GOD AND SCIENCE
LESSON ONE: GOD AND SCIENCE IN HISTORY
Learning Intention: Historically, science was developed by those who had faith in God.
Success Criteria: I can identify the connection between faith in God and doing science in the lives
of significant individuals in the history of science.
PART 1: BRAINSTORM!
1. Write down your questions on the topic “God and Science”
[Do God and Science clash? Do they go alongside each other? What will this topic involve?]
2. Can Christians be scientists? Can scientists be Christians?
[I think that Christians can be scientists because science is simply a way of explaining what is
happening, while the bible tells us what is happening and why. The Bible tells us that God spoke and
then the universe formed, while science explains the process in which the universe formed]
PART 2: LOOKING CLOSER
Read through the statements of faith of historically significant scientists to explore the connection
between their practice of science and their faith in God. Use this PowerPoint presentation:
‘Scientists and God’.
3. Choose one quote that stands out to you. What does the quote mean and how does it make
a link between God and science?
[One quote that stands out to me is from Isaac Newton, where he says, “This most beautiful system
of the sun, planets and comets could only proceed from the council and dominion of an intelligent
and powerful Being.” This quote stands out to me because it goes with what the bible says. I know
that in Isaiah it calls Jesus the Wonderful Councillor, and this quote also called God the councillor of
the universe.]
4. Pick two scientists/slides to complete the table below
Person’s name What is the connection How does their quote provide
between God and the world in a basis for discovering the laws
their quote? of science?
[John Polkinghorne] He says that he believes God, He says that God has made
as well as being a scientist and himself known through Jesus
believing science too. Christ, establishing that the
laws of science are explaining
why things happen while the
bible explains what happens
and tells us about God.
[Allan Sandage] He says that the world is too He says that the laws of
complex to be made by science simply show us how
chance, and he has obviously marvellous and complex God’s
discovered this through hi world is, and it is them which
science work. have shown him the order in
which the universe was
created.
PART 3: CRITICAL THINKING
5. What questions are raised for you when you read the views of scientists in the past?
[How do they then explain Jesus’ miracles, which seem to bend the laws of science?]
6. What questions do you hope will be answered in this unit?
[I hope that this unit will help me understand more details as to how God made the universe and
weather they agree with the laws of science.]
