God and Nature Winter 2019
Letter from the editor |
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by Sy Garte
Happy New Year, and welcome to the Winter 2019 issue of God and Nature! You might notice some small changes in format and style for this issue. As always, I welcome any feedback that will help us continue to improve the look and layout of the magazine.
This issue is the second of two with a focus topic on Education and Outreach, and there are four exciting essays on this topic. Kathryn Applegate from Biologos reports on an exiting new multifaceted educational curriculum supplement to help students embrace their Christian faith while learning about science. Kathryn makes a special plea for ASA members to pitch in to help with this effort. Ed LaBelle gives us a beautiful example of Christian outreach to the public using sidewalk astronomy; Hal Reed discusses the complexity of teaching difficult scientific topics in a Christian context; and Lydia Marcus gives a scholarly treatment of the conflict model of the interaction between science and faith.
There are three additional essays. Mark Rivera presents an argument against “Hitchen’s Razor” (the idea that any claim we cannot provide conclusive evidence for at this time must be dismissed). Mario Russo presents his view of how we can redeem our biases for positive outcomes when dealing with science-and-faith controversies. Dick Fischer uses his historical perspective to discuss evidence for a historical Adam.
We also present art by Judith Gait, showcasing a series of paintings on the theme of stripes; and a poem/hymn by David Lee. Regular columnist Mike Clifford weighs in with a fascinating story of historical scholarship and engineering at the University of Nottingham.
I am excited to announce two new features for the magazine that will hopefully kick off in the next issue. Famed theologian Thomas Jay Oord (whose latest book God Can’t: How to Believe in God and Love after Abuse, Tragedy, and Other Evils has just come out) is also a world-class nature photographer (see the Summer 2018 issue). Tom has agreed to provide us with a regular sampling of his photos, along with his commentary, in a photo-essay column for each issue.
Still in the planning stages, we are also considering the initiation of a regular feature of scientific photos (from telescopic to microscopic and everything in between) by scientific specialists, accompanied by brief commentary on what the photo means to the scientist and how it reflects the glory of God’s creation. The tentative title for this feature is “Declare the Glory” (Psalm 19). If you are interested in participating, please let me know by email.
We welcome your contributions on all topics, including the future focus topics listed on the right side of the Table of Contents. As always, we would love to see any comments about the present (or past) contents of the magazine, which may be published as a letter to the editor.
If you have a Twitter account, please consider following @godandnaturemag. We would like to continue to build our social media presence and expand our ability to spread Christ’s truth.
Sy Garte Ph.D. Biochemistry, is Editor-in-Chief of God and Nature since Spring 2018. He has been a Professor of Public Health and Environmental Health Sciences at New York University, Rutgers University, and the University of Pittsburgh. He was also Associate Director at the Center for Scientific Review at the NIH. He is the author of five books (including "The Works of His Hands" to be published in October 2019), over 200 scientific papers, and articles in PSCF, God and Nature and The BioLogos Forum. Sy is Vice President of the Washington DC Chapter of the ASA. His blog is www.thebookofworks.com.
Happy New Year, and welcome to the Winter 2019 issue of God and Nature! You might notice some small changes in format and style for this issue. As always, I welcome any feedback that will help us continue to improve the look and layout of the magazine.
This issue is the second of two with a focus topic on Education and Outreach, and there are four exciting essays on this topic. Kathryn Applegate from Biologos reports on an exiting new multifaceted educational curriculum supplement to help students embrace their Christian faith while learning about science. Kathryn makes a special plea for ASA members to pitch in to help with this effort. Ed LaBelle gives us a beautiful example of Christian outreach to the public using sidewalk astronomy; Hal Reed discusses the complexity of teaching difficult scientific topics in a Christian context; and Lydia Marcus gives a scholarly treatment of the conflict model of the interaction between science and faith.
There are three additional essays. Mark Rivera presents an argument against “Hitchen’s Razor” (the idea that any claim we cannot provide conclusive evidence for at this time must be dismissed). Mario Russo presents his view of how we can redeem our biases for positive outcomes when dealing with science-and-faith controversies. Dick Fischer uses his historical perspective to discuss evidence for a historical Adam.
We also present art by Judith Gait, showcasing a series of paintings on the theme of stripes; and a poem/hymn by David Lee. Regular columnist Mike Clifford weighs in with a fascinating story of historical scholarship and engineering at the University of Nottingham.
I am excited to announce two new features for the magazine that will hopefully kick off in the next issue. Famed theologian Thomas Jay Oord (whose latest book God Can’t: How to Believe in God and Love after Abuse, Tragedy, and Other Evils has just come out) is also a world-class nature photographer (see the Summer 2018 issue). Tom has agreed to provide us with a regular sampling of his photos, along with his commentary, in a photo-essay column for each issue.
Still in the planning stages, we are also considering the initiation of a regular feature of scientific photos (from telescopic to microscopic and everything in between) by scientific specialists, accompanied by brief commentary on what the photo means to the scientist and how it reflects the glory of God’s creation. The tentative title for this feature is “Declare the Glory” (Psalm 19). If you are interested in participating, please let me know by email.
We welcome your contributions on all topics, including the future focus topics listed on the right side of the Table of Contents. As always, we would love to see any comments about the present (or past) contents of the magazine, which may be published as a letter to the editor.
If you have a Twitter account, please consider following @godandnaturemag. We would like to continue to build our social media presence and expand our ability to spread Christ’s truth.
Sy Garte Ph.D. Biochemistry, is Editor-in-Chief of God and Nature since Spring 2018. He has been a Professor of Public Health and Environmental Health Sciences at New York University, Rutgers University, and the University of Pittsburgh. He was also Associate Director at the Center for Scientific Review at the NIH. He is the author of five books (including "The Works of His Hands" to be published in October 2019), over 200 scientific papers, and articles in PSCF, God and Nature and The BioLogos Forum. Sy is Vice President of the Washington DC Chapter of the ASA. His blog is www.thebookofworks.com.