Session 1 - Can Science Explain Everything?
There is a widely held view that science can explain everything, that science holds all the answers and there is no place for faith in God. This is the materialist world-view – that all that there is is matter and all that matters is matter. The physical world is what you see or can observe scientifically and that there is nothing more. People who hold this view might be termed materialists or physicalists. However, whereas there may be only a small number of people who hold this view as a thought-out philosophical position, there a many more of us who live in this way and so in reality are functional materialists. The materialist worldview is gently but powerfully challenged in this study by John Lennox. In this study we gain a ‘big-picture’ overview of the relationship between science and the Christian faith. In a series of short videos, taken from a longer lecture, we hear John’s responses to questions that have been posed to him on the theme ‘Can science explain everything?’.
Professor John Lennox is a retired Professor of Mathematics at the University of Oxford and a well-known apologist for the Christian faith. One of his recent books is entitled ‘Can Science explain everything?’ and is available from the Good Book Company (Can Science Explain Everything? – John Lennox | The Good Book Company).
The main themes covered in this study are: the limitations of science, the conflict between science and faith, the Big Bang theory of cosmology and Genesis, the nature of truth, miracles, a Christian view of suffering.
These notes are intended for private or small group study. Please watch each video clip and then consider the associated study questions. In order to give enough time for discussion it is intended that the session lasts between 60-75 minutes.
Want to watch the entire talk?
This session resource has been broken down into multiple parts in order to make it more suitable for group discussion. However, if you are interested in watching the full recording of the session, we’ve made the full talk available here.