The history of science and religion, particularly Christianity, has been a strange relationship of convergences and divergences. The birth of science came from the seeds of Christianity's curiosity of the mind, free exploration of ideas, scientific study, and the pursuit of truth. Many early famous scientists were both Christians and scientists. Even Darwin started off as a Christian even if his faith wavered or was lost in the end. Now the strong majority of scientists are atheists. What happened?
Naturalism and Darwinism have ruled science for some time now and this has made an uneasy alliance or strange bedfellows between science and Christianity. What we have today is an assortment of strange looking creatures and monsters which have been produced by this uneasy alliance between science and religion.
1. The first strange looking creature is the ostrich. The ostrich is not an attractive bird and many would say its quite ugly with its big eyes, long neck, and disproportional body. The ostrich hides its head in the sand when faced with fear or danger. This ostrich approach has become possibly the majority one among Christians and people of religious faith. Science is either ignored or denied as an ungodly discipline and too worldly for the more spiritual church. Rather than all truth is God's truth and we can learn from both the revelation of the world and the revelation of scripture, the only acceptable interpretation of the world comes from a particular reading of scripture while all other readings are compromised or wrong.
2. The second strange creature or monster is the Minotaur. The minotaur is a very aggressive creature that is fighting a culture war against science and is losing. This is the YEC view (Young Earth Creationists) that interpret the Bible literally and view evolution as the great enemy or great evil that needs to be vanquished.
3. The third strange looking creature is the chameleon. The Chameleon simply fits into its environment or society by looking and resembling it. Here science rules biblical interpretation and no matter what science is being employed, it is simply read back into scripture as if the pre-scientific writers of the Bible actually intended to speak authoritatively on matters of science and even modern ideas today.
There are many more hybrids, crossbreds, and hideous looking transformations to numerous to count. What I want to do is present a new model of understanding science by mysticism. Christian mysticism has a Trinitarian structure of both unity and diversity as well as an incarnational core that can look like a monster to those operating in one of these other strange creature worlds of existence. To them mysticism is not rational or logical enough. Mysticism is too subjective and too interior focused for those who want a more factual and objective approach. It seems neither the scientific community nor the Christian academy opts for this alternative approach.
Science and the church have both forgotten or abandoned their historical mystical roots. Both originated from mystical encounters with the Creator interacting with His creation. Both were raised up from the dust to shine like stars in the heavens. Both were to ascend to heaven and the angelic realm. But science and church theologians too often have reduced man to either simply being an intelligent animal or an animal with a spiritual soul living in a world to conquer and divide, kill or be killed, and bite when provoked.
If science and Christianity are to advance and evolve then both must surrender themselves to the mystical intuitions and cosmic Christ of the universe who interconnects all reality as all reality is joined to its Creator. Can we see with new eyes the wonder, beauty, mystery, symmetry, and grandeur of the created universe? Can scientist and mystic hold hands in appreciating that the universe is greater and beyond what we can ever think and imagine. The future is waiting for a holistic model that joins science and religion together where neither one loses its individuality or uniqueness while they both converge into greater unity and oneness with the one who made them both.
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