Science, Tech and Medicine

One of the most important doctrines in Christianity is the doctrine of  creation. Christians confess that God created all that exists that is  not God. In our vocabulary today, we are referring to energy-matter and  the undetectable dark energy/dark matter.

A tenable doctrine of creation must account for and find convergence  with what we know about nature, To this end, I examine the history of  science, technology and medicine. 

The History of Science, Technology and Medicine reflects the  influences of these fields on society and culture from prehistory to the  present. 

My interest is in the interfaces between these three  disciplines and how they shaped our understanding of the world we live  in throughout history. Religious knowledge and convictions were not  immune to these influences and indeed, most of the theological doctrines  evolved alongside our increasing understanding of how the world works. 

For instance, the science and technology that enabled the building of  the pyramids to mark the movement of the stars influenced the religious  narratives of the Egyptians. 

The invention of writing 5000 years ago  that ushered in the age of history began to fix religious ideas,  culminating first with the invention of the Chinese printing press (the  Diamond Sutra of 886 is the oldest known printed text) followed by the  Chinese movable printing press in 1040, and finally improved upon by  Johan Gutenberg in the 1450s, standardized written texts, including any  typographical errors. Today, digital technology once again makes for a  fluid publication of ideas. This technological history enabled a  specific brand of religious convictions with regard to sacred scriptures  and holy writings. 

The discovery of the lodestone in China led to the invention of the  magnetic compass, which in turn, paved the way for the age of discovery.  Better navigation techniques led to the exploration of the world  through the high seas with the high point reached by the return of the  remaining ship from Magellan’s fleet in 1522. This caused a  reinterpretation of divine creation and the magnitude of the world. It  ushered in the age of international missions by sea. 

The 1600s refinement of the telescope and microscope opened up new world  of outer space and inner space, again reshaping how theologians  portrayed the Kingdom of God. It should be noted that the major impulse  for experimental science was the Christian quest to recover Adam’s lost  knowledge. The aim was to alleviate human suffering and then to reach  divine knowledge.

When Neil Armstrong walked on the moon in 1969, it stunned the world’s  great religious practitioners, some of whom believed that the lunar  landscape held supernatural powers. It helped us shed some theological  cobwebs.Written history dates no further than 5000 years and artifacts  dated no further than 200,000 years ago. These form the limits of what  historical research can tell us about our origins, but modern history  shows us to be the prime adaptive predator and most successful species ever known.

My goal is such research projects is to clarify the spiritual claims of  the Christian church in the light of modern knowledge about the world.