Has science buried God in Novi Sad?

Tonight I am giving a talk, "Has science buried God?" at a cafe in Novi Sad, Serbia. The event is sponsored by an IFES student group from the university, a local church, and Project Timothy. They chose the title, which is borrowed from John Lennox, who will be visiting at the end of the month.

Here are the slides for the talk.
I hope the questions and discussion after the talk are as lively as the event in Belgrade last night.

Higgs boson talk in Belgrade

Tonight I am giving a talk, "Higgs boson vs. God particle- scientific reality vs. media hype" in a cafe/bookstore in Belgrade. The event is sponsored by a local student Christian group.

The talk is particularly timely given that the Higgs boson is in the news again, following last weeks  announcement of the 2013 Nobel Prize in Physics.

Here is the current version of the slides.

Genesis and science talk

Tonight I am giving a talk, "A scientist looks at Genesis" at HUB, a small Bible college outside Belgrade. The talk will be given with simultaneous translation into Serbian.

Here is the current version of the slides. I start with the excellent video, "Science and Genesis".

Some of the Faraday papers on science and religion have been translated into Serbian.

International church in Belgrade

This morning my wife and I enjoyed atttending the International Christian Fellowship in Belgrade. The special guests were a group of Roma [gypsy] Christians who sang some songs in Romani and shared personal testimonies. [A recent Christianity Today article chronicles many of the challenges Roma face and the growth of an indigenous church]. Another case of how the Gospel transcends culture.

One of the church attendees also is a research physicist; another case illustrating that science, intellectual rigour, and Christian faith and life can go together.

Our subconscious self-righteousness

This morning, I really enjoyed our reading group which is going through Miroslav Volf's Exclusion and Embrace. This post is just about one intriguing issue which came up. Volf begins the chapter, "Exclusion" with comments from Michael Ignatieff about patronising (and self-righteous) European attitudes to ethnic conflicts. [Incidentally, Ignatieff is currently leader of the Liberal Party in Canada].

A 1995 journal article by Ignatieff, The seductiveness of moral disgust  considers the motivations for and failures of Western military interventions, particularly that in Bosnia and Kosovo:

There was a strong element of narcissism buried inside the more obvious motivations leading the West to intervene. We intervened not only to save others but also to save ourselves, or rather an image of ourselves as defenders of universal decencies. We wanted to show that Europe "meant" something, stood for toleration within a peaceable and civilized civil society. This imaginary Europe, this narcissistic image of ourselves, we believed was incarnated in the myth of a multiethnic, multiconfessional Bosnia.

The essay is reprinted in a book, The Warriors Honour: Ethnic war and the modern conscience. The book also contains an essay, "Nationalism and the narcissism of minor difference". Apparently this is an illusion to the claim of Freud that a signature of Narcissism is the amplification of "minor difference".

So what? To me this is just another example of how humans all have an incredibly powerful subconscious force driving us towards self-righteousness. This is what drives the creation, maintenance, and promulgation of religion.

God has placed within us a strong desire to be right and to be in right relationship. But we pervert this desire by trying to establish our own righteousness by self-justification and comparison to others unrighteousness. But the only way we can be right with God and be justified is if we accept his gift of righteousness provided by Jesus. (Romans 3:21-26).

The Pharisee and the Tax Collector, Gustave Dore

Where the Cross leads

I have a joined a reading group at church (initiated by Luke Glanville) that is going to work through Miroslav Volf's book, Exclusion and Embrace: A Theological Exploration of Otherness, Identity, and Reconciliation. This was listed by Christianity Today as one of the 100 most influential Christian books of the twentieth century.
Hopefully, I will post more in the future. Here is just a snippet. With regard to the metaphor of "embrace" Volf states (page 29):

the most basic thought that it seeks to express is important: the will to give ourselves to others and "welcome" them, to readjust our identities to make space for them, is prior to any judgement about others, except that of identifying them in their humanity.

My kingdom is not of this world

This is a German postage stamp that was issued to mark the 50th anniversary of the Barmen declaration, largely written by Karl Barth, and adopted by German churches who stood against Hitler's attempt to establish a "German church" which identify God's Kingdom with the Third Reich.

God is on our side. That is what every nationalistic movement wants to believe and can be used to justify not only war but also atrocities.

I am currently reading a fascinating book, Heavenly serbia: from myth to genocide by Branimir Anauzulovic which chronicles the blending of nationalism, church, folklore, and violence in the history of Serbia. A good summary and critical review of the book is here.

I recommend reading the full text of the Barmen declaration. Although, obviously written is specific historical context, there is much to be challenged about the sin of idolatry of nation and State, and the Lordship of Christ over the church. That is relevant to people of every nation and at any time.

Special or not so special

I just flew Brisbane to Los Angeles. I watched two movies. The first was The Other Guys which was barely o.k. as a plane movie but would probably be mediocre in a normal context. The second was The Special Relationship about the relationship of Tony Blair and Bill Clinton. I found it quite educational (especially about Kosovo) but a bit depressing because it is probably quite believable. I thought it made of the main players Cherie Blair came out looking good but the Clintons and Tony Blair were not portrayed in a sympathetic light (I am not saying they should be). I thought the picture it painted of the Blairs was somewhat reminiscent of that in The Queen.

From Yugoslavia to String Theory: Modernist Towers of Babel

The scientific successes of Newtonian mechanics eventually led to the intellectual hubris of the Englightenment and Modernism. The promise of rational man discovering universal truth that will liberate him and create a just technological society.

I found the following fascinating

Marxist-Leninist ideology concerning the national question was largely derived from the eighteenth-century Enlightenment: it wanted to overcome the past and reject it. When applied to Yugoslavia, exactly because of its similarity to the Enlightenment it helped the Yugoslav Communists to perceive the common ethnic, linguistic and other characteristics of Croats and Serbs.... Marxism and the Enlightenment also shared the belief that humanity could create new human beings and a fundamentally different society

The contested country: Yugoslav unity and communist revolution, 1919-1953, Aleksa Djilas (Harvard University Press, 1991).

In my lectures in Serbia this was juxtaposed with the final sentences of Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time where he looks forward to what String Theory can offer humanity.

If we do discover a complete theory, it should in time be understandable in broad principle by everyone, .... Then we shall all ...[discuss] why it is that we and the universe exist. If we find the answer to that, it would be the ultimate triumph of human reason - for then we would truly know the mind of God.

This all reminds me of Genesis 11:

¹Now the whole earth had one language and the same words.... ⁴Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth."

Science, technology, and multi-culturalism have their merits and a role to play. But, none can deliver an inevitable progress towards human utopia nor a personal knowledge of the Creator and Redeemer of the universe.

The things we do for love (of money)

 When I was in Serbia there was some discussion about the role of organised crime. Apparently they have no trouble uniting across ethnic lines! As in many areas of life, greed for money and power can unite people in strange ways. I also saw on the TV the beginnings of the riots at the Serbia vs. Italy game. Hence, it was sad to see this article about the two possibly being linked.

A few vignettes and highlights from Serbia

going to a restaurant on the Danube in Belgrade ….hearing stories about roma [gypsy] communities being transformed by people becoming Christian... going to the police station to register as a foreigner.... hearing peoples views about the "gay pride" parade in belgrade and the associated violence... drinking yoghurt… kissing on the cheek three times for the Trinity ….. a hotel keeping my passport for the night since I am a foreigner ..... hearing from an orthodox priest about the importance of reading the Gospels... seeing Belgrade airport is named after a physicist, Tesla... being invited to an Orthodox families krsna slava  (saints day celebration) … about drug addicts having their lives transformed by Christ… after teaching how astronomy tells us the universe is 13.7 billion years old, being shown the warning in Colossians 2 "do not be taken captive by worldly philosophies"…  eating delicious squid at a restaurant overlooking the Danube and Novi Sad…. hospitality..... learning more about a rich culture and history....  being confronted with just how affluent I am and protected from civil war, economic upheaval, ....

A Serbian Orthodox view of the Bible

Justin Popovic was an influential Serbian Orthodox theologian who wrote an article How to read the Bible and why.

Novi Sad lectures

Today I gave my talk, A Scientist looks at Psalm 19 at HUB, a small Bible college north of Belgrade.

Tomorrow I am giving several lectures on Science and Theology at Novi Sad Protestant Theological Seminary.

Here are the current versions of the slides:

Introduction lists the main ideas I hope to cover.

The power and limitations of science discusses what science can and cannot do.

Will science explain everything? Considers the respective claims of modernism and postmodernism in light of John 1.

This is a photo of me with Dr. Dimitrije Popadic, the Dean of the Seminary, at the restaurant on top of the fortress in Novi Sad.

The meeting of art, politics, and religion in the public square

This is a statue of Svetozar Miletic in the main square of Novi Sad in Serbia. He was a Mayor of the town twice during the 19th century and a Serbian nationalist. The statue is by Ivan Mestrovic, whose life story, as described on Wikipedia makes fascinating reading.

There is an interesting question as to whether he is shaking his fist at the neighbouring Catholic cathedral and whether the statue was installed by the communists to replace a cross in the square.

A scientist looks at Psalm 19 in Serbia

Check out that alliteration!
I just arrived in Belgrade today. Tomorrow night I am giving a talk at a church in Novi Sad. The slides for the talk, A Scientist looks at Psalm 19, are here, with the Bible text in Serbian.

Six propositions about science and the Bible

I have been thinking about the following question: What are the really key ideas that Christians need to understand about the relationship between science and the Bible?

This has been stimulated by two events. First, I will be giving some lectures next month on the topic at Protestant Theological Seminary in Novi Sad, Serbia.
Second, I have a friend is going to teach science in a Christian university in Africa, and has asked for advice on relevant materials.

So, here is my first pass at some of the essential ideas/propositions.

1. The God of the Bible is both the Creator of the physical universe and the Redeemer of humanity

2. Science and the Bible have distinct purposes and present complementary pictures of the reality of the natural world.

3. Science cannot explain why it works.

4. Both science and the Bible raise many confusing unanswered questions. This should not lead to invocation of mysticism, miraculous divine intervention, nor pessimistic postmodernism or relativism, but rather should lead to humble investigation.

5. Philosophical perspectives and the scientific knowledge that stimulates them do not have the same truth certainty.

6. A distinction must be made between belief in evolution as a biological process and belief in evolution as a world view (emphasized by Tim Keller).

I welcome comments and suggestions.