A Brief History of the Involvement of Science in the Spread of the Gospel

A Brief History of the Involvement of Science in the Spread of the Gospel

Dr. Robert C. FrankProfessor Emeritus of Physics at Augustana College

Serving on Christ’s Team at St. James Lutheran ChurchRock Island, IL

An updated version of a talk originally presented at a Congregational Resourcing Event of the Northern Illinois Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America on March 9, 2013

The Bible in eBook Form

Christians Have Grown in Numbers

• The followers of Jesus have grown from a small number in the middle east in the first century to over two billion spread over the entire earth today.

The Gospel Spread Around the World

Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life/ Global Christianity, December 2011

The Work of the Holy Spirit

• Using a phrase from Luther’s catechism, the work of the Holy Spirit is to “call, gather, enlighten, and sanctify the whole Christian Church on earth” so today we are going to talk about the call, gather, and enlighten parts.

• During the long history of Christianity, science has remained a silent partner in the background in the spread of the gospel. Its role in that capacity has been rarely acknowledged.

What is Science?

The Scientific Method• Observe very carefully the world around you.

• Keep detailed records of what has been observed.

• Choose a tentative explanation (hypothesis) of what has been observed.

• Carry out experiments to prove or disprove the explanation.

Proof by Repetition

• If the experiments are carried out many times and the results are always the same it is considered confirmation that the explanation is correct.

• That is important because technology requires the faithfulness of physical phenomena.

• When we push the buttons on our TV remotes or computers we don’t want surprises.

Ancient Science & Technology

Remains of the synagogue that was built in the 3rd century at Capernaum in the Holy Land. Consider the science involved.

The Chartres Cathedral

This cathedral was built in France in the 12th and 13th centuries. Christians came from miles around to worship there.

Consider the science involved in its construction.

UNESCO World Heritage Centre Photo

Transportation

• For a very long period the spread of the gospel depended upon people gathering and talking person to person. That required transportation.

• Jesus and the Apostle Paul traveled mostly by walking or riding on beasts of burden. Paul also occasionally traveled by boat.

Transportation On Water

• Sailing ships were used from ancient times until the 18th century when steamships were developed.

• Early missionaries from Europe came to the Americas mainly by sailing ships. Later missionaries traveled from the Americas to Africa on steamships.

• In the 20th century, diesel engines replaced steam engines on ships.

Transportation on Land

• From ancient times until the 20th century humans walked or rode animals to get from one place to another on land.

• Automobiles driven by gasoline engines were developed at the beginning of the 20th century and are the major form of land transportation today.

How Rapidly the World Changed

• When my grandfather was young, he and his wife traveled to church by horse and buggy and helped start a new Lutheran congregation in central Wisconsin.

• When I was young, I was a research physicist at the General Motors Research Laboratories studying the behavior of atoms in the metals used in Chevrolets and Cadillacs.

• Rhoda and I also helped start a new Lutheran congregation in a suburb of Detroit.

Rail Transportation

• Rail transportation was first introduced in England for travel on land at the beginning of the 19th century using steam engines.

• By 1890 electric power became practical for city trollies and some city to city travel. Later, in the 1940’s, diesel engines were found to be even more useful.

Transportation by Air

• The first practical applications of air transportation began at the beginning of the 20th century with planes designed by the Wright brothers and others.

• Charles Lindbergh made the first flight across the Atlantic in

1927 opening the way for intercontinental travel.

• The advantage of air transportation was that you could go anywhere without highways or rails. Only landing strips were required.

How Improvements in Transportation Benefitted the Spread of the Gospel

• Advancements in land and air transportation improved the ability of Christians to meet face to face either for worship services or for holding meetings to work out differences in viewpoint.

• Christians could travel to meetings much easier and faster.

Communication

• Advancements in communication had the greatest effect on the spread of the gospel because the story could be told without face to face contact.

• It is also in communication that science has had its greatest influence.

The Printing Press

• The printing press was invented by Johannes Guttenberg in about 1450 CE. Copies of written material could be shared with many more people.

• The availability of printed documents facilitated the Reformation which took place in the 16th century. Information spread much more rapidly.

Printed Copies of the Bible

• The first mechanically printed Bible was prepared by Gutenberg in about 1455. It was in Latin and printed in color.

• Martin Luther’s translation of the New Testament in German was published in 1522 and the complete Bible in German was published in 1534 with the help of others.

• The popular King James English version of the Bible was published in 1611.

Telephones and Radio

• The telephone was invented by Alexander Graham Bell in the 1870’s and permitted the transmission of the human voice

over long distances, but it required wires.

• Radio transmission became practical at the beginning of the 20th century and was a major advancement because it did not need wires.

Electromagnetic Waves and Radio

• It was the scientific research of Hans Christian Oersted, Michael Faraday, and James Clerk Maxwell in the 19th century that provided the knowledge of the behavior of electromagnetic waves used in radio, television and our modern wireless cell phones.

Evangelism by Radio and Television

• In the 1920’s and 30’s a number of preachers with unusual speaking talent began to broadcast their sermons over the radio.

• Among the more famous were Aimee Semple McPherson, Father Charles Coughlin, Charles E. Fuller, and Ralph Sockman.

• In the 1950’s when television became available, other’s who took advantage of it to reach larger audiences were Rex Humbard, Bishop Fulton J. Sheen, and Oral Roberts.

My Radio Experience

• When I was a senior at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, I was hired to operate the AM and FM transmitters at WCAL, the college’s radio station.

• On Sundays, worship services in Norwegian and Finnish as well as English were broadcast.

• WCAL AM could be received as far away as central Wisconsin where my home was located.

A Major Turning Point in Science

• The development of the transistor in the late 1940’s may be considered the most important invention of the 20th century.

• It focused attention on the atomic properties of solid materials.

Birth of the Microchip

• Shortly after the transistor was invented scientists and engineers began creating tiny electrical circuits embedded in solid materials. They are called microchips.

• Microchips are now used in radios, TV sets, computers, cell phones, and control devices.

• The electrical circuits created in the microchips became smaller and smaller and much more reliable.

Orbiting Satellites

• The tiny electrical circuits in microchips could be used to control rockets that placed satellites in orbit around the earth.

• At certain distances above the earth, the satellites remained stationary over specific locations on the earth.

• They could thus be used as relay stations for radio and television waves that traveled in straight lines.

Communication Satellites

• The communication satellites in fixed orbits made it possible to use radio and television to communicate between various points on the spherical earth.

• Gradually small computers with incredible memory and word and image processing capability were developed and used for communication.

The Internet

• A computer network called ARPANET was originally set up to connect computers for military purposes, but as computers became available for home and commercial purposes networking quickly became useful for connecting any and all computers.

• Eventually the Internet carrying text, voice, and images was developed in the 1990’s as a network to connect computers all over the world.

eBooks

• Less than a decade ago, the availability of small computers made electronic books available. eBook readers like the Kindle and Nook are shaped like tablets but have faces that can display text. The pages are easily turned by hand movement.

• The eBook readers can be carried in one hand while having storage capacity for a large library of books.

• The availability of eBook readers makes it possible for pastors to carry four or five entire Bibles with them at all times as well as a variety of commentaries.

iPhones

• Once eBook readers were developed and small portable cell phones were available, it was only a small step to insert an entire computer in the cell phone.

• This made it possible to not only send email or text messages and pictures, but also to interact with the entire Internet and download material for research purposes.

• The cell phone can then also be used as an eBook reader and entire Bibles carried on your telephone.

Web Sites for Church Congregations

• Most church congregations in the US and in many foreign countries have web sites that keep their members as well as outsiders informed about their activities.

• Paper newsletters are rapidly becoming more expensive and cumbersome to prepare and mail.

The Christianity-Science Relationship

• We have seen that for a very long time the effective spread of the gospel has been aided by advancements in science and technology.

• Without the improvements produced by science and technology, Christianity would be as limited as it was in the 18th century.

• Scientific research, however, has also required the teamwork taught by Christianity. So the relationship is vital to both.

Christianity, Science and Education

• The Christianity-science relationship has also had an important role in the evolution of education.

• Luther and other reformers wanted everyone to learn how to read the Bible and the printing press made that possible so education increased much more rapidly.

• Today television, computers, and the Internet have increased the capacity of everyone to learn new things more quickly and people are learning from each other.

Christianity and Evolution

• Darwin’s view of how creation took place was rejected by many Christians for a long time because creation wasn’t described that way in the first pages of the Bible.

• However, Jesus’ comparison of the kingdom of God with a growing mustard plant implies that he expected it to evolve over a period of time.

• The fact that history has verified that the kingdom of God has been evolving suggests that creation has always been a continuing process.

The Return of Jesus

• From the time of the resurrection, Christians have expected Jesus to return to earth at any time.

• However, in earlier years they did not know that the earth was spherical and light travels in straight lines so if Jesus had returned then, only a small number of people would have been aware of it.

• If Jesus were to return today, most people on earth would be able to see him by electronic means no matter where he was.

Science as a Gift from God

• I personally believe that science is a gift from God needed to provide assistance with the evolution of the kingdom of God. As a result, humans are able to live healthier, happier and more productive lives and civilization is gradually maturing.

We Can See the Promised Land

• With the aid of science, the kingdom of God is evolving and growing very large into a mature civilization.

• For two thousand years Christians have repeated the Lord’s prayer saying, “your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” and now it is easier to see it happening.

• We can see the promised land, but we are not there yet. There is still much work for all of us to do!