The good folks at The Christian Humanist have interviewed me again, this time about meteorology. View the show notes here, and find their feed on iTunes to listen to it! We had a far-ranging discussion about Aristotle, storms in the Bible, the long and cold winter in the eastern U.S., the Polar Vortex, and the supposed dichotomy between scientific and teleological/theological descriptions of weather events. These guys (all three are Ph.D. English professors) are great podcasters (is that a word?) and talk about a lot of interesting stuff that scientists like myself otherwise would rarely think about, and I highly recommend subscribing to their podcast on iTunes.
I had a great time in this interview, but I was a little nervous. This had the effect of causing me to lapse into inanity and general inarticulation from time to time. I obviously need more practice. Specifically, regarding the discussion of the dichotomy between scientific and theological descriptions, I didn’t feel that I explained my point of view very well. When describing the formation of hail from a scientific perspective, and then pointing out that this didn’t preclude the use of hail as punishment on God’s part, I didn’t mean to imply that God used hail for punishment all the time, or that bad weather in general is always punishment by God (I actually don’t think that this is the case). My point was rather that a thoroughgoing scientific explanation does not preclude such a possibility, as these different types of descriptions are looking at the same problem from a different angle. In my view, God is just as much responsible for the everyday natural happenings of the Universe–those very things that are amenable to scientific investigation–as he is for any sort of “true supernatural” miracle. Clearly there is lots more to say on this latter point, which brings me to my big announcement.
The Christian Humanists are enlarging their project, having recently added a new podcast to their repertoire, The Christian Feminist Podcast. Recently, they approached me and two other scientists who are long-time listeners if we would be interested in hosting our own separate podcast discussing all manner of issues of science as it pertains to the Christian faith. We all enthusiastically accepted. The podcast will be called “The Book of Nature“, and will debut sometime this fall. My hope is that being in verbal conversation with other Christian scientists (no, not those kind), will help crystallize my own thinking on this area of inquiry and my writing about such things on this blog. So, stay tuned! I’ll have more information as the debut date nears.
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So sometimes the deity produces hail as punishment and other times for either no reason at all or for some other reason? Is there no way that hail just forms on its own, in accordance with the laws governing the atmosphere? Is there some way to tell whether the hail is intended as punishment or not?
Congratulations on your new mode of self-expression. I hope you can use it to be somewhat more forthcoming about your views than you have been here.
“So sometimes the deity produces hail as punishment and other times for either no reason at all or for some other reason? Is there no way that hail just forms on its own, in accordance with the laws governing the atmosphere? Is there some way to tell whether the hail is intended as punishment or not?”
I don’t believe that God intervenes in the natural processes of hail or rain formation as a general rule for purposes of either special punishment, or special favor, if that’s what you’re asking. My point was that we can’t rule that out, and such may end up being undetectable from a scientific standpoint. My even larger point is that I believe that there is a false dichotomy between purely natural processes and special supernatural intervention, but that’s going to take a lot more unpacking. Suffice it to say for now that the mistake is often made is that if some process can be explained scientifically, that that somehow describes everything there is to possibly know about that process. As you well know, I study cloud and precipitation microphysics, and see no need to insert a “God” forcing function into the right-hand-side of the equations describing these processes. From my point of view, the entire kit-and-caboodle is ordained by God.
“Congratulations on your new mode of self-expression. I hope you can use it to be somewhat more forthcoming about your views than you have been here.”
Thanks Chuck. And, for what it’s worth, you’re right. I haven’t been as forthcoming as I should. Part of that is fear of getting into dragged-out, angry debates with folks that I’d rather be on good terms with, and that fear needs to be put aside. Part of that is for other, more personal reasons (physical, not spiritual) that I’m only recently getting a handle on. I’m hoping that this venture in which I’ll be in conversation with others with similar views will help with that. I do hope you will tune in and leave feedback if you so desire!
EDIT: I’m not sure why my reply text is in a smaller font. I’ll tweak with the theme settings and see if I can fix that.