From Knowledge to Wisdom: Reclaiming the Scientific Human

To describe the Scientific Human, we must begin with the Human, that is, what God intends humans to be, as understood within the realm of classical education. Classically, a well-functioning human consistently exhibits wisdom and virtue; developing these is the goal of classical education. Biblically, a godly human lives according to the two greatest commandments, as articulated by our Lord: First, love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and second, love your neighbor as yourself.

It is crucial to notice that Christ articulates both the two great commandments in terms of love. As the first epistle of John tells us—twice—God is love. This truth reveals a great deal about God, us, our purpose, and all of creation. The overflow of God’s love is why the creation exists. And the reason we are here in creation is to love. Loving is hard; in fact, it is exactly opposite our fallen, selfish inclinations. So, one could say that our reason for being here in the creation is to learn how to love. If we apply this to every circumstance we find ourselves in—quarrels with spouses or children, impatience in traffic, the discovery of a need that we have the means to address, inordinate desire for the things of this world, the temptation to drink too much, and so on—we will find ourselves growing in grace and becoming every day more like Jesus Christ.

When we consider the Scientific Human in particular, we are considering a person who is called to a life of love and the consistent exercise of wisdom and virtue. All these apply when we consider engaging in science. Despite what popular secular or materialistic definitions might say about science, I argue that engaging in science does not mean leaving your faith at the door. In fact, today scientists find themselves face to face with a growing assortment of hard questions with no answers, questions that make much more sense within the framework of Christian belief. Q: How could consciousness evolve? A: It didn’t; consciousness entered creation via the Logos, Christ, the instrument of creation. Q: How can homeostasis operate autonomously in organisms to keep all their physical parameters inside life-sustaining limits? A: While all organisms do this, they don’t do it autonomously. The life of the Logos sustains every living thing. Q: Why do we seek meaning if the quantum world is nothing but chance events? A: The fact that we all seek meaning indicates that the apparent randomness of the quantum world is not all that is going on. Scientists have learned a lot about the quantum world, but they have not found any subtleties explaining God’s action there, and they won’t.

Each of these questions demonstrates how Christian faith lifts routine scientific questions out of the meaningless mire of our nihilistic times and contextualizes them properly.

A good Scientific Human is a person seeking to live a life characterized by love, exhibiting wisdom and virtue, and bringing these to the study of creation—the overflow of God’s love. To add two more questions to the list above, one might ask: Where do we draw the line between things science has given us to power to do (a technical issue) and things we ought not do (a moral issue)?, and, How do we prioritize and manage our scientific research goals, funds, and personnel? Apart from a well-informed faith in the Creator, neither science nor politics can speak effectively to these questions. And in contemporary culture, making money and maintaining power are often the only factors that motivate decision making. Perhaps instead of developing new technologies that further exploit the earth, we are in a time when it would be wiser to invest in healing the earth and the communities (human and nonhuman) that have been harmed by contemporary industrial technologies and practices.

Classically trained Christians are people who seek first to love God and neighbor and who have the wisdom and virtue to do so effectively in contemporary culture. Their decisions and priorities are oriented toward realizing the Kingdom of God in the world rather than making money and maintaining power, and their classical training enables them to see the many factors that should be brought to bear on decision-making, factors such as the limits of ecosystems and the potential for unknown harmful side-effects, as well as acting justly, showing mercy, caring for the needy, and caring for the earth.

Uniquely among the many fields of human endeavor, over the past few hundred years, scientific knowledge has given us colossal powers for healing and for destruction. Christians manifesting wisdom and virtue have always been needed in our world for promoting decisions and practices aligned with the Kingdom of God. Today, they are needed as never before.

John Mays is an an engineer, physicist, educator, author, and founder of the Novare Science Curriculum. He speaks frequently about science and science pedagogy across the United States.