PERSPECTIVES ON SCIENCE AND CHRISTIAN FAITHPERSPECTIVES VOLUME 60, NUMBER 4 DECEMBER 2008 on Science and Christian Faith JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN SCIENTIFIC AFFILIATION In this issue … Sir John Templeton: Member and Patron of ASA Chiasmic Cosmology and Atonement Defining Undesign in a Designed Universe Intelligent Design and the State University: Accepting the Challenge A Response to Douglas Groothuis God’s Use of Chance Evangelical and Catholic Interactions with Science “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom.” Psalm 111:10 VOLUME 60, NUMBER 4 DECEMBER 2008 (US ISSN 0892-2675) (CPM #40927506) Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith Manuscript Guidelines © 2008 by the American Scientific Affiliation The pages of Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith (PSCF) are open Editor to original, unpublished contributions that interact with science and Christian ARIE LEEGWATER (Calvin College) faith in a manner consistent with scientific and theological integrity. Published 1726 Knollcrest Cir. SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49546 papers do not reflect any official position of the American Scientific Affiliation. [email protected] 1. Submit all manuscripts to: Arie Leegwater, Editor, Calvin College, Managing Editor De Vries Hall, 1726 Knollcrest Circle SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49546-4403. E-mail: [email protected]. Submissions are typically acknowledged within LYN BERG (American Scientific Affiliation) PO Box 668, Ipswich, MA 01938-0668 10 days of their receipt. [email protected] 2. Authors must submit an electronic copy of the manuscript formatted in Word as an email attachment. Typically 2–3 anonymous reviewers critique Book Review Editors each manuscript submitted for publication. REBECCA FLIETSTRA (Point Loma Nazarene Univ.) 3. Use endnotes for all references. Each note must have a unique number. 3900 Lomaland Dr., San Diego, CA 92106 Follow The Chicago Manual of Style (14th ed., sections 15.1 to 15.426). [email protected] 4. While figures and diagrams may be embedded within the Word text file of the JAMES C. PETERSON (McMaster University Divinity manuscript, authors are required to also send them as individual electronic College and Faculty of Health Sciences) files (JPEG or TIFF format). Figure captions should be provided as a list 1280 Main St. West, Hamilton, ON L8S 4K1 Canada at the end of the manuscript text. Authors are encouraged also to submit [email protected] a sample of graphic art that can be used to illustrate their manuscript. ARIE LEEGWATER (Calvin College) ARTICLES 1726 Knollcrest Cir. SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49546 are major treatments of a particular subject relating science to a not more [email protected] Christian position. Such papers should be at least 2,000 words but than 6,000 words in length, excluding endnotes. An abstract of 50–150 words Editorial Board is required. Publication for such papers normally takes 9–12 months from the CHARLES C. ADAMS, Dordt College time of acceptance. HESSEL BOUMA III, Calvin College WALTER L. BRADLEY, Baylor University COMMUNICATIONS are brief treatments of a wide range of subjects of interest RAYMOND H. BRAND, The Morton Arboretum to PSCF readers. Communications must not be longer than 2700 words, WARREN S. BROWN, Fuller Graduate School of excluding endnotes. Communications are normally published 6–9 months from Psychology the time of acceptance. JEANNE BUNDENS, Eastern University HARRY COOK, The King’s University College, Canada NEWS & VIEWS are short commentaries on current scientific discoveries or JANEL M. CURRY, Calvin College events, or opinion pieces on science and faith issues. Lengths range from 200 EDWARD B. DAVIS, Messiah College to 1,500 words. Submissions are typically published 3–6 months from the KARL V. EVANS, Lakewood, CO time of acceptance. LOUISE M. FREEMAN, Mary Baldwin College OWEN GINGERICH, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for BOOK REVIEWS serve to alert the readership to new books that appear Astrophysics significant or useful and engage these books in critical interaction. Guidelines JOHN W. HAAS,JR., Gordon College for book reviewers can be obtained from the incoming book review editors. WALTER R. HEARN, Berkeley, California Note respective subject areas: D. GARETH JONES, University of Otago, New Zealand · Rebecca Flietstra ([email protected]): anthropology, biology, environ- CALVIN JONGSMA, Dordt College ment, neuroscience, origins, and social sciences. CHRISTOPHER B. KAISER, Western Theological · James C. Peterson Seminary ([email protected]): apologetics, biblical studies, GORDON R. LEWTHWAITE, California State bioethics, ethics, genetics, medical education, philosophy, and theology. University, Northridge · Arie Leegwater ([email protected]): cosmology, engineering, history of H. NEWTON MALONY, Fuller Theological Seminary science, mathematics, non-bio technologies, and physical sciences. JOHN A. McINTYRE, Texas A&M University The viewpoints expressed in the books reviewed, and in the reviews SARA MILES, Eastern University themselves, are those of the authors and reviewers respectively, and do not KEITH B. MILLER, Kansas State University reflect an official position of the ASA. STANLEY W. MOORE, Pepperdine University GEORGE L. MURPHY, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, LETTERS to the Editor concerning PSCF content may be published unless Akron, OH marked not for publication. Letters submitted for publication must not be ROBERT C. NEWMAN, Biblical Theological Seminary longer than 700 words and will be subject to editorial review. Letters are JACK C. SWEARENGEN, Santa Rosa, CA to be submitted as electronic copies. Letters accepted for publication will be WALTER R. THORSON, Calgary, Alberta, Canada published within 6 months. 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For those who wish to Scientific Affiliation, PO Box 668, Ipswich, MA request permission for other kinds of copying or reprinting, kindly write to 01938-0668. the Managing Editor. Editorial The Challenge of Interpretation Arie Leegwater ne of the descriptors of ASA is its “commit- traditions which condition the acquisition of scien- O ment to integrity in the practice of science.” tific knowledge. Every interpretation happens within I surmise that for many of us integrity an interpretive tradition. Even in sites where one circles about the idea of faithfulness to the facts: can expect a similar interpretive tradition to hold, speaking the truth about what has been discovered, say in Calvinist centers such as Amsterdam, Belfast, presenting things fairly, documenting items care- Edinburgh, and Princeton, Darwin’s theory of “de- fully, and hewing close to the line by not over- scent with modification” was read differently. In extending arguments or extrapolations. The picture short, the world is seen as a text marked by a multi- is one of presenting “objective” facts. Donald MacKay plicity of meanings. Not only is the way we read once expressed it in these words: “The Christian case Scripture bound up with all kinds of subjective fac- for objectivity as an ideal in science is so obvious as tors, but also our reading of the “book of nature”: to hardly need stating … [O]ur goal is objective the practice of science itself. Frequently, two differ- value-free knowledge” (JASA 36 [1984]: 235). He ing, but parallel, modes of describing the natural went on to suggest that any proposal to dismiss the world are compared: one is that of “discovery” or ideal of value-free knowledge as a “myth” would be “reading”; the other is that of “construction” or “in- irrational and irreligious. vention.” The language of discovery assumes that the “laws of nature” are written in the book of na- With this in mind, science is often considered to ture. Ours is the task of faithfully transcribing what be the prime example of objective knowledge. It is is written in this book. The language of discovery an international affair; scientific ideas are not lim- further suggests that objects are given directly to ited to or compromised by national borders and the mind with little mediating experience. political boundaries. A certain scientific theory may well have been accepted in one locality before In contrast to the language of discovery is one another, but nowhere do we find examples of cor- of “construction” or “invention.” It suggests that rect or accurate thought