How Christianity and Science Can Interact (bio info on James Joule)

Proslogion ^ | 4-25-16 | Dr. Jay L. Wile

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How Christianity and Science Can Interact

Apr. 25, 2016

Over the past few years, I have been writing a series of elementary science courses for home educated students. Since the courses discuss scientific concepts in chronological order, I have spent a lot of time learning the history of science. In the process, I have found that a lot of what I was taught in school (including university) about how science developed is simply false. I have also become acquainted with the views of many great scientists from the past, which has allowed me to learn from them. I want to discuss one of those great scientists in order to share something I have learned. James Joule was born in 1818. Because his father was a successful brewer, chemistry was in his blood. He was taught at home for many years, and then his father sent him to study under John Dalton, the founder of modern atomic theory. Dalton suffered a stroke two years later, but his influence on Joule continued long after he stopped teaching. Even though Joule ended up taking over the family brewery, he spent a lot of time doing experiments, mostly focused on trying to explain electricity and magnetism in terms of Dalton’s new atomic theory.

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Quote by James Joule:

"After the knowledge of, and obedience to, the will of God,

the next aim must be to know something of His attributes of wisdom,

power and goodness as evidenced by his handiwork…

It is evident that an acquaintance with natural laws

means no less than an acquaintanceship

with the mind of God therein expressed."

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Democritus (”chosen of the people”) was an Ancient Greek philosopher born in Abdera, Thrace, Greece. He was an influential pre-Socratic philosopher who formulated an atomic theory for the cosmos. His exact contributions are difficult to disentangle from his mentor Leucippus, as they are often mentioned together in texts. Their hypothesis on atoms is remarkably similar to modern science’s understanding of atomic structure, and avoided many of the errors of their contemporaries. Largely ignored in Athens, Democritus was nevertheless well-known to his fellow northern-born philosopher Aristotle. Plato is said to have disliked him so much that he wished all his books burnt. Many consider Democritus to be the “father of modern science”.

Eeek! A Greek.

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Modern science first flourished under a Christian world view

The historical basis of modern science depended on the assumption that the universe was made by a rational Creator

An orderly universe makes perfect sense only if it were made by an orderly Creator

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BFL

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Yep. Which is why modern science was IMPOSSIBLE in pagan Greece, Rome, China, Islam, etc etc.