{"id":6014,"date":"2017-09-20T12:59:13","date_gmt":"2017-09-20T19:59:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hmc.edu\/about-hmc\/?p=6014"},"modified":"2025-12-03T10:25:14","modified_gmt":"2025-12-03T18:25:14","slug":"vosburg-book-seeks-bridge-science-religion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hmc.edu\/about\/2017\/09\/20\/vosburg-book-seeks-bridge-science-religion\/","title":{"rendered":"Vosburg Book Seeks to Bridge Science and Religion"},"content":{"rendered":"

Harvey Mudd chemistry professor David Vosburg and spouse, Kate Vosburg, have co-authored a new book, Jesus, Beginnings, and Science: a Guide for Group Conversation<\/em>, which they hope will increase dialogue and understanding between scientific and religious communities.<\/p>\n

\u201cLike efforts from the\u00a0National Academy of Sciences<\/a>\u00a0and the\u00a0American Association for the Advancement of Science<\/a>, our book aims to build bridges between scientific and religious perspectives,\u201d David Vosburg said. \u201cScience and faith can be compatible and even mutually enriching if we can approach both with a posture of humility and wonder instead of hostility and fear.\u201d<\/p>\n

The new book is the culmination of Vosburg\u2019s project, \u201cCatalyzing Compatibility of Evolution and Christian Faith on Secular Campuses: Curricular Resources for Student Groups,\u201d which received an $80,772 grant from The Biologos Foundation in 2013. Founded by Francis Collins\u2014director of the National Institutes of Health and former director of the Human Genome Project\u2014The BioLogos Foundation<\/a> seeks to promote discourse on the relationship between science and religion and to emphasize compatibility between science and Christian faith.<\/p>\n

The Vosburgs developed the materials over several years of research and field-testing and a productive sabbatical year with the\u00a0Faraday Institute for Science and Religion<\/a>\u00a0at the University of Cambridge. Kate Vosburg is a campus minister with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship.<\/p>\n

\"Vosburg\u201cField-testing parts of the book with Mudd students, Cambridge students, young adults and older adults gave us helpful insights into the different tensions that many people bring into conversations about science and religion,\u201d said Kate Vosburg. \u201cSome are afraid that fully embracing science may require them to change religious beliefs, to reject parents’ or pastors’ teachings, or to abandon cherished faith communities. Others have a fairly good grasp of scientific issues and are eager to learn more about the Bible so they can better understand their religious friends.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cVery few have found good ways to have gracious, productive discussions about science and religion,\u201d said David Vosburg. \u201cWe hope that our book can catalyze dialogue that will deepen readers’ understanding of the Bible, of science, and of each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jesus, Beginnings, and Science<\/em>\u00a0includes twelve guided discussions for Bible study groups that focus on selected biblical passages addressing creation, human origins and science. The materials are designed for a general audience and can be used by groups with no previous training in the sciences or experience with the Bible.<\/p>\n

Each section presents scriptural passages and suggested questions for further discussion, such as, \u201cWhat specific beliefs about origins (if any) should be central to being a Christian? On what beliefs about origins is it fine for believers to disagree?\u201d; and, \u201cIf you have personally changed views about origins, what caused the change?\u201d<\/p>\n

Along with the readings and discussion guide, the book presents reflections from a scientist on each topic, as well as a wide variety of theological positions that Christians have taken both historically and currently on the nature of creation and human origins. The book\u2019s appendix includes a wealth of resources for further reading on the intersections of scripture and science.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe hope readers will realize that the Bible is rich, diverse and awe-inspiring\u2014much like science!\u201d said David Vosburg. \u201cWhile the Bible is not a science book, it does speak deeply to our interactions with the natural world and addresses many questions of meaning, identity and purpose that science itself cannot.\u201d<\/p>\n

The book is now available at\u00a0Pier Press<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Amazon<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Harvey Mudd chemistry professor David Vosburg and spouse, Kate Vosburg, have co-authored a new book, Jesus, Beginnings, and Science: a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":10389,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,14],"class_list":["post-6014","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chemistry","category-faculty"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hmc.edu\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6014","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hmc.edu\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hmc.edu\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hmc.edu\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hmc.edu\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6014"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.hmc.edu\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6014\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14918,"href":"https:\/\/www.hmc.edu\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6014\/revisions\/14918"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hmc.edu\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10389"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hmc.edu\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hmc.edu\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}