God & Nature Magazine
  • 2025-#1 Issue
    • Letter from Editors 2025-1
    • Schrotenboer, Lying Dormant
    • Strauss, God Laughs & Smiles
    • Carr, Creation Stories
    • King, Falleness Physical World
    • Colon, A Hike
    • Thuraisingham, Identity
    • Bostrom 251 Every 6 Steps
    • Clifford 251, Just Starting Out
    • Johnson 251
    • Eyte, Touch
    • Budek-Schmeisser, Quitting
  • 2024-#4 (Fall) Issue
    • Letter from the Editors F24
    • Madison, 5 Smooth Stones
    • Dickenson, Genesis & Evolution
    • Berg, Is Genesis History?
    • Pinkham, Cells and Organs
    • Mitchell, Questions for AI
    • Taskinen, Alexander Grothendieck
    • Bostrom, On Camera F24
    • Clifford, Across the Pond F24
    • Johnson, Food for the Soul F24
    • Strand, Morning Prayer
    • Budek-Schmeisser, Sonrise
  • 2024-#3 (Summer) Issue
    • Letter from Editors Summer 24
    • Horst, Death through Adam
    • Bradley, Game Theory & Theology
    • Defoe, Science and Faith
    • Pickett, Wonder & Miracle
    • Touryan Wonder of Math
    • Wright, In The Beginning, God
    • Clifford Sum24
    • Johnson,, Summer 24
    • Eyte, Kaleidoscope
    • Budek-Schmeisser Bohemian Gravity
  • Past Issues
    • Spring 2024 Issue >
      • Editor's Letter Spring 2024
      • Miller, Sense of Place
      • Quick, Georg Cantor
      • Niemeyer, Research to Thriller
      • Carpenter, Creationism Inter-Textual
      • Defoe, Wittenberg Circle
      • Madison, Buttercups
      • Bostrom, Birds' Eye View
      • Clifford, What's the Use
      • Budek-Schmeisser, The Choice
      • Anderson, Van Gogh's Sunflowers
      • Lange, Summer Meadow
    • Winter 2024 Issue >
      • Garte and Albert W24
      • Fagunwa, Origen: Black Scientist
      • Gonzalez, Being Human
      • Defoe, A Pastor/s Journey
      • Curry, Birds of New Zealand
      • Lin, Environmental Problems
      • Garte, Genetics of Race
      • Pohl, Third Culture in Church
      • Bostrom, Mentors
      • Clifford, Hidden Figures
      • Albert; Poem. A Goldfish Sings a Tentative Psalm
      • Ardern Contact Points
    • Fall 2023 Issue >
      • Letter from Editors Fall 23
      • Owen, Mystery of the Trinity
      • Albert, Denialsim: A Case Study
      • King, Elements in the Bible
      • Carpenter, When was Day One?
      • Spaulding, Guided Differentiation
      • Greuel, Vision for the ACB
      • Bostrom, Lady Bugs
      • Clifford, Small Things
      • Gentleman, 30/80 Anno Domini
    • Summer 2023 Issue >
      • Letter from Editors Summer 23
      • Touryan, Feathers
      • Stenerson, Horseshoe Crabs
      • Hull, Evolving Scotus
      • Silva, Younger Ages
      • Williams, Dense Obscurity
      • Bostrom, Water Cries
      • Clifford, To Church Repair
      • Craig, Heavenly Lights
      • Valerius, Nothing to Something
      • Pinkham, Wisedrop
    • Spring 2023 Issue >
      • Letter from Editors Spring 2023
      • Rummo Lewis and the Cross
      • Pagan Biodiversity
      • Funck Assembly Theory and Life
      • Williams Thus Far
      • Mitchell Making Mistakes
      • Phillippy Living in Paradox
      • Bostrom Rain Shadow
      • Clifford Sustainable Cooking
      • Budek-Schmeisser, Completion
    • Winter 2023 Issue >
      • Letter From the Editors
      • Braden, A Modern Bestiary
      • Garte, Assembly Theory
      • Defoe, The Heavens Declare
      • Greenberg, Bonding
      • Barrigar, God's Big Story
      • Phillippy, Overcoming Paradox
      • Bostrom, Near
      • Clifford, Hidden Figures
    • Fall 2022 Issue >
      • Letter Fall22
      • Curry, Attentiveness
      • Russo, Deconstruction
      • Touryan, Four Forces
      • Mittchell, Three Words
      • Philippy, Math Theology Fall 22
      • Bostrom, Goodbyes
      • Clifford FAll 22
      • Linsley, Mystic Exile
      • Hall, A Call to Arms
    • Summer 2022 Issue >
      • Letter Summer 2022
      • Engelking, Neurotheology
      • Kelley, Environmentalism
      • Garte, Sandpipers
      • Madison, Cultivating Contentment
      • Collins, Answers on Evolution
      • Touryan, Tentmakers
      • Oord, Ever-Creative God
      • Bostrom, Mentors
      • Clifford, Carbon and Sin
      • Campbell, Just, In Time
    • Spring 2022 Issue >
      • Letter from the Editors Spring 2022
      • Curry, Knowldege and Truth
      • Pinkham, On a Car Emblem
      • Murray, Candling the Egg
      • Carr, Music, Math, Religion
      • Smith, Wonder and Longing
      • Linsky, Cyber Service
      • Bostrom, Buteo
      • Obi, Coincidences
    • Winter 2022 Issue >
      • Garte &Albert Letter Winter 2022
      • Thuraisingham Pondering Invisible
      • Cornwell Mediations from Molecular Biologist
      • Fagunwa Blsck Scientist & Church Father
      • Garte A Dialogue
      • Gonzalez Being Human
      • Klein Naturalist in Two Worlds
      • Bostrom Creeds
      • Clifford Winter 2022
      • Ardern Contact Points
      • Cooper Imagine No Christmas
    • Fall 2021 Issue >
      • Garte &Albert Letter Fall2021
      • Johnson, God Winks
      • Cottraux, Ancient Aliens
      • Arveson, Anti-Vax Email
      • Gammon, Evolutionary Insights
      • Mitchell, No One Told Me
      • Rummo, Faith in the Invisible
      • Bostrom, Fall Furrows
      • Lemcio, A Franciscan Weekend
      • Funk, Plant Haiku
      • Robinson & Lim, Who is God?
    • Summer 2021 Issue >
      • Garte &Albert Letter Sum2021
      • Warren, Immunization and Salvation
      • Defoe, Bernard Ramm
      • Cornwell Canine to Divine
      • Mix, Running with Nature
      • Pinkham, Scuba Divers
      • Cao, Physics and Bible
      • Bostrom, Sugar Birds
      • Clifford Sum21
      • Oostema, Evolution of Faith
      • Hall, Generation upon Generation
    • Spring 2021 Issue >
      • Garte and Albert Letter Spring 2021
      • Loikanen, Divine Action
      • Madison, Humus and Humility
      • Lappin, Puddles and Persons
      • Cornwell, God's GPS
      • Touryan, Contolled Fusion
      • Russo, Vaccine and Salvation
      • Bostrom, Short-eared Owl
      • Redkoles, Expect Unexpected
      • Clifford, Boring
      • McFarland, Imposition of Carbon
      • Lemcio, Manis Mastodon
    • Winter 2021 Issue >
      • Winter 2021 Contents >
        • Garte and Albert Letter from the Editors
        • Burnett How iit All Started
        • Isaac Director's Corner
        • Ruppel Herrington, First Editor
        • Burnett Origin of Lire
        • Hearn Balance
        • Middleton Natural Theology
        • Story Antibodies and Randomness
        • Lamoureux I Sleep a Lot
        • Warren Overloaded Brains
        • Isaac Knowledge of Information
        • Bancewicz Wonder and Zebrafish
        • Oord Photoessay
        • Albert Hope in Winter
        • Clifford Storytelling & Drama in Teaching
        • Pohl The Column (Poetry)
    • Fall 2020 Issue >
      • Letter from Editors
      • Pohl, Panpsychism and Microbiome
      • Reyes, Communion During Loss
      • Griffin, Hands On
      • Azarvan, Science and Limits
      • Cornwell, Search Engines for God
      • Thuraisingham, Duality of Humans and Particles
      • Touryan, Prayers of Petition
      • George, Perfect Vision
      • Declare the Glory, Green: Awe
      • Bostrom Purpose
      • Oord, Theological Photoessay
      • Clifford, Food, Water, Waste
    • Summer 2020 Issue >
      • Summer 2020 Contents >
        • Editors Letter Summer2020
        • Jones, Science Faith Duopoly
        • Mix, God and the Virus
        • Warner, COVID-19 and Goodness of Creation
        • Gonzalez, Pandemic and Groaning of Creation
        • Johnson, Star Wars Food
        • Pyle, It Takes a (Medical ) Village
        • Arveson, Use for 3D Printers
        • Peterson, Pandemic and Research
        • Zeidan, Mentorship Online
        • Oleskeiwicz, Dragonfly on Water
        • Carr, COVID-19 and Climate Change
        • Nierrman, The Squirrel
        • Cornwell, COVIS-19 Bucket List
        • Bostrom, Grass Thoughts
        • Clifford, Summ20 Conflict
    • Spring 2020 Issue >
      • Letter from the Editors SP20
      • AD
      • Murphy, Nature and Calvary
      • Dickin, The Flood and Genesis 1
      • Gruenberg, Empiricism and Christian Spirituality
      • Ungureanu, Science, Religion, Protestant Tradition
      • Russo, How does it End?
      • Siegrist, Problems with Materialism
      • Ohlman, 20/20 in 2020
      • Warren, Rock Frogs
      • Edwards, Sanctuary
      • Bostrom, Clothed
      • Clifford, The Lent of Lockdown Spring 2020
      • Hall, 1:30 AM on a Tuesday (Poem)
    • Winter 2020 Issue >
      • Letter from the Editor Winter 2020
      • AD
      • Wimberly Inheritance, Meaning and Code
      • Defoe; A Pastor's Journey
      • Mix The Ends of the World
      • Pevarnik Limits of Physics
      • Greenberg "Godly" Science
      • Pinkham Teleological Thinking
      • Alexanian How to Witness
      • "Declare the Glory" Neal, Cross, Gait
      • Clifford "Across the Pond" Winter 2020
      • Oord "Theological Photoessays" Winter 2020
      • Salviander The Objective Man (Poem)
      • Ohlman Orphan of the Universe (Poem)
      • Lemcio Grey's Anatomy (Poem)
    • Fall 2019 Issue >
      • Letter from the Editor Fall 2019
      • Phillippy Mathematics and God
      • Pohl & Thoelen Databases
      • Garte Limits of Science
      • Mitroka Healthy Lifestyle
      • Sigmon Science and Revelation
      • Mariani Compatibility Creation and Evolution
      • Anders Theistic Evolution
      • Touryan Are we alone
      • Johnson Purpose and Source
      • Declare the Glory Curry, Smith, Best
      • Clifford "Across the Pond" Fall 19
      • Oord "Theological Photoessays Fall 19
      • Eyte Cross Cascade "Poem"
    • Summer 2019 Issue >
      • Letter from the Editor Summer 2019
      • Arveson Is There a “Theory of Everything”
      • Anderson The History and Philosophy of Science and Faith
      • Tolsma Science in Church
      • Salviander Black Holes and Atheism
      • Johnson Practical Problems for Literal Adam
      • Hall God and the Assumptions of Scientific Research
      • Linsky Overcoming Misconceptions
      • Wilder Sanctity of Creation
      • Clifford "Across the Pond" Summer19
      • Oord "Theological Photoessays" Summer 2019
      • Flaig Time and Me (Poem)
    • Spring 2019: Creation Care and Environment >
      • Letter from the Editor Spring 2019
      • Bancewicz;Sustainability Pledge: Why the Environment is My Problem
      • Lin; Environmental Problems as a Place for Compromise and Dialogue
      • Garvey; Where the Fall Really Lies
      • Lewis; Solar-Powered Life: Providing Food, Oxygen and Protection
      • Garte; Time and Human Impact on the Environment
      • Mays; Reforming Science Textbooks
      • Carr; Cosmic Energy First, Then Matter: A Spiritual Ethic
      • Kincanon; The Young Earthers and Leibniz
      • Declare the Glory Gauger
      • Clifford "Across the Pond" Spring 2019
      • Oord; Photoessay. Theological Photo Essays
      • Rivera; Photoessay. Digital Artwork: Images of Jesus
      • Albert; Poem. A Goldfish Sings a Tentative Psalm
      • Armstrong; Poem Holy Sonnet XI
    • Winter 2019: Education and Outreach 2 >
      • Letter from the Editor, Winter 2009
      • Applegate; Project Under Construction: Faith Integration Resource for High School Biology
      • LaBelle; Sidewalk Astronomy Evangelism - Taking it to the Streets!
      • Reed; Speaking to the Heart and Mind of Students about Evolution and Creation
      • Marcus; The Conflict Model
      • Rivera; The Implicit Assumptions behind Hitchen's Razor
      • Russo; Redeeming Bias in Discussion of Science and Faith
      • Fischer; Origins, Genesis and Adam
      • Clifford Column, Winter 2019
      • Gait; Photoessay - Stripes
      • Lee; Poem. In Chaos and Nothingness
    • Fall 2018: Education and Outreach 1 >
      • Letter from the Editor Fall 2018
      • Glaze; A Walk within Two Worlds: Faith, Science, and Evolution Advocacy
      • Johnson; Teaching the Controversy in Texas
      • Cootsona; Mere Christianity, Mainstream Science and Emerging Adults
      • Kindstedt; Creating a Third Culture
      • Zeidan; An Effective Way to Integrate Supportive Communication and Christian Belief into Virtual Classrooms
      • Marshall; A New Model of Causation
      • McClure; Nothing in the Bible Makes Sense Except in the Light of Grace
      • Frank; Christianity, Science and Teamwork
      • Assad/Reyes; Interview. Discovering a Renewed Sense of Awe and Wonder about God
      • Clifford Column Fall 2018
      • Menninga; Photoessay. What do These Stones Mean?
    • Summer 2018: Judgment and Peer Review >
      • Letter from the Editors Summer 2018
      • Jones; Peer Review: Avoiding Judgmentalism
      • Arnold; Discovering Spiritual Information Through Peer-Reviewed Science
      • Peterson; Peering at Double-Blind Peer Review
      • Smith; A Philosophical Influence from the Scientific Revolution on Scientific Judgment
      • Mix; The Poetry of Probability
      • Mobley; Randomness vs. the Providence of God?
      • Gordon; Chances are Good: Design and Chance in Genesis 1
      • Siegrist; But the Multiverse...!
      • Reyes; The Community Table: Interview with Marianne Johnson
      • Clifford Column Summer 2018
      • Hill; Poem. Synthesis
      • Lemcio; Poem. I Could See Where This was Going
      • Oord: Photoessay
    • Spring 2018: Chance & Design >
      • Letter from the Editors
      • Bishop; God, Love and Chance
      • Bonham; Quantum Reflections
      • Spaulding; God as Designer
      • Garte; Teleology in Evolution
      • Hall; God, Chance and Buridan's Ox
      • Pohl; Why We Need a Third Culture in Church
      • Dorman; Liturgical Brain
      • Warren; Galapagos
      • Blanchard; On Christian Science
      • Touryan; The Cross as a Cosmic Filter
    • Winter 2018: Race & Inheritance >
      • A Note from the Editors
      • Essay: “Some Pastoral Considerations of CRISPR CAS 9 Gene Editing” by Mario A Russo
      • Essay: “The Genetics and Theology of Race” by Sy Garte
      • Essay: "Grieve the Segregation of Science" by S. Joshua Swamidass
      • Poem: "Cardboard Man" by Ciara Reyes
      • Featured Interview: “Love Is Risk” with Carolyn Finney
      • Essay & Poem: “Abortion Languages: Love, fear, confusion and loss”
      • Essay: "Why the Church Needs Intersectional Feminism" by Emily Herrington
      • Essay: “Elected to Salvation (and other things?)” by Bill Leonard
      • Essay: “Local Colour: A reflection on family, history, and heritage” by Mike Clifford
      • Interview: Corina Newsome, environmentalist and animal keeper
      • Essay: “Spiritual Kin Selection” by Steve Roels
      • Photo Essay: "Trouble in Paradise: Plastic pollution in the Bahamas" by Grace Swing & Robert D Sluka
      • Essay: “Race & Inheritance: Personal reflections and annotations” by Walt Hearn
      • Interview: Carla Ramos, molecular biologist
      • Clifford Column; Discipine Hopping
      • Lemcio; Waves
      • Harris Artwork
      • Hearn; Eulogy - Beyond Science,
    • Summer 17: Cosmology & Theology >
      • Letter from the Editors: Summer 2017
      • Essay: "The News from My Home Galaxy" by Walt Hearn
      • Interview: "Deep Incarnation & the Cosmos: A Conversation with Niels Henrik Gregersen" by Ciara Reyes & Niels Henrik Gregersen
      • Photo Essay: "Breath & Dust" by Kathleen Eady
      • Essay: "Why the Eagle Nebula Just Doesn’t Do It For Me" by Mike Clifford
      • Essay: "The Cosmos in My Hand" by Lucas Mix
      • Interview: “What is Life? On Earth and Beyond” with Andreas Losch
      • Artwork by Missy Pellone
      • Essay: "When God & Science Hide Reality" by Davis Woodworth
      • Essay: "​In Search of Wonder: A Reflection on Reconciling Medieval and Modern Cosmology" by Monica Bennett
      • Essay: "If Christianity and Cosmology Are in Conflict, Whose Side Is Philosophy on?" by Vaughan Rees
    • Winter/Spring 17: "Flesh & Blood" >
      • Letter from the Editor: Winter/Spring 2017
      • Essay: "Probiotics, Prebiotics, Synbiotics: On microbiomes and the meaning of life" by John F. Pohl
      • Essay: "With All Your Mind" by Paul S. Kindsedt
      • Essay: "The Stuff of Life" by Mike Clifford
      • Essay: "Experiencing God’s Love in a Secular Society: A Christian experience with socialized medicine" by Alison Noble
      • Poem: "The Problem with Pain" by Eugne E. Lemcio
      • Essay: "Thoughts of Death in a Cruel World: Job’s suicidal ideation and the “right” Christian response to depression" by Jennifer Michael Hecht and Emily Herrington
      • Essay: "Tissues at Issue" by Walt Hearn
      • Essay: "The Dilemma of Modern Christianity" by Tony Mitchell
      • Poem: "Light" by Billie Holladay Skelley
      • Essay: "Some Theological Implications of Science: Revisiting the Ant" by Mario A. Russo
    • Summer/Fall 16: "Stewardship of Words" >
      • Letter from the Editor: Summer 2016
      • Levity: "Walt Being Walt: Excerpts from the ASA newsletter" by Walt Hearn (compiled by Jack Haas & Emily Ruppel)
      • Poem: "A Prayer Tribute to Walt and Ginny Hearn" by Paul Fayter
      • Essay: "Authentic Science & Authentic Christian Faith" by Paul Arveson
      • Essay: "On Modern-Day Saints & Epistles" by Emily Ruppel
      • Essay: "​Mathematics and the Religious Impulse" by Karl Giberson
      • Poem: "The Wasteful Gene" by Eugne E. Lemcio
      • Three Poems by Dan Eumurian
      • Excerpts from: "The Dictionary of Daily Life in Biblical and Post-Biblical Antiquity" by Edwin Yamauchi
      • Essay: "A Comprehensible Universe: The blessing from God that makes science possible" by Bob Kaita
      • Poem: "The Epistolarian" by Emily Ruppel
    • Spring 16: "Brain Science" >
      • Letter from the Editor: Spring 2016
      • Essay: "Ancient Q, Modern A (?)" by Walt Hearn
      • Essay: "Souls, Brains and People: Who or what are we?" by Gareth D. Jones
      • Essay: "A Functional Theology of Psychopathology" by Edgar Paul Herrington IV
      • Three Poems by Richard Gillum
      • Essay: "Thoughts of Death in an Unkind World: Job’s suicidal ideation and the “right” Christian response to depression" by Jennifer Michael Hecht
      • Short Story: "Malefic" by Jeffrey Allen Mays
      • Essay: "An Engineer Visits a Mindfulness Workshop" by Mike Clifford
      • Essay: "Traces of Trauma in the Body of Christ: The case of The Place of Refuge" by Elizabeth Hernandez
      • Essay: "Did God ‘Create’ Science? Christianity and the uniqueness of the human brain" by William H. Church
    • Winter 16: "Quantum Physics/Epigenetics" >
      • Letter from the Editor: Winter 2016
      • Essay: "God and the New Evolutionary Biology" by Sy Garte
      • Essay: "Quantum Mechanics and the Question of Divine Knowledge" by Stephen J. Robinson
      • Essay: "Creation Out of... Physics?" by Joshua Scott
      • Essay: "Of Books and Bosons" by Mike Clifford
      • Essay: "Words, Words, Words" by Walt Hearn
      • Poem: "Encountering Ernst Haeckel’s 'Ontogeny Recapitulates Phylogeny'" by Eugene Lemcio
      • Essay: "The Extended Evolutionary Synthesis: New conversations and theological questions at the horizons of modern science" by Michael Burdett
      • Poem: "The Difference" by Emily Ruppel
      • Essay: "Maupertuis's Ghost: Finding God in 'action'" by Colin C. Campbell
    • Fall 15: "Technology" >
      • Letter from the Editor: Fall 2015
      • Essay: "‘Braving the New World (Wide Web): Mapping Theological Response to Media" by Justin A. Bailey
      • Poem: "Entropy and Enthalpy" by Glenn R. McGlaughlin
      • Essay: "‘How Proactive Should Christians Be in Learning about Emerging Biomedical Technologies?" by D. Gareth Jones
      • Essay: "‘Can We Fix It? Erm..." by Mike Clifford
      • Poem: "To My Dear Parents" by Sarah Ruden
      • Essay: "‘Which Side, Lord?" by Walt Hearn
      • Poem: "The Column" by John F. Pohl
      • Essay: "‘Technology and the Church" by Derek Schuurman
      • Poem: "On the Shores of Oroumieh" by Emily Ruppel
      • Essay: "‘Technology as Discipline" by Johnny Wei-Bing Lin
    • Summer 15: "Doubt" >
      • Letter from the Editor: Summer 2015
      • Essay: "‘The Road Not Taken’: A personal reflection on careers, counterfactuals and callings" by Tim Middleton
      • Essay: "The Gift of Doubt in My Life" by Rev. Paul Herrington
      • Poem: "The Marsh Birds" by Sarah Ruden
      • Essay: "On St Brendan and the Pendulum of Postgraduate Study" by Mike Clifford
      • Essay: "Doubt: The Invisible Conversation" by Karl W. Giberson
      • Essay: "Doubt, Faith, and Crevasses on My Mind" by Peter M. J. Hess
      • Poem: "Magdalene" by Leonore Wilson
      • Essay: "Breaking Barriers, Ministering in Relationships, and Exemplifying the Gospel" by Stephen Contakes, et al.
      • Poem: "On the Extinction of Matter Near a Black Hole" by Ruth Hoppin
      • Essay: "Sometimes I Doubt..." by Walt Hearn
      • Essay: "The Risks of Love and Life's Big Questions" by Thomas Jay Oord
    • Spring 15: "Animals/Imago Dei" >
      • Letter from the Editor: Spring 2015
      • Essay: "50 Years of Wilderness: a Christian perspective" by Peter van der Burgt
      • Essay: "All Creatures Great and Small " by Walt Hearn
      • Essay: "Let There Be Less: A Christian musing on nature, faith, and farmers’ markets" by Emily Ruppel
      • Poem: "The New Plant and Animal Kingdoms" by Steve Roels
      • Essay: "Of Wonder and Zebrafish" by Ruth Bancewicz
      • Essay: "The Lion, the Spider and the Image of God" by Mike Clifford
      • Cat Poem 1: "Lullaby for Stomp the Cat" by Sarah Ruden
      • Cat Poem 2: "Letting the Dog In" by Emily Ruppel
      • Cat Poem 3: "Reading on the Couch" by Carol Ruppel
      • Essay: "Angry Discussions: A Wrong Way to Stand for Creation Care or Science Advocacy " by Oscar Gonzalez
      • Essay: "Ethical Eating on a Catholic Campus: Some thoughts from a student of environmental studies" by Grace Mican
    • Winter 15: "Information" >
      • Letter from the Editor: Winter 2015
      • Essay: "What Does it Mean to Know?" by Mark Shelhamer
      • Essay: "Knowledge of Information" by Randy Isaac
      • Photo Essay: "Being Here" by Carol Ruppel
      • Essay: "Truth Anyone?" by Walt Hearn
      • Poem: "Transformation" by Ruth Hoppin
      • Interview: "Unpacking Chance, Providence, and the Abraham's Dice Conference" by Olivia Peterson
      • Essay: "On Knowledge and Information–Tales from an English childhood" by Mike Clifford
      • Poem: "Space Travel" by Ruth Hoppin
      • Essay: "Resuming the Science/Faith Conversation" by Jamin Hubner
    • Archives >
      • Past Contributors
      • Fall 14: "History of Science & Christianity" >
        • Letter from the Editor: Fall 2014
        • Essay: "Orchids: Why the founders of modern science cultivated virtue" by Ruth Bancewicz
        • Essay: "Science Falsely So Called: Fundamentalism and Science" by Edward B. Davis
        • Essay: "The Other 'Atom' in Christianity and Science" by Karissa D Carlson
        • Poem: "The Hermit" by Ciara C. Reyes
        • Essay: "Players" by Walt Hearn
        • Essay: "Using Storytelling and Drama in Engineering Lectures" by Mike Clifford
        • Essay: "Is There Anything Historical About Adam and Eve?" by Mike Beidler
        • Essay: "Finding Harmony in Controversy: The early years of the ASA" by Terry Gray and Emily Ruppel
        • Levity: "Fish n' Chips" by Mike Arnold
        • Essay: "Stories" by Walt Hearn
      • Summer 14: "Christian Women in Science" >
        • Letter from the Editor: Summer 2014
        • Essay: "I Really Did That Work: A brief survey of notable Christian Women in Science" by Lynn Billman
        • Essay: "He + She = We" by Walt Hearn
        • Photo Essay: "The Faces of Nature" by Susan Limone
        • Essay: "On Grass that Withers: Overloaded brains and spiritual discernment" by Janet Warren
        • Interview: "Ancient Humans and Modern Choices" with Briana Pobiner
        • Essay: "Crystallographer, Quaker, Pacifist, & Trailblazing Woman of Science: Kathleen Lonsdale’s Christian Life 'Lived Experimentally'” by Kylie Miller and Stephen M. Contakes
        • Artwork: "Eden, Zion" by Harold Sikkema
        • Essay: "Asking the Right Question" by Dorothy Boorse
        • Interview: "Not So Dry Bones" with Mary Schweitzer
        • Essay: "Is Being a Mother and a Scientist Worth It?" by Abby Hodges
        • Essay: "Playing God: A theological reflection on medicine, divine action, and personhood" by Ann Pederson
        • Column: Great Gravity! "BNL 1976 – 2000 (Part 1)"
      • Spring 14: "G&N: The 2-year tour" >
        • Letter from the Editor: Spring 2014
        • Essay: "Political Science?" by Walt Hearn
        • Comic: "Education"
        • Essay: "Finding Hominids with Kamoya Kimeu" by Fred Heeren
        • Poem: "Ziggurat (and Helix)" by Amy Chai
        • Creative Nonfiction: "One Summer" by Dave Harrity
        • Essay: "Do the Heavens Declare the Glory of God?" by Owen Gingerich
        • Comic: "Miracle Mechanics" by Emily Ruppel
        • Essay: "I Sleep A Lot" by Denis O. Lamoureux
        • Poem: "Angels and RNA" by Walt Hearn
        • Comic: "Seminary"
        • Essay: "The Elegance of Antibodies" by Craig M. Story
        • Photo Essay: "Conversing with Nature" by Thomas Jay Oord
        • Essay: "Under the Tutelage of Trees: Arboreal Lessons on Virtue, Kinship, and Integrity" by Peter M. J. Hess
        • Comic: "Humor"
        • Essay: "Science and Scientism in Biology" by Sy Garte
        • Interview: "Biopsychology and Faith" with Heather Looy
      • Winter 14: "Health & Medicine" >
        • Letter from the Editor: Winter 2014
        • Poem: I Have a Piece of Cow in My Heart
        • Essay: Acts of God: Are all mutations random?
        • Column: Beyond Science
        • Poem: Psalm 1859
        • Essay: The Tao of Departing
        • Essay: The Tao of Departing p 2
        • Photo Essay: Walking in Winter
        • Essay: A Christian Doctor on Evolution, Faith, and Suffering
        • Opinion: Making Friends with Frankencorn
        • Poem: Chiaroscuro
        • Interview: "Biopsychology and Faith" with Heather Looy
        • Essay: "The Elegance of Antibodies"
        • Artwork: "Helix" by Harold Sikkema
        • Column: Great Gravity! "Dissertations and Revelations"
      • Fall 13: "Environmentalism" >
        • Letter from the Editor: Fall 2013
        • Poem: Time
        • Essay: Is there Hope for the Ocean?
        • Artwork: "Earthly Tent" by Harold Sikkema
        • Essay: What is Responsible Eating?
        • Essay: Are We Too Obsessed with Food?
        • Poem: Conversation on Creation
        • Essay: Creation Care from the Perspective of a Conservation Geneticist
        • Essay: Mobilizing Scientists for Environmental Missions
        • Poem: Paleocene Spring
        • Interview: Dorothy Boorse
        • Column: Beyond Science
        • Essay: New Testament Motivation for Environmental Stewardship
        • Poem: Stone of House
        • Column: Great Gravity! "Running the Data"
      • Summer 13: "Science & Creativity" >
        • Column: Beyond Science
        • Letter from the Editor: Summer 2013
        • Column: Faith on the Field
        • Poem: Trying Not to Be Too Sunny
        • Comic: "Work in Progress"
        • Essay: Do the Heavens Declare the Glory of God?
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The Genetics and Theology of Race

By Sy Garte
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In much of the world, people struggle to make sense of issues related to race in public and personal life. Race has been an important political topic in the United States as well, and it has been a subject of controversy within American Christianity ever since the first slaves were brought to these shores. Christians led the abolitionist movement, but many slave owners also pointed to the Bible to justify the institution of slavery. The Civil Rights Movement began in the Black Church, and today churches continue to be concerned with racial questions within their own congregations as well as with racial divisions among humans created in the same image of God.

Discussions about the meaning and relevance of race often focus on social issues of justice, prejudice, and human relationships. At the same time, thanks to modern science, we can now easily discover details of our own racial and ethnic genetic heritage. Sometimes the results of these genetic ancestry tests are surprising and enlightening (1), but what do they really mean? What can science tell us about race that might help inform our understanding of social issues? The answer might surprise many people: not much.

Biology of Race

The truth is that race is not a biological parameter, and there is no scientific definition or objective test of human race (2-4). Race can only be defined culturally, not genetically. In fact, the only accepted method in biomedical science to determine a person’s race is to ask them how they self-identify (5,6).

At first this seems to be counterintuitive. Isn’t it true that white couples have white children and African-American couples have African-American children? So how could race not be genetic? To understand why race is not a genetic or biological construct among human beings, we need to delve just a bit into population genetics as applied to our species.

All humans have the same genes, but many genes come in different forms. The differences are small changes in the exact DNA sequence, and they often have no effect on how the gene acts to code for proteins. When they do have an effect, these differences can produce variation in the phenotype (often a person’s physical characteristics, which may include skin and eye color, body shape, hair, etc). Different forms of the same gene are called alleles. Each of us has two alleles for every gene, one from each parent.

Human Genetic Diversity

Having different alleles results in genetic diversity. For example, the genes that make an enzyme to metabolize alcohol have different alleles that cause differences in alcohol tolerance between individuals. Different populations have different frequencies of each allele, but there are no alleles that are diagnostic for race (which would require that all members of a race have a specific allele which is absent from other races). Some alleles are geographically selected for, such as those for lighter-colored skin in regions with low sunlight, and darker skin in sunny regions. Short stature is favored in hot and humid rainforests, so the alleles that are related to shorter height will predominate in populations living in such regions. Other environmental selection factors include climate, temperature, humidity, altitude, diet, and disease organisms. Together, these factors explain why there are some genetic differences between populations that come from different geographical regions (4,7,8).

But the genes that are subject to such environmental selection pressure represent a small minority (4,9). For most human genes, there are few or no major differences in allele frequencies between different populations. In fact, there is usually as much or more diversity within a population than between populations (6,8). There can be as many genetic differences between two Nigerians as between a Nigerian and a German.

How Many Races Are There?

Not only is it impossible to scientifically identify race, we can’t even use genetics to demarcate how many races exist. In the U.S., we often think in terms of three demographic races: European, African, and Asian. But this has no basis in the small genetic differences that do exist between these populations. If we were to assume that there are three races, then, based on differences in allele frequencies between geographical populations, they would have to be 1) Africans, 2) Europeans and Asians, and 3) Australians and Papuans. If we assume there are five genetically defined races, we will get 1) Africans, 2) Australians, Pacific Islanders, and some South Asians, 4) East Asians and Amerinds, and 5) Europeans and some West and South Asians. We could keep splitting up the human population into an arbitrary number of “races” based on small genetic differences – it has been done for up to 43 different racial groups (8). There is no bright line in these genetic differences between populations that tells us what the actual number of human races might be, so it is completely arbitrary to assign racial groups to populations.

One study that attempted to divide the human population into genetically defined groups identified four overall genetic clusters that came as close as possible to approximating populations we call Africans, Europeans, Asians, and Pacific Islanders (10). The so-called European cluster had 96% of two European populations, but also included 62% of the Ethiopians, 21% of the Afro-Caribbeans, and 9% of the Chinese. Every cluster had some people from each ethnic group, and no ethnic group fit into one single cluster.
​

Even skin color correlates poorly with other population-specific genetic markers. Studies in Brazil and the U.S. show that while there are some weak correlations between skin color and geographic ancestry (Europe or Africa), there is so much overlap that it isn’t possible to know from an individual’s skin color how much African or European genetic ancestry they have (11,12).

So What Is Race?

Does all of this mean there is no such a thing as race? Of course not. Race is real, but it is a cultural construct, not a scientific one (13). We know this is true because the definition and characterization of “race” differs widely in different parts of the world.

The American concept of race is one of the most bizarre – it is unique in the world, and it is derived not from skin color, but from the economics of slavery (14).

Because of generations of white slave owners sexually exploiting their African slaves, many slave offspring were very fair-skinned. These slaves could have easily passed for white, which would have led to freedom and an economic loss for the owner. The slave owners’ answer was the “one drop rule”:  any degree of known African ancestry made a person “black” even if they were lighter-skinned than many whites. While this rule was instituted in the South during slavery, it spread and became the ingrained American construct of race. Barack Obama was considered by most everyone to be the country’s first black president, not the first biracial president. New York Congressman Adam Clayton Powell, who represented Harlem, was lighter in color than many Italians and Greeks, but nobody ever considered him anything other than African-American.

While only Americans use this definition of race, the pattern of admixture is similar throughout the world. There are very few (if any) examples of genetic isolation of any human population. There has been so much migration, conquest, and outbreeding throughout human history that there are no “pure” races anywhere. Contrary to historically popular claims, Icelanders are as genetically heterogenous as other Europeans, and the Japanese are as “impure” as Koreans, Chinese, etc. Ethiopians are a dark-skinned population living in Africa who have about 50% non-African genetic ancestry (15).

Race vs. Ancestry
​

While some genetic diseases cluster in certain populations, it’s important to note that these are not race-specific diseases. Sickle-cell anemia, for example, is not a genetic disease of Africans. It is a genetic disease common among people originating from regions where malaria is prevalent or was prevalent until recently, which includes West Africa, southern Italy, Greece, the Middle East, and parts of Asia (16).

So what about ancestry DNA testing? If race is not genetic, how come a person can send in a sample and find out she is one-third Scandinavian and two-thirds English with a trace of American Indian and African? The genetic markers used for ancestry determination are mostly not functional genes but the kind of non-coding DNA fragments that are used in paternity testing. These tests are informative for several generations back but cannot give information on deep ancestry, because after a few generations, genetic information is diluted from the genome, and contributions from ancestors living more than 10-15 generations or so ago might no longer be visible (17).

All humans share a deep genealogical ancestry from Africa, but this does not show up in ancestry tests. In addition, the results of these tests are probabilities, not certainties, because there is great variability among individuals within a population.

If we want to understand deeper ancestry, we need to abandon genetics and use genealogy, which uses different methods and approaches. We know that everyone has 2 parents, 4 grandparents, 8 great-grandparents, 16 great-great-grandparents, and so on… As we double the number of ancestors we have for every generation back, we quickly arrive at a number that’s more than the total number of people who have ever lived. How does this work? The answer is counterintuitive to the way we usually think about ancestry and descent, but quite simple:  the hundreds or thousands of your ancestors that lived a couple of hundred years ago were also my ancestors, and many will appear in both of our family trees more than once. This is called pedigree collapse, and it means that for people from the same general geographic area we don’t need to go very far back in time to find at least one common ancestor.

All people with European ancestry (which includes most African Americans and Native Americans) share common ancestors from about 900 to 1200 years ago (18). All people alive today have common ancestors who lived between only 6 and 10 thousand years ago (19). It may or may not be a coincidence that this time frame roughly corresponds to the presumed period of the creation of Adam and Eve.
It’s crucial to note, though, that based on data on population genetic diversity, Adam and Eve could not have been the only ancestors of humankind.


Theology and Science of Race

The scientific conclusion about human races is in strong concordance with Christian theology. Christians are called to welcome people of all nations and backgrounds into the faith and hold that salvation is available for everyone. All humans are seen equally as children of God – all are one in Christ.

"Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all." (Colossians 3:11, NIV)

"Then Peter began to speak: 'I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right.' (Acts 10:34-35, NIV)

Jesus Christ ministered to the Roman Centurion and the Samaritan woman, Phillip baptized the Ethiopian court official, and Paul preached the good news to the Gentiles.

As the catechism of the Roman Catholic Church states, “Created in the image of the one God and equally endowed with rational souls, all men have the same nature and the same origin” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, para. 1934). A similar statement that reflects the unity of humankind before God comes from the United Methodist Church: “The United Methodist Church acknowledges that all persons are of sacred worth. All persons without regard to race, color, national origin, status, or economic condition, shall be eligible… to become professing members in any local church in the connection.” (Article IV of the UMC Constitution)

Christianity has of course had a checkered history when it comes to the theological understanding of the equality of all humanity. There were times when some Christians suggested that not all people were fully human, or at least not all were at the same level of humanity. This was sometimes used to justify slavery or oppression of non-Europeans, including Africans, Native Americans, Asians, and Aboriginal Australians  (see church historian Bill Leonard's essay in this edition of God & Nature magazine). Science hasn’t always done better: as recently as the early 20th century, a form of pseudo-scientific racism denied the shared biological heritage of all human beings (20).
​

We now know that such doubts are to be cast aside as scurrilous, and that science is solidly behind the original teachings of our Lord. While this might not cure the racial tensions our nation faces, it should at least equip all Christians with the tools and fortitude of scientifically derived truth to go along with our Christ-following determination to see justice and mercy prevail. 

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References

1. Panofsky A., & Donovan J. 2017. “When Genetics Challenges a Racist’s Identity: Genetic Ancestry Testing among White Nationalists.” osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/7f9bc

2.  Graves J.L. 2001. “The Emperor's New Clothes: Biological Theories of Race at the Millenium.” Rutgers Univ. Press, Piscataway NJ.
3. Hunt L.M., Megyesi M.S. 2008. “The ambiguous meanings of the racial/ethnic categories routinely used in human genetics research.” Social Science & Medicine. 66:349-61.
4. Garte S. 2002. “The Racial Genetics Paradox in Biomedical Research and Public Health.” Public Health Reports 117:421-425.

5. Collins F.S. 2004. “What we do and don't know about 'race', 'ethnicity', genetics and health at the dawn of the genome era”. Nature Genetics 36(11)S13-16
6. Lewontin R.C. 2005. “The fallacy of racial medicine: confusions about human races.” Genewatch. 18(4):5-7, 17,

7. Garte S. 2003. “Locus specific genetic diversity between human populations: an analysis of the literature.” American Journal of Human Biology. 15:814-823.

8. Cavalli-Sforza L.L., Menozzi P. and Piazza A. 1994. “The History and Geography of Human Genes.” Princeton Univ Press, Princeton.  

9. Rosenberg N.A, Pritchard J.K., Weber J.L., Cann H.M., Kidd K.K., Zhivotovsky L.A., Feldman M.W. 2002. “Genetic structure of human populations.” Science. 298:2381-5.
10. Wilson J.F., Weale M.E.,  Smith A.C.,  Gratrix F.,  Fletcher B.,  Thomas MG.,  Bradman N., Goldstein DB., Galton Laboratory, Department of Biology, University College London, London, UK. 2001. “Population genetic structure of variable drug response.” Nature Genetics.  29(3):265-9.   

11. Parra F.C.,  Amado R.C.,  Lambertucci J.R.,  Rocha J., Antunes C.M., Pena S.D.J. 2003. “Color and genomic ancestry in Brazilians.” Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 100:177-182.

12. Parra E.J.,  Marcini A.,  Akey J.,  Martinson J.,  Batzer M.A.,  Cooper R.,  Forrester T.,  Allison D.B.,  Deka R.,  Ferrell R.E.,  Shriver M.D. 1998. “Estimating African American admixture proportions by use of population-specific alleles.”  American Journal of Human Genetics.  63:1839-51.

13. Smedley A., Smedley B.D.  2005. “Race as Biology Is Fiction, Racism as a Social Problem Is Real.  Anthropological and Historical Perspectives on the Social Construction of Race.”  American Psychologist 60:16 –26

14. Hickman C.B. 1997. “The Devil and the One Drop Rule: Racial Categories, African Americans, and the U.S. Census.” Michigan Law Review 95:1161-1265.

15. Pagani L., Kivisild T., Tarekegn A., Ekong R., Plaster C., Romero I.G., Ayub Q.S., Mehdi Q., Thomas M.G., Luiselli D., Bekele E., Bradman N., Balding D.J., Tyler-Smith C. 2012. “Ethiopian Genetic Diversity Reveals Linguistic Stratification and Complex Influences on the Ethiopian Gene Pool.” The American Journal of Human Genetics. 91, 83–96.

16. Piel, F.B. et al. 2010. “Global distribution of the sickle cell gene and geographical confirmation of the malaria hypothesis.” Nat. Commun. 1:104. doi: 10.1038/ncomms1104.

17. Kelleher J., Etheridge A.M., Veber A., Barton N.H. 2016. “Spread of pedigree versus genetic ancestry in spatially distributed populations.” Theor. Popul. Biol. 108, 1–12

18. Olson S. 2003. Mapping Human History: Genes, Race, and Our Common Origins. Mariner Books.
19. Rohde D.L.T., Olson S., Chang J.T. 2004. “Modelling the recent common ancestry of all living humans.” Nature. 431, 562–566.
20.  Barkan E. 1992. The Retreat of Scientific Racism: Changing Concepts of Race in Britain and the United States Between the World Wars. Cambridge University Press.
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Sy Garte earned his Ph.D. in biochemistry and BS in Chemistry from the City University of New York. He has been a Professor of Public Health and Environmental Health Sciences at New York University, Rutgers University, and the University of Pittsburgh.

In addition to over 200 scientific publications in genetics, molecular epidemiology, cancer research and other areas, Sy is the author of four books, and of articles in Perspectives in Science and Christian Faith(PSCF) and The BioLogos Forum.

Sy recently retired from a senior administrative position at the NIH, and is now President of the Natural Philosophy Institute, where he is working on a John Templeton Foundation grant to study the theory of gene regulatory networks. Dr. Garte is Vice President of the Washington DC Chapter of the ASA, and a member of the John Templeton Foundation Board of Advisors. His blog is www.thebookofworks.com.
God & Nature magazine is a publication of the American Scientific Affiliation, an international network of Christians in science: www.asa3.org