When in school, I ran screaming from all science classes and tried to find the settled warmth of the humanites; it is just where I felt most comfortable and successful. But as a preacher who comes to biblical texts from a theological perspective, I have always wondered how scientists hear the Word of God, particularly when reading some of the great Old Testament poetry which uses images from the natural world. I have always wanted to take some sermon time to sit down with a scientist and reflect on scripture. Well, that's exactly what I'm going to do this Sunday.
Conway Leovy is retired professor emeritus of Atmospheric Science at the University of Washington. He and I are going to sit down during worship and share our reflections on Psalm 29, which you'll find on my previous blog post this week. It is a Psalm that praises the God who is present in the storm, a literal storm. The images are powerful and moving. I'm looking forward to hearing his impressions, since I imagine he knows a thing or two about storms. I'll also be asking the congregation for they're comments and questions. Should be enlightening.
Cool! Looking forward to the conversation.
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting that you found comfort in the humanities. As for myself, I found comfort in the math and sciences. I did not take one literature course in all the years I was in college. Even though I read quite a bit, the ethereal and elusive nature of the humanities were beyond my understanding and grasp. Writing about what I read would have been too much of a struggle. I decided to avoid it completely. I can understand the somewhat stable and meticulous process of the sciences. Even though I took one college design course, I wasn't very good at it.
ReplyDeleteI think that in the time of the writings of the Hebrew Bible, sometimes people would tell stories to explain about why something happened. Humans have for a very long time told stories about how they think the world was created, why there are certain animals and not other animals, why humans look and act the way they do, and why things happen the way they happen. When it comes to the fury and the force of a storm, people during that time probably did not have a choice of how to explain something that they did not understand. It sounded like God was very much a part of this psalmist's life. So God being so powerful, it would seem natural for this storm to become God. Today it is very difficult for some people, as Christians, to view these words with the amount of conviction as the author. We have many choices as to how to explain the nature of a powerful storm. I probably would not use the word 'enlightened' because it implies a spiritual awareness. I would word it more toward an 'alternative' view of the storm. Our lives may not be as entrenched in God as the psalmist's life. As a result, some Christians may feel a distance with God.
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