"Does Science Make God Irrelevant" by Hans Madueme. A Small Review on a Small book.
Why is there such a tussle between Science and Christianity?
Are there any possible ways that faith and science can pull together and complement
each other, or will they always be at each other’s throat, hammers-and-tongs? Hans
Madueme, professor of theological studies at Covenant College in Lookout
Mountain, Georgia, addresses these issues and more in a new, easy to grasp
96-page softback, “Does Science Make God Irrelevant?” This part of The Gospel
Coalition’s “Hard Questions” series and published by Crossway. Madueme’s aim is
to hand young Christians who love Jesus and science a useful, hope-filled booklet
that shows how science “and faith are intimate friends” (3), and I think he
hits his target.
The author shows how the contemporary idea that science and
faith have always been enemies is false. He then explains how Christian
assumptions actually make science possible. Next the author clarifies the
tensions between science and miracles in Scripture. And finally, he illustrates
a few ways that faith and science can coexist as allies. Throughout the book he
works to show that “good science glorifies God” (4).
Part of the author’s approach is to focus on the real issue,
which is scientism. As he points out, scientism is a belief
system where the central idea is “that only the hard sciences give us objective
truth” which is not even provable scientifically. Further, it “is antithetical
to reality as understood by the world religions, including Christianity…ignores
the limitations of scientific research, painting a fairy-tale picture of
science that is far removed from reality” (29). To make his point he shows how,
over the years, certain scientific theories worked, gave repeatable
predictions, and were tested empirically, but were later shown to be false
theories by today’s scientific standards (30-32). In the end, scientism
is anti-realist because we never “discover the world as it really is but only
as it appears to us” (33). Whereas the scientific realist properly works to
discover the truth about the world with all the skills and tools they have but does
not claim too much from their theories because they know that scientists are
fallible (33-34).
Further, the author takes on methodological naturalism (accepting
a supernatural order, except when doing empirical work) in contrast to
metaphysical naturalism (there is only the natural order and nothing outside of
it). Though many believers who work in the sciences employ methodological naturalism,
Madueme rightly sees that a Christian in the sciences can actually have a
bigger, better frame of reference, one where they investigate the world,
nature, etc. with all the facts they know empirically, and biblically (39).
If a reader has run into Madueme’s earlier work, “Defending
Sin: A Response to the Challenges of Evolution and the Natural Sciences”
they will find this little volume very familiar. The author has condensed some
of his main ideas and placed them into this handy booklet. This is an ideal
resource for the burgeoning young scientist in your house, homeschool co-op, or
academy. A Science teacher taking their students through it in the first weeks
of the fall semester would be a perfect approach to help their students reclaim
the value and significance of the sciences as Christians. It also has apologetic
(defense of the Faith) value as well. I highly recommend Madueme’s “Does
Science Make God Irrelevant?”
My thanks to Crossway for reaching out and offering me a free copy to review. They made no demands on me, neither did the author, who I happened to run across this last week. All they asked of me is to give my honest assessment of the work which I have done and freely given to you.
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