Scripture:
Hebrews 11:1-3
Reflection:
Francis Collins is an American physician-geneticist who discovered the genes associated with a number of diseases, including Cystic Fibrosis. He then led the Human Genome Project from 1993 to 2003 – mapping all the genes in the human body, a project which was completed in 2003. From this important research, new ways of preventing or treating many diseases can be developed.
Collins was appointed to the post of Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) by President Barack Obama in August 2009, and continued to serve in that role under Presidents Donald Trump and now Joe Biden.
Collins was born in 1950 and raised on a small farm in Virginia, USA. He graduated with a degree in chemistry from the University of Virginia in 1970 and gained his Doctorate from Yale university in 1974. He then enrolled in a medical school (‘to broaden my horizons’ [1]) and became a Doctor of Medicine in 1977.
There followed several years of medical practice, and lecturing in academic establishments, until he was appointed to lead the Human Genome project in 1993.
As a graduate, Collins was an atheist. However, one day a patient talked to him about her faith and asked him directly, ‘What do you believe, Doctor?’ He answered, ‘I don’t really know.’ Over the next two years, he investigated various faiths, and as a part of this enquiring, he read Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis. He had originally concluded that faith and reason were opposites, and so faith could not be supported. It was just a blind leap in the absence of evidence. However, when he read Hebrews 11:1,’Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen’ (King James Version), he realised that the Bible gives faith as a definition of evidence. Faith and reason are linked, but faith has the additional element of revelation. This eventually led him, in 1978, to give his life to Christ.
Collins has written a number of books on science, medicine, and religion. He wrote his 2006 autobiographical book, The Language of God, because he believes it possible that "one can be intellectually in a rigorous position and argue that science and faith can be compatible" In it, he says that scientific discoveries are an "opportunity to worship". He sees no incompatibility between science and religion. “The God of the Bible is also the God of the genome,” he wrote. “He can be worshipped in the cathedral or in the laboratory.” He also talks about the Book of God’s words (the Bible) and the Book of God’s works (nature).
Theologically, Collins holds to the position of ‘theistic evolution’ – the notion that God used the process of evolution to create a universe which would support life, especially life in his own image.
Collins states that believers and non-believers faced with an ethical dilemma ‘often apply the same moral law, and come to similar conclusions’. ‘For me, however’, he goes on, ‘I find it highly meaningful and reassuring to know God as the source of that ethical foundation’.
In 2009, Collins founded the BioLogos Foundation, which ‘invites the church and the world to see the harmony between science and biblical faith’. It promotes the belief that Christianity can be reconciled with acceptance of evolution and science.
Collins has received many awards and accolades for his work – from both the scientific and the Christian worlds. In May 2020, Collins became the 50th winner of the Templeton Prize, which ‘Celebrates scientific and spiritual curiosity’. In 2009, Pope Benedict XVI appointed Collins to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences.
Prayer:
Almighty and eternal God,
God of electrons and black holes and supernovas.
God of DNA and mitochondria and single-cell organisms.
God of H20, CO2 and even C60, (the organic molecule, Buckminsterfullerene!)
May our minds be open to the delights that can be revealed through science and technology.
May we be open to questions and mindful of your grace revealed through Jesus Christ,
the origin of all things, the Alpha and the Omega point,
the risen Lord who through a nature beyond nature,
trampled down death by death,
And gave us the endless song, Alleluia. Amen.
Songs:
God of science – a great children’s song by Rend Co Kids which we can all enjoy!
God of wonders – Chris Tomlin
Food for Thought:
Why not take some time this week to explore the relationship between science and faith. The book Real Scientists, Real Faith (Editor R J Berry) is a good place to start.
[1] Quote from Real Scientists, real faith, p.247.
Second picture shows Collins with Anthony Fauci, Chief Medical Advisor to President Biden and a practicing Catholic, and Barbra Streisand, taken in 2018.