came to this idea because when i
21:12was writing the second edition of the
21:13textbook i wanted to say something broad
21:16about science but i didn't want to say
21:17it like a fool because i'm not a
21:19scientist so i started trying to find
21:21places where great scientists
21:24say the last hundred years
21:26actually did that actually sat back and
21:28said well you know i've spent my life
21:29doing this i've spent about you know and
21:31this is what i see of the universe this
21:33is how i would characterize it and i
21:35found order and openness again and again
21:37there
21:38right as i did that and then it occurred
21:40to me you know faith approaches things
21:43very interestingly in a parallel way so
21:45i'll see if i can demonstrate that
21:48so let's talk about order in the
21:50universe from the perspective of science
21:52this is best captured in the words of
21:54albert einstein
21:56the eternal mystery of the world is its
21:58comprehensibility
22:00the fact that it is comprehensible is a
22:03miracle
22:05these words lead us to the first
22:07characteristic of the universe
22:09that
22:10that science sees that within it we find
22:13orderliness
22:15predictable patterns that can be
22:17understood and described with laws
22:20laws that can be formulated in
22:21mathematical terms
22:24the assumption of order in the universe
22:26by scientists
22:28has been essential to its success in
22:30understanding the universe at times
22:33it has even helped scientists predict
22:36certain discoveries in advance of
22:37experiments
22:39the 1960s
22:41when great advances were being made in
22:44understanding the tiniest known units of
22:46matter sub-atomic particles
22:49the physicist murray gellman
22:51accurately predicted the existence of a
22:54subatomic particle
22:56based simply on a sense of order and
22:59beauty
23:00say that again
23:01he predicted that something would exist
23:04based on order and beauty
23:07in 1961
23:08he created a chart of every subatomic
23:12particle that had been discovered and he
23:13plotted them on this chart in relation
23:16to each other based on shared
23:17characteristics
23:19the particles formed an inverse pyramid
23:22without a point
23:23as you can see here i have in blue
23:26the
23:27missing point of the pyramid
23:30he found an incomplete pattern
23:33so gelman hypothesized that a particle
23:35would be discovered that would complete
23:37the pyramid and included a prediction of
23:39its exact properties
23:41and in 1964
23:43the omega minus particle was discovered
23:46and fit his prediction exactly and he
23:49won the nobel prize
23:50now that's one example when steve barr
23:53talks about fearful symmetries you're
23:54going to hear lots more from someone who
23:56has a lot more business talking about it
23:57than i do
24:00order is found throughout the universe
24:02so the assumption of order
24:04is at the basis of all scientific
24:06investigation if we thought we would
24:07find chaos we wouldn't go looking for it
24:09because we wouldn't understand it when
24:11we found it right
24:13but
24:14the universe's order is not rigid in
24:16algorithmic
24:18many things in the universe are not the
24:20simple result of all that went before
24:23we encounter examples of order in the
24:25universe that are not fully explained by
24:28prior events
24:30and systems that are not reducible to
24:32the sum of their parts
24:34consider the grand scale
24:37about 380 000 years after the big bang
24:40matter had spread smoothly throughout
24:42the universe as we should expect from
24:44the equations that describe the
24:47universe's expansion
24:49but it also contained the unexpected
24:52lumpy regions
24:54randomly demonstrate randomly
24:56distributed throughout
24:58thanks to gravity these lumps became the
24:59galaxies including our own
25:02no life without those lumps right
25:05or consider a much smaller
25:09but for humans equally crucial example
25:12the placenta i talk about this at the
25:14end of my book if you had a chance to
25:15finish it but i'll repeat it
25:17so we all know the placenta is key to
25:19the protection and nourishment of
25:21embryos and the wounds of most mammals
25:23it has features that indicate that it
25:25evolved
25:26through the insertion by a dangerous
25:29virus
25:30of that viruses dna strands into the
25:33genome
25:34of a common ancestor of mammals millions
25:37of years ago
25:39viruses as we know well now
25:42bring disorder and death
25:45and yet in this case and others viral
25:47dna became a key source of order
25:50it became a new way of producing life a
25:52way that which even new human beings are
25:54brought into the world
25:57openness is paired with order as a
25:59second hallmark of our universe
26:03emergent systems as they're often called
26:05arising from things much simpler
26:08displaying new levels of complexity and
26:10unity
26:11distinguish our universe as one not only
26:14of profound continuity but radical
26:16newness
26:17not closed and clock-like in its order
26:20but open and surprising
26:24right
26:24that's order and openness from the
26:26perspective of science we've got one
26:27side of the picture right what about
26:29order and openness from the perspective
26:31of faith
26:33when faith turns to consider the
26:35universe as divine creation
26:38but with eyes enlightened by science
26:41this cosmic dance of order and openness
26:43strikes a deep court of familiarity
26:46because
26:48it carries the traces or the vestiges or
26:51in latin the vestigia of the trinity
26:56the central doctrine of the christian
26:57faith as we learned beautifully those of
26:59us were here from mass yesterday for
27:00trinity sunday
27:02the central doctrine of the christian
27:03faith
27:04father terry told us is that there's
27:06only one eternal god in three divine
27:08persons father son and holy spirit
27:10but he also mentioned that
27:12they act as one bringing the universe
27:15into existence
27:17ours is a universe willed by god that
27:19reflects something therefore of the
27:21divine persons who created it
27:23cosmic history is like a divinely formed
27:26keyhole
27:28and to which the doctrine of the trinity
27:30fits perfectly
27:33so
27:34let's see that the three and one are
27:36seen with the eyes of faith as the
27:38ultimate source of being order and
27:40openness
27:41not only on earth but throughout the
27:43cosmos
27:45the impenetrable power by which all
27:48things exist
27:49points to the father
27:51from whom the son is eternally begotten
27:53and the spirit proceeds
27:56that son is
27:58the father's perfect logos
28:01theologians are very familiar with that
28:02term right
28:04uh a greek word which literally means
28:06mind or reason
28:08but it's translated in john's gospel as
28:09the word so in the beginning was the
28:11word the beginning was the logos
28:14so on
28:16of the divine logos we are told in john
28:18chapter 1 verse 3 that all things were
28:21created through him
28:23we're told by saint paul in colossians
28:25chapter 1 verse 17 that in him all
28:27things hold together
28:30faith reveals that from all eternity the
28:33sun is god's perfect wisdom
28:36and that is the ultimate reason for why
28:38the universe is orderly
28:41lawful
28:42full of patterns that are intelligible
28:45founded in symmetry
28:47um we might recall the first reading
28:50yesterday that sister steffy read for us
28:52right about wisdom
28:54right lady wisdom or sophia
28:56ultimately that wisdom is the second
28:58person of the trinity and that from the
29:01theological perspective is why not how
29:04but why the universe is orderly
29:07in the words of psalm 104
29:09how varied are your works o lord
29:12in wisdom you have made them all
29:16the son is that wisdom
29:18who became flesh in jesus christ
29:22from the theological perspective the
29:24universe begins in divine thought
29:27and therefore is orderly and so
29:29can be understood feebly
29:32and incompletely
29:34but nonetheless really by human thought
29:38and in that way faith cherishes as a
29:40gift from god an assumption of order
29:43that resonates with the assumption of
29:44order that fuels scientific
29:46investigation so can you see at least
29:48with order now
29:50how we see it the universe from the
29:52perspective of faith from the
29:53perspective of science for both of them
29:56order is a hallmark
29:58of
29:59created reality
30:02but the picture of order is complete
30:04from the theological perspective
30:06when the sun the logos of god became
30:09human he announced new things
30:12while pointing back to what had been
30:15given and what god had done in the past
30:18jesus went beyond it in ways
30:20unanticipated by anything before
30:23in other words faith sees not only order
30:26but also openness to an unheard of
30:29future
30:30faith is filled with hope
30:33and spiritual and divine emergence from
30:35beyond the horizon of the natural world
30:38this also shows up in psalm 104
30:42a few verses after psalm 104 celebrates
30:44the universe being made in wisdom
30:46the psalmist makes a prayerful plea
30:49lord send out your spirit and renew the
30:53face of the earth
30:55that idea of renewal of the earth that
30:58is a vision of newness
31:00that is a vision of openness
31:03the scriptural vision of emergence
31:05corresponds to the universe's openness
31:07discovered in science
31:11in the words of john paul ii in his
31:12great encyclical on the holy spirit
31:15through the holy spirit god exists in
31:19the mode of gift
31:22well gifts are surprising aren't they
31:25gifts really good gifts are unmerited
31:27involve the unexpected and unpredictable
31:31the spirit is also associated with love
31:35as the apostle paul writes god's love
31:37has been poured into our hearts through
31:39the holy spirit which has been given to
31:41us
31:42love which is something freely given is
31:45surprising when it is directed towards
31:47us by another
31:49it has the capacity to change our lives
31:51in new and unpredictable ways
31:54the holy spirit the divine person who is
31:57gift love in john paul ii's words
32:00is always associated with the new and
32:03surprising in god's work in history
32:06when old patterns are taken up and
32:08brought to new levels
32:09not reducible to what went before
32:12at the beginning of the universe the
32:14spirit in genesis chapter 1 verse 1 the
32:17spirit or the wind the word is the same
32:19in hebrew
32:21the spirit
32:24i lost my spot oh here i am the spirit
32:28is depicted as moving over the waters as
32:30new things are to be brought forth new
32:32things
32:34the incarnation of the divine son is a
32:36new event
32:38expected by no one not even by his own
32:41mother who receives the holy spirit in
32:43order to conceive him in her womb
32:46the holy spirit will come upon you and
32:48the power of the most high will
32:50overshadow you
32:52therefore the child to be born will be
32:53called holy the son of god
32:56and so through mary's yes to god
32:58and the overshadowing of the gift love
33:00of god the holy spirit the surprise of
33:03what it means to be human in the true
33:05way that god intends is revealed in the
33:08life the death and the resurrection of
33:10her son
33:12the gift love the holy spirit in
33:15salvation history takes what is old and
33:17makes new patterns
33:19he takes what is broken and transforms
33:21it
33:22as he does when the tragedy of the
33:24crucifixion of jesus becomes the source
33:27of new life
33:28in fact eternal life for all who believe
33:33so let's put those side by side
33:36and from the theological perspective we
33:38can look at what science has revealed
33:40all of it
33:42and see order and openness
33:44and have a resonance of familiarity
33:47right
33:48yes
33:49is it not true
33:50that throughout god's intervention in
33:52history
33:54it has always been about re-establishing
33:56order but also bringing about openness
34:00the order and openness that science sees
34:03is also seen by faith
34:08in fact in the order and openness of the
34:11universe we see what was already
34:13proclaimed whoops sorry about two
34:15millennia ago we have it up here
34:18by the great bishop and theologian saint
34:20irenaeus of leon
34:21that the sun and the spirit are like the
34:24two hands of the father shaping all
34:26things
34:28he said
34:29for always present with the father are
34:32the son and the spirit by whom and in
34:35whom
34:35he made all things freely and of his own
34:39will
34:41the son logos wisdom
34:43and the gift love of god the holy spirit
34:46always work together
34:49in faith as in science there is no order
34:51without openness
34:53and no openness that leaves behind order
34:57faith sees all reality as coming from
34:59god in a way
35:01that the son of the spirit can be
35:02distinguished in their work but never
35:04separated
35:06so
35:08stop for a moment and imagine
35:10science teachers
35:11what it would be like or whether or not
35:13we would have experimental science as we
35:15know it today if the universe had order
35:16but no openness
35:19well there would be no scientists
35:20because you would be locked in an
35:22algorithm but suppose you could get
35:23outside the algorithm right
35:25all you could do is see an order that
35:27would be easily predictable why would
35:29you ever need a lab for that why would
35:31you even enter the field for that right
35:34but from the other perspective if there
35:36was openness and no order
35:38the universe would not be intelligible
35:39to us in any significant way it would be
35:42chaos
35:43right we would not be able to relate
35:45things to each other
35:47so as we can see faith and science
35:50see the world in order and openness and
35:52both of them
35:54need to recognize that in order to fully
35:55understand the world
35:58so
36:00through the son and the holy spirit god
36:02the father both creates and redeems the
36:04universe
36:06how many of you have ever felt a little
36:08bit baffled by the doctrine of the
36:10trinity
36:11the three-in-one
36:14[Music]
36:15it's a mystery right we say
36:17and we should by the way say it's a
36:19mystery that's not a cop-out
36:22which does not mean
36:25by mystery we don't mean that nothing at
36:26all can be known about it but that it is
36:28beyond full comprehension
36:30it's ultimately unfathomable to us
36:33it is a paradox
36:35it's a truth made up of two truths god
36:38is one god is three that seem
36:40irreconcilable to the human mind
36:44and what could be more alien to
36:45scientifically literate 21st century
36:47moderns like ourselves
36:49that the misty fog the mind imagines
36:52when we start using words like those
36:54mystery and paradox
36:56when theologians use those not simply
37:00off hand but to describe the central
37:02ideas of their of their discipline
37:04right
37:07as i will explain later today in my
37:09second talk that fogginess was the
37:11reason
37:12that the american founding father thomas
37:14jefferson found the churches catholic
37:16church's creeds and dogmas intolerable
37:19he even considered them acts of
37:21deliberate deception
37:22i'll get back to that
37:24before you condemn jefferson though
37:25let's give him his due
37:27theologians we got to admit right
37:29theology teachers if you think about the
37:31teachings of christianity mistiness
37:33abounds
37:34jesus christ is both fully god and fully
37:38man
37:39but not half god half man
37:42the eucharist is really the body blood
37:43soul divinity of christ
37:45has all the chemical properties of bread
37:47and wine
37:48salvation is a pure gift of grace
37:52but saint paul says we must work it out
37:54in fear and trembling
37:56okay
37:57an honest person of sound mind one might
37:59conclude could never profess such
38:00seeming contradictions and then also
38:03embrace the clarity provided by the
38:05sober practical approach to reality that
38:07is the scientific method until
38:10it is realized that according to modern
38:12science the material universe contains
38:14its own mistiness
38:16paradoxes which come this is very
38:18important not from what we do not yet
38:21know
38:22but arise from what we do know
38:25consider the science of light
38:28the metaphor of light has great
38:30significance in virtually all world
38:32religions but it could be argued that
38:34this is most true of the christian faith
38:37just listen to our scriptures
38:39god is light in him there is no darkness
38:41at all declares saint john the
38:42evangelist in his first letter
38:45and in his gospel
38:47jesus the divine word became flesh calls
38:49himself the light of the world
38:52in the middle ages the great abbas saint
38:54hildegard of bingen used the image of a
38:57glowing flame to describe the trinity
39:00as the flame of a fire has three
39:02qualities
39:03so there is one god in three persons
39:06by the brilliant light understand the
39:08father
39:10who with his love with his love opens
39:12his brightness to us
39:15and by the red power understand the son
39:18who took out a body born of a virgin in
39:20other words the redness we see in fire
39:23is a way of seeing
39:24an allusion to the incarnation to blood
39:28and by the fiery heat understand the
39:30holy spirit who burns ardently in the
39:33minds of the faithful
39:35since ancient times philosophers have
39:37pondered about what the nature of
39:39physical light might actually be and at
39:42the dawn of modern science it became a
39:43source of controversy among the pioneers
39:45of the scientific revolution
39:47actually was a controversy that lasted
39:49for three centuries and some of you may
39:50already know the history
39:52one of those scientists was a personal
39:54hero of thomas jefferson the great sir
39:56isaac newton
39:59newton adopted the theory of the
40:01catholic priest and physicist
40:03pierre gacendi
40:05who speculated that light was a property
40:08of atoms in other words that light is a
40:12particle
40:14summarizing 33 years of experimentation
40:17with lenses and mirrors
40:19newton begins his famous optics with the
40:21intention quote to prove by reason and
40:23experiment that light consists of
40:25corpuscles that is tiny bodies
40:32from sunlight to soap suds to rainbows
40:34and many other phenomena newton
40:36carefully classified most patterns of
40:38light we see
40:40in terms of the bouncing off
40:42reflection
40:43or the passing through refraction of
40:46these luminous bits of matter
40:50it seemed to most that the riddle of
40:52light had been resolved
40:54but only momentarily
40:56because even before newton another
40:58priest
40:59the italian jesuit francesco grimaldi
41:01had observed something else
41:04in a darkened room in bologna in the
41:061650s allowing only a tiny hole for
41:09light to stream in
41:11grimaldi discovered that light actually
41:13flows around objects and reforms its
41:15patterns
41:16as we see in ocean waves
41:19this bending of light which he called
41:21diffraction
41:22was even more thoroughly demonstrated by
41:24the 19th century catholic physicist
41:26augustine joffrenell
41:28whose experiments led to the almost
41:30unanimous acceptance of the wave model
41:33of light
41:36at the dawn of the 20th century in 1905
41:39albert einstein finally resolved the
41:41debate
41:42by concluding that light is both a
41:44particle and a
41:46wave but that meant that it was in
41:49reality not just one or the other
41:52or both
41:54right
41:56which places it beyond easy
41:57classification let me say that again
41:59this meant that it was in reality not
42:01just one or the other or taking one form
42:03of the other but that light is actually
42:05both at the same time
42:08which places it beyond easy
42:09classification
42:11light is paradoxical in a word
42:13mysterious
42:15einstein saw what many before him could
42:17not
42:18that to understand light
42:20was not a matter of choosing between two
42:23models
42:24we have to accept them both
42:27light behaves like a particle in some
42:29circumstances and michael wave and
42:30others
42:32particle language and wave language are
42:34mere approximations
42:37of a richer reality that escapes clear
42:39and distinct conceptualization
42:41by limited finite human minds that sound
42:43familiar theologians
42:45that limited finite human minds even a
42:48mind as great as einsteins who humbly
42:50confessed
42:51and i'll read the whole quote
42:53but what is light really is it a wave or
42:55a shower of photons it seems as though
42:59we must use sometimes the one theory and
43:01sometimes the other well at times we may
43:04use either
43:05we are faced with a new kind of
43:07difficulty
43:08we have two contradictory pictures of
43:10reality
43:12separately neither of them fully
43:15explains the phenomena of light
43:17but together
43:18they do
43:22the mystery gets deeper because since
43:24einstein this wave particle duality as
43:26it came to be called has been
43:28demonstrated to be true not only of
43:30light but of all matter
43:32every subatomic particle of which our
43:34own bodies consist
43:36can only be detected as particles when
43:38they are measured in between
43:41they are not tiny points but are moving
43:44undulating
43:46the deepest nature of both light and
43:48even of matter are richer than our minds
43:50can handle
43:52but in knowing that this richness is
43:54beyond our full comprehension
43:56is it not true that we know reality
43:58better than if we were to only settle
44:00for one conception or the other
44:03in the words of the physicist richard
44:05findman
44:06speaking about light we choose to
44:09examine a phenomenon which is impossible
44:12absolutely impossible his words to
44:14explain in any classical way it contains
44:17the only real
44:19scientific mystery
44:21there's that word
44:23physical reality is deeper and stranger
44:27and more wonderful
44:30that our minds can fathom
44:32so what's true of our universe must
44:34certainly be even more true of its
44:35creator
44:36only a god who cannot be fully known
44:39whose truth surpasses our comprehension
44:42could be the true god and worthy of our
44:44adoration
44:45could be light in whom there is no
44:47darkness at all
44:48joseph bradshager being aware himself of
44:51the wave particle duality of light used
44:53it as an analogy for theological
44:55mysteries
44:56in his work introduction to christianity
44:58which he wrote back in 1968
45:01what is true here in the physical realm
45:03as the result result of the deficiencies
45:05in our vision
45:07is true in an incomparably greater
45:09degree of the spiritual realities and of
45:11god
45:12only by circling around
45:14by looking and describing from different
45:17apparently contrary angles can we
45:19succeed in alluding to the truth
45:21which is never visible to us in its
45:23totality
45:25and here two science and faith meet each
45:27other and parallel each other in
45:30humility of mind
45:32in awe and wonder
45:35science not only clarifies and makes the
45:37complex simple
45:39when the truth requires it
45:41science has also revealed the complexity
45:43of physical reality its paradoxes it's
45:46mysteries
45:48and in faith
45:49the believer professes the ultimate
45:51mystery which is god the holy trinity
45:54and adores that which she does not know
45:58by relinquishing complete knowledge
46:01the mysteries of god become the light of
46:04the mind
46:06as uh clarifying the meaning of human
46:08life
46:09which is to live in love of god and
46:11neighbor as little light shining before
46:14all
46:15creating communities of truth and
46:17communion
46:18as a final thought on this part before i
46:20go to the very conclusion which i'm very
46:22close to now
46:23we can consider the incredible words of
46:25the book of revelation
46:26describing the heavenly city at the end
46:28of all things
46:30we read there the city had no need of
46:32sun or moon to shine on it for the glory
46:34of god gave it light and its lamb was
46:37the lamb of god
46:39the lamb who is the risen jesus right
46:41god from god and light from light
46:45i showed you miesha and um
46:49saint josephine makita early on what
46:51about someone who exemplifies
46:54the two together in their lives
46:56and in that regard as senator mentioned
46:58for a long time i ran a program called
47:01the steno learning program in faith and
47:03science that was not about teaching
47:04people stenography
47:07it was actually named after at least the
47:09italian version of a man's name blessed
47:12nicholas stenna
47:13who's also known in fact was known from
47:15his birth as neil stenson
47:18and i want to end with him and i'll
47:20answer any questions you might have
47:22stenson was a or steno was a remarkable
47:25figure in many ways
47:27as a scientist he made fundamental
47:29contributions to four branches of
47:31science
47:33anatomy
47:34paleontology
47:36geology and crystallography
47:38four parts of the human anatomy are
47:41named after him
47:42stenson's vein stenson's ducks stencils
47:46for amina
47:47stenson's gland
47:49because he discovered them all while in
47:52his 20s he was already recognized as one
47:54of the leading anatomists in europe his
47:56anatomical studies greatly increased
47:59knowledge of the glandular lymphatic
48:00system
48:02he also did important work on heart and
48:04muscle structure on brain anatomy and
48:06embryology
48:08he was ordained by birth
48:10but because of his greatness he
48:12ultimately ended up in florence
48:14where he worked in a research institute
48:16that included some of galileo's pupils
48:19he um actually served as the court
48:21physician to the grand duke
48:23tuscany
48:25in 1666 while he was dissecting the head
48:29of a great white shark that had been
48:30caught near livorno italy he noticed
48:33that the teeth of the shark bore a
48:35strong resemblance to the so-called
48:37colossal petrae or tongue stones
48:41that were common on the island of malta
48:44he realized that the tombstones were
48:46actually ancient shark teeth
48:49this mystified him because the teeth
48:52along with sea shells
48:54were very often found high up on cliffs
48:56and mountain tops
48:58unraveling that mystery led him to
49:00develop after much further investigation
49:02a detailed theory of the origin of
49:05fossils and of sedimentary rock
49:07that was very controversial at the time
49:09but was essentially correct
49:11he is thus regarded as the founder of
49:13the study of fossils
49:15and of the branch of geology called
49:17stratigraphy
49:19without steno
49:20lyle would never have produced his
49:22principles of geology and without lyle
49:26darwin would never have hypothesized
49:28evolution
49:31the study of geology led steno to the
49:34study of crystals where he discovered
49:35the basic fact known as stenos or
49:38stenson's law
49:39that in all crystals of the same mineral
49:41the angles are the same
49:44steno was raised lutheran but after a
49:47deep study of theology and early church
49:49history he converted to catholicism
49:52not simply thinking his way into ascend
49:55but being drawn to ascend
49:57profoundly by being impacted by a corpus
50:00christi procession that he witnessed in
50:01italy
50:03either this host is no more than a piece
50:06of bread and they are fools who pay
50:07homage to it he said
50:09or it really does contain the body of
50:11jesus christ and so if so why do i not
50:15also honor it
50:16he left scientific research to become a
50:18priest was soon elevated to the rank of
50:21bishop
50:23in his last public lecture as a
50:24scientist he offered to history one of
50:28the greatest descriptions of the
50:29relationship between nature
50:32our grasp of truth and the absolute
50:34mystery of god
50:36standing in a dissection theater
50:38ready to present a female cadaver
50:41he encouraged his audience to be drawn
50:43beyond discomfort or disgust through a
50:45deeper odd reverence for the human body
50:48the path ahead he assured them was a
50:50path of beauty
50:52not of disgust moving from observation
50:55to understanding to faith and praise of
50:58the creator whose wisdom
51:01and goodness the structure of the body
51:02reflects
51:04and he said
51:06beautiful is what we see
51:09more beautiful is what we comprehend
51:12most beautiful is what we do not
51:15comprehend
51:17as a bishop he was known as an ardent
51:19advocate for the poor for whom he sold
51:22all of his belongings even his bishop's
51:24ring
51:25he practiced rigorous asceticism
51:28constantly praying and fasting
51:30on october 23 of 1988 he was beatified
51:34by focusing john paul ii
51:37john paul ii said this
51:40in the beatification hallway
51:42if he nicolastenno is famous for the
51:44discoveries made in the field of anatomy
51:47more important is what he shows us with
51:49his life choices choices
51:51through the science of the heart he
51:53found god
51:54the creator of all that exists and
51:57savior
52:00so can scientifically literary people
52:02also be people of faith
52:04can people of faith also be
52:05scientifically literate
52:07yes with some heavenly intercession so
52:09blessed nicholas tenno
52:12and thank you very much
52:15[Applause]
52:20you

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