David grew up exploring the natural places where there were few people. But his love for nature led him back to people and to a deep desire to understand why we have the ideas that we have about the world. His training in both philosophy and biology has given him an ability to explore these questions from many different angles. In the episode, David tells of his circuitous journey, from childhood to his current career, and how his scientific view of the world and his spiritual view of the world were developed in a way that made them inseparable. Then Jim and David talk about cultural evolution and how the ideas interplay with the current landscape of faith and science in the United States.
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60. David Lahti | Nature, Culture & Evolution

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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.
Register for the 2024 Science and Faith Conference, April 17 - 19 | Raleigh, NC

170. The Sacred Chain | The Challenge of Pain and Suffering

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.
Register for the 2024 Science and Faith Conference, April 17 - 19 | Raleigh, NC

169. The Sacred Chain | The Challenge of Time

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. 
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.
Register for the 2024 Science and Faith Conference, April 17 - 19 | Raleigh, NC

168. The Sacred Chain | The Challenge of the Bible

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.
Register for the 2024 Science and Faith Conference, April 17 - 19 | Raleigh, NC

167. Jonathan Haidt & Francis Collins | Technology, Mental Health, & the Role of Faith

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.
Register for the 2024 Science and Faith Conference, April 17 - 19 | Raleigh, NC

60. David Lahti | Nature, Culture & Evolution

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