Language of God

The science of evolution has caused friction for many Christians. And science does pose some challenges to the way people have been taught to think about their faith, but those challenges don’t have to lead to a decision to reject faith—or to reject the findings of science. In fact, understanding science can lead to a deeper faith.  Jim Stump, host of Language of God has a new book coming out—The Sacred Chain: How Understanding Evolution Leads to a Deeper Faith. In this series Jim walks through three of the challenges posed by science.  The challenge of pain and suffering is a crucial tension and one that has vexed people for millennia. Without solving the problem, we can at least break it down and see how a world which includes pain and suffering is also a world in which creatures might have the capacity to become morally mature. Featuring clips from previous conversations with Bethany Sollereder and Simon Conway Morris. This is the third of a three part mini-series. Theme song and credits music by Breakmaster Cylinder. Other music in this episode by Vesper Tapes and Ricky Bombino, courtesy of Shutterstock, Inc. Join a conversation about this episode on the BioLogos Forum.

The science of evolution has caused friction for many Christians. And science does pose some challenges to the way people have been taught to think about their faith, but those challenges don’t have to lead to a decision to reject faith—or to reject the findings of science. In fact, understanding science can lead to a deeper faith.  Jim Stump, host of Language of God has a new book coming out—The Sacred Chain: How Understanding Evolution Leads to a Deeper Faith. In this series Jim walks through three of the challenges posed by science.  The challenge of the time explores the long time spans of the earth and the universe and what it means about being a human loved by God in the here and now. Featuring clips from previous conversations with John Walton & Makoto Fujimura. This is the second of a three part mini-series. Theme song and credits music by Breakmaster Cylinder. Other music in this episode by Babel, Nick Petrov, & Vesper Tapes, courtesy of Shutterstock, Inc. Join a conversation about this episode on the BioLogos Forum.

The science of evolution has caused friction for many Christians. And science does pose some challenges to the way people have been taught to think about their faith, but those challenges don’t have to lead to a decision to reject faith—or to reject the findings of science. In fact, understanding science can lead to a deeper faith.  Jim Stump, host of Language of God has a new book coming out—The Sacred Chain: How Understanding Evolution Leads to a Deeper Faith. In this series Jim walks through three of the challenges posed by science.  The challenge of the Bible asks how we can continue to affirm the Bible as inspired and authoritative if the human authors believed incorrect things about the world. Did God correct their cultural-bound beliefs, or work through them, as God has always worked with imperfect people?  Richard Middleton joins Jim for the second part of this episode to talk about biblical inspiration from the perspective of a bible scholar, and the episode features clips from a previous episode with Philip Yancey.  This is the first of a three part mini-series. Theme song and credits music by Breakmaster Cylinder. Other music in this episode by Vesper Tapes, courtesy of Shutterstock, Inc. Join a conversation about this episode on the BioLogos Forum.  

Special guest-host Francis Collins discusses the children's mental health epidemic with Jonathan Haidt. Haidt has been studying the causes of the high rates of depression and suicide in children for many years and has found that social media is at the root of the worsening trends. But he doesn’t just have causes in mind. He also has solutions. In this discussion--and in his new book, The Anxious Generation--he proposes solutions to be put into place in the home, in schools, and by governments. He also calls out faith communities, understanding that they can lead the way in reversing the trend of declining mental health of children. Theme song and credits music by Breakmaster Cylinder. Other music in this episode by Magnetize Music, courtesy of Shutterstock, Inc.  Join a conversation about this episode on the BioLogos Forum.

Molly Worthen is a historian by training and wrote the book, Apostles of Reason, which explores the history of evangelicalism in America. When she wrote the book about 10 years ago, she approached the topic as an outsider, identifying as an agnostic. Then in 2022, she rather surprisingly found herself getting baptized at the front of a large evangelical Southern Baptist megachurch. In the conversation she tells the story of her conversion and questions she asked, including questions about miracles, science, and what it means to be intellectually engaged and also believe in the resurrection of Christ.  This conversation was recorded in front of a live audience at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary on February 21, 2024.  Theme song and credits music by Breakmaster Cylinder. Other music in this episode by Titan Sound, courtesy of Shutterstock, Inc.  Join a conversation about this episode on the BioLogos Forum.      

A bonus clip from an interview with Steven McMullen for our series The Gift of Food.

A bonus clip from an interview with Aminah Al-Attas Bradford for our series The Gift of Food.

A bonus clip from an interview with Derrick Weston for our series The Gift of Food.

A bonus clip from an interview with Shauna Niequist for our series The Gift of Food.

In the last episode of the series we ask several related questions: How does the idea of food as a gift fit with the fact that food is also an economic commodity? How does food play into issues of justice? And how can food, instead of dividing us, bring us together? Finally, we end by discussing what all this means about how we should eat. When we eat with love as our guiding principle, it may not always be simple, but it may be more delicious.  This is the last episode of a five part mini-series. Learn more about the series and find related resources at biologos.org/the-gift-of-food. Theme song and credits music by Breakmaster Cylinder. Other music in this episode by Northern Points, Babel, Magnetize Music, Diverse Music, Titan Sound, Nathan King, Mike Meehan, & Ballian De Moulle courtesy of Shutterstock, Inc. Join a conversation about this episode on the BioLogos Forum.

As creatures that must eat to live, human life is dependent on taking the lives of other creatures. In this episode, we explore ethics, science, and theology behind taking the lives of animals who become our food. In the process, we meet some of the animals and some of the people who raise them. We end up with at least as many questions as when we started and yet we also find a richer appreciation for the ways in which we are connected to other creatures through eating.  This is part four of a five part mini-series. Learn more about the series and find related resources at biologos.org/the-gift-of-food. Theme song and credits music by Breakmaster Cylinder. Other music in this episode by Northern Points, Tiny Music, High Street Music, Klaus Hergersheimer, Titan Sound, Mike Meehan, & Vesper Tapes, courtesy of Shutterstock, Inc. Join a conversation about this episode on the BioLogos Forum.

Taste is a sense that sometimes gets overshadowed by sight and sound, but it has played a crucial role in the development of our species. Some expert guides help us understand what is happening in our brains when we eat. We also talk about food and cooking and the roles they have played in making humans what we are today.  This is part three of a five part mini-series. Learn more about the series and find related resources at biologos.org/the-gift-of-food. Theme song and credits music by Breakmaster Cylinder. Other music in this episode by High Street Music, Klimenko Music, Northern Points, Tiny music, Glory House, Vesper Tapes, Liam Mansfield, Klaus Hergersheimer, Babel, and Nick Petrov, courtesy of Shutterstock, Inc. Join a conversation about this episode on the BioLogos Forum.

The idea of food as a gift is one that comes to us frequently in scripture. In this episode we look to the Bible and see if we can better understand God’s intended relationship to food. Beginning with the Old Testament, we explore how ancient Israelites might have thought about food. In the New Testament we see Jesus continually gathering around a table and feeding people, and even many of his miracles were food related. And at the last supper, food takes on even more significance as the elements of communion. This is part two of a five part mini-series. Learn more about the series and find related resources at biologos.org/the-gift-of-food. Theme song and credits music by Breakmaster Cylinder. Other music in this episode by Tiny Music, High Street Music, Klimenko Music, Lost Harmonies, Klaus Hergersheimer, Babel, & Chill Cord courtesy of Shutterstock, Inc. Join a conversation about this episode on the BioLogos Forum.

Food is a great connector. It can connect us to the ground and the soil that produces food, to the plants and animals that turn into food, and to one another. It also has the possibility of connecting us better to God. In part one of the series we talk about some of these connections, eventually leading us to the idea that food is a gift. In the rest of the series we’ll consider what that might mean about how we eat, what we eat, and how gathering around a table, whether it’s a communion table or a dining room table, can strengthen our connections to the world, to each other, and to God.  This is part one of a five part mini-series. Learn more about the series and find related resources at biologos.org/the-gift-of-food. Theme song and credits music by Breakmaster Cylinder. Other music in this episode by Tiny Music, Vesper Tapes, and Babel courtesy of Shutterstock, Inc.  Join a conversation about this episode on the BioLogos Forum.    

Talking about any hard topic—science and faith included—requires first recognizing the person on the other end of the conversation. That’s what David Brooks set out to do and is the result of his most recent book, How to Know a Person, The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen. He draws on neuroscience in order to understand how to see and be seen by others, but ultimately this is a habit that must be formed by practice and it is one that will help us all to have better conversations and relationships.  Theme song and credits music by Breakmaster Cylinder. Other music in this episode by Babel, courtesy of Shutterstock, Inc. Join a conversation about this episode on the BioLogos Forum.

In the last couple of decades, we have solved the question of whether there are other earth-like planets in the universe by finding evidence of billions of them. But while we don’t know whether there could be life on those planets—or what it would be like if there was—we can still explore the theological questions that might arise if we did find life. These questions might seem like they don’t have much relevance for us, but besides being fun to think about, they help us to refine the theology of things like the incarnation and what it means for us here on earth. Join a conversation about this episode on the BioLogos Forum.

Being a good neighbor in a wide and complicated world can be challenging. Emily Smith has attempted to share her scientific knowledge with the hopes that it can contribute to neighborliness and even help to identify those who are most in need of the caring that can come from medical help.  Emily is known to many as the Friendly Neighbor Epidemiologist. Her work as an epidemiologist is to study how disease and illness affects populations, specifically those who don’t have access to many resources. In the episode, she talks about epidemiology and about the pushback that came from her attempts to share information during the COVID pandemic. And she talks about her new book, The Science of the Good Samaritan: Thinking Bigger About Loving Our Neighbors. Theme song and credits music by Breakmaster Cylinder. Other music in this episode by Babel, courtesy of Shutterstock, Inc. Join a conversation about this episode on the BioLogos Forum.

Jessica Moerman’s scientific research has included the study of stalagmites in Bornean caves and digging up ancient lakes in Africa. Through this work, she and other paleoclimatologists—those who study the climate of the past—have started to piece together the puzzle of how earth’s climate has changed in the past, which helps us to understand how it could change in the future. For Jessica, science has always been a tool for ministry and for understanding God’s creation. That idea has led her to her current role as the CEO of the Evangelical Environmental Network where she is able to share her knowledge of science, her passion for ministry and the call to act to bring about a healthy future. Theme song and credits music by Breakmaster Cylinder. Other music in this episode by Northern Points, courtesy of Shutterstock, Inc. Join a conversation about this episode on the BioLogos Forum.  

Joanna Ng has worked on many projects which have been turned into tools we use everyday. In the episode she talks about the journey to become a Master Inventor and some of the highlights of her career and then discusses some of the risks that come from putting too much trust in computers and artificial intelligence. Glossary of Terms: Groundtruth: The information or data that acts as a reference point against which we can measure the performance of computer programs or algorithms. Compiler: A special computer program that turns the code that programmers write into something a computer can understand and run. It's like a translator between humans and computers. Parsing: Parsing in computer science is like grammar-checking a sentence. It looks at the code to make sure all the parts are in the right order and make sense together, so the computer can understand what to do. Black box: A system or device where you can see what goes in and what comes out, but you don't know exactly how it works on the inside.  Bootstrap: The initial push that gets a computer or program running so it can do more complicated tasks on its own. Just like you need that first push to start pedaling a bike, a computer needs a bootstrap to get going. Theme song and credits music by Breakmaster Cylinder. Other music in this episode by Titan Sound, courtesy of Shutterstock, Inc. Join a conversation about this episode on the BioLogos Forum.

Sy Montgomery has been writing about animals for over 30 years and has befriended many fascinating creatures in those years. Both turtles and octopuses, subjects of two of her books, are ancient relatives of ours, separated from humans by millions of years of evolution. That hasn’t stopped Sy from connecting with individuals of each of these species, learning something about their amazing and special capabilities but also finding a surprising commonality that allows for a deep connection. In the conversation Sy shares her love for all creatures and calls for us to reach into our limitless compassion to care for the creatures that make our world bright and beautiful.  This conversation was recorded live in Grand Rapids, Michigan at the BioLogos Creation Care Summit on October 7th.  Join a conversation about this episode on the BioLogos Forum.