Covenant Christian High School's public lecture series seeks to unite the Christian Education community throughout the greater Seattle area to pursue the life of the mind by mining the riches of the Christian intellectual tradition. We believe the wisdom of historic and contemporary Christian thought brings light and hope to modern challenges. By creating space for communal learning, we seek to apply the truth of scripture and the wisdom of Christian teaching to understand modern cultural challenges and address enduring human questions.
Upcoming Lecture
Wednesday, April 12th at 6:30pm, CPC Sanctuary
Can Atheism Harmonize with Science?: Implications of Naturalism and Theism in Scientific Work
This lecture will begin with a short history of the so-called conflict between faith and science and show that, historically, Christianity and science have been comfortable companions. Indeed, some have made a convincing case that Christianity in the West was the mid-wife, if not the mother, of science. We will look at what is perhaps the fundamental assumption of science: the intelligibility of the universe. Einstein once said, “The most incomprehensible thing about the universe is that it is comprehensible.” The lecture will conclude with a recounting of personal experience in doing scientific research as a Christian, and will consciously invoke the assumption that not only is the universe intelligible, but that the logic behind physical laws means that, if true, they should apply broadly to explain new phenomena previously unexplored.
Presenter bio
When Bill was in grade school, his second-grade teacher told his Mom, “Bill is going to be a scientist when he grows up.” That statement has shaped his life. Though few of Bill’s family completed high school, he became an aerospace engineer. He has worked for almost 50 years for the Department of Defense, the Boeing Company, the Raytheon Corporation, and Blue Origin.
Bill earned the Doctor of Philosophy degree for research in plasma physics from Griffith University in Brisbane, Australia. He was also awarded the Chancellor’s medal for “outstanding excellence in the Doctor of Philosophy.”
Early in his career, he studied theology at Talbot Theological Seminary and The Master’s Seminary, graduating with a Master of Divinity degree (Summa Cum Laude). He is an ordained minister and a Ruling Elder in the Presbyterian Church in America and has taught graduate seminary courses in Old Testament Hebrew literature in Africa.
He has published numerous scientific articles in peer-reviewed journals and one book, Far As The Curse Is Found: Ecclesiastes and The Man of Sorrows.
Bill has long been interested in the relationship between science and faith in our culture. That relationship is both a point of tension and an opening for the Gospel. This lecture will explore that tension to discover where the conflict between science and religion really lies.