When I was an undergrad student I was surprised at how many of my professors proudly wore their atheist badges with great pride. With great enthusiasm some even preached personal atheist manifestos with evangelical fervor.
Prior to my acceptance of Christianity I had been convinced that to believe in God is to sacrifice intellect. In other words, if I wanted to be smart (or appear smart) I had to dismiss belief in God as superstition. God has no place in serious academia. Ironically, I soon came to realize how non-intellectual this position is.
Here are THREE REASONS why Christianity can encourage your intellect.
Courtesy of Demletrich Baker from Flickr.com
1. Intellect Depends on God
If you study the history of science you will see that the earliest scientist believed in God. In fact, Nicholas Copernicus (a Catholic monk), Galileo Galilei (faithful Catholic, despite popular belief), Gregor Mendel (Augustinian friar) all believed they can do and trust science precisely because God exists. Here are two reasons why.
i. The physical universe couldn’t have created itself. Unintelligent matter cannot bring itself into existence. A Big Bang can’t “Big Bang” itself (excuse my language). To have unintelligible matter created you need an intellect that creates it; or at least sets the means in motion by which matter can reproduce.
In his book, “The Grand Design,” Stephen Hawking makes a surprisingly illogical claim. He argues that there is no need for God because gravity explains everything. But then what created gravity? Gravity – an unintelligent physical entity – created itself? That’s like saying the internal combustion engine doesn’t need Henry Ford because the internal combustion engine created itself. I have no doubt that Stephen Hawking is a phenomenal theoretical physicist, but he’s a terrible philosopher.
ii. The universe is intelligible precisely because there is an intellect behind it. The internal combustion engine is intelligible (we can observe and learn about it) because Henry Ford designed it. Without Henry Ford (or someone else, if Henry Ford didn’t design the internal combustion engine) there wouldn’t be an internal combustion engine to observe to begin with.
Similarly, the only reason we can learn about the universe or even have a universe to observe and learn about is because there is an intellect behind it.
2. Unity in Diversity. Universities and the Church
Today most universities are secular institutions filled with atheistic tendencies of academic elite. But it was not always so. In fact the first and most prestigious universities were formed in the context of the Church. The first universities ever established – Bologna, Paris, Oxford, Cambridge – emerged precisely because of the Church.
The first professors were clerics or members of religious orders. (Fun Fact: At university grad ceremonies you will notice professors wearing gowns that are similar to the traditional gown of a Christian preacher).
The earliest Christians believed that the intelligible universe was created for humanity to explore and discover. St. Bonaventure, who taught at the University of Paris, wrote that Jesus, the Logos (the creating Word) is at the heart of all academic disciplines (See John 1:1-8): mathematics, physics, chemistry, etc. All disciplines in the university are united because of the Logos, yet are diverse in method.
Have you ever wondered where the word “university” comes from? It is the marriage of two words, “unity” and “diversity.” University literally means “unity in diversity.”
3. Some of the greatest minds that helped shape Western Civilization are Christian
There is an exhaustive list of intellectuals from the antiquity of Christianity to the present day that have made important contributions in the areas of politics, philosophy and science; from the Apostle Paul to Augustine of Hippo to Thomas Aquinas to modern day Nobel Prize winning scientists Georges Lemaitre and Francis Collins. I would like to distinguish my favourite three Christian intellectuals in recent history who made significant contributions academia.
i. Gregor Mendel (1822-1888) was an Augustinian monk who has come to be known as the “Father of Modern Genetics.” Through his work on plants he discovered and formulated the “law of inheritance” – genes are inherited in pairs and act as distinct units, one from each parent.
ii. Georges Lemaitre (1894-1966) was a physicist and a Catholic priest. Fr. Lemaitre is best known for his formulation of what later came to be called the “Big Bang Theory” by Fred Hoyle. Albert Einstein is said to have referred Fr. Lemaitre’s formulation as “the most beautiful and satisfactory explanation of creation to which I have ever listened.”
iii. Francis Collins (1950 – Present) is a physician/geneticists. Collins is best known for his leadership on the Human Genome Project. He is also the author of one of my favourite books “The Language of God” (2007).
It is my hope that this post will open the minds, eyes, and possibly hearts of those folks who are actively pursuing Truth.
Question: Do you think that faith in God can encourage our intellect?
