I am reading a book entitled Proper Confidence: Faith, Doubt, and Certainty in Christian Discipleship by Lesslie Newbigin. It is extremely academic, but I am finding it very interesting (I guess maybe I’m kind of academic to some extent). To give you a clue as to how academic this book is, on the very first page he uses the term moral opprobrium…hmmm…but, there is one thought that he has raised that I thought I might comment on.
He writes that “science has developed in Europe in a way that has far outstripped the work of ancient Greek, Egyptian, and Indian science because it was willing to take as its starting point affirmations rooted in the biblical revelation of God as creator and redeemer.” I was recently in the largest Hindu temple in America when I last visited Chicago. It is a beautiful temple made entirely of marble. In the temple it is very interesting because they have a large hallway that is like a propaganda hall. There are large wall hangings that share the basics of Hinduism and the achievements of Hinduism. Everything is written in English because clearly they are wanting to paint Hinduism in a good light. It was interesting to see that they have a different perspective on who the “Father of Medicine” was, for example. They have a Hindu inventing or discovering just about everything but thousands of years before the West.
So, has Western science “outstripped” Eastern science? Has the West far exceeded the knowledge and discovery of the West? I don’t know. I’m reading about this for the first time from Newbigin. The most interesting thing to realize is that Newbigin is true that Western science began from the starting point of God as Creator and Redeemer. Sadly, our culture has turned its back on the very One who was the inspiration for all of our current advancement and achievement. We have come a long way from the first and second centuries. We have come so far that science is now rejecting God. Science in the West began with a belief that God is there, but in the end it has placed all of its confidence in itself and has declared God to be dead. It is ironic that science owes everything to the very One it denies.
