How do we place our discipline and our teaching within the Christian narrative? What does it mean, as an academic professor, to submit my subject material to the Word of God as Glanzer suggests? Having already discussed an academic meta-theory and how to redeem it in a Christian context, I want to look more concretely at how academic material can be redeemed in a classroom setting. Although there are many avenues to get students thinking in a Christian way, here I want to discuss how to get students to view biology in a Creation, Fall, Redemption mindset.
At the outset, we see God’s good plan of creation involved science as Adam engages in phylogeny and taxonomy, naming the animals (Genesis 2:19-20). One of God’s earliest commands is to “fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth” (Genesis 1:28 ESV). Surely, at the bare minimum, this calls for some study to best understand how to obey God’s directive. From here, it’s easy to see how the Fall disrupted and corrupted Creation, and how we’ve spent the rest of history trying to reverse this condition. All of our small victories in medicine and conservation are pointers towards the greater redemption achieved by Christ to be consummated in His second coming with the new heavens and new earth (Isaiah 65:17, Revelation 21:5).
But I’ve found in my own life, and therefore I can only assume in the lives of my students, it’s not enough to frame my classes with these ideas. It’s not enough to open class on the first day with Psalm 19:1: “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork” (ESV). I can’t just say it, I have to live it. We have to practice it, repeat it, and see the strength of the story shine through against all the other mechanistic secular stories that constantly inundate us. This isn’t a “one and done” kind of thing. You can’t just put it on the syllabus and check it off. I’ve found that I need to find ways to get the Gospel story in front of students clearly and regularly. Like much learned material, repeated exposure makes it easier to recognize, habitualize, and internalize the content. It is certainly easier to conform with the ceaseless tides of naturalistic narratives that endlessly pound us. But, by the empowering work of the Holy Spirit, we can resist the onslaught with the clear story of the Gospel. Here are just a few ways I attempt to practice this in my classes:
Repeated Framework: Course Objectives
Course objectives can set the tone for expectations, so I try to lead with these concepts so students can know what to expect. The introduction to my General Biology Lab Manual, which many students are reading on their first or second day of college, says,
“This lab manual is designed to give glory to God by highlighting themes of beauty, design, stewardship/ethics, and the creation/fall/redemption story. Although other themes could be employed, this lab manual and the associated course it’s situated within will work to develop a greater appreciation for our Lord and Creator with these themes.
Alongside these more academic themes, we aim to develop a passion for science, love for others, pursuit of holiness and truth, and a sense of amazement at our Triune, Father God. This is in recognition of the fact that knowledge alone does not make us wise, but rather situating that knowledge within the fear of the Lord will be most beneficial in the long run.
‘The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,
and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight’ (Prov 9:10 ESV).”
Repeated Framework: Lab
Each week, the lab manual asks them to think about Creation/Fall/Redemption. Here’s an example of some of the questions from the week on Microscopes:
Describe how what you’ve seen today affects how you think about God and about yourself.
Although God created the world good, the Fall has marred all aspects of Creation, including the microscopic. Name three human diseases caused by microscopic organisms.
Despite the Fall, we have the hope of the resurrection and the new heavens and new earth. We can begin to see shadows of what that might look like even now. Name three ways humans have used microscopic organisms for the betterment of humanity and/or Earth.
Repeated Framework: Class
This pattern is also modeled in the classroom. Here’s one example of how this might be done with a topic like Meiosis (how cells divide for sexual reproduction). Textbooks often present it as a series of steps to be memorized: during Prophase, something happens. During Metaphase, the next thing happens, and so on. But this approach misses out on so much Gospel excitement!
It has been helpful to begin with a short video clip of a drone show and ask students why it’s impressive and enjoyable. Many of the attributes that get mentioned also apply to meiosis. This leads naturally into the “Creation” part of the story as we walk through the steps of meiosis: God’s original beautiful design. Meiosis displays incredible beauty and ingenuity in the steps. There’s elegant complexity that solves multiple problems at once, but there’s also parsimonious efficiency – the solutions aren’t needlessly complex. There’s harmony with multiple parts (machinery) moving together to create an aesthetic appeal. Organized complexity is an astoundingly inspiring sight!
However, the Fall has also led to brokenness in the process. All creation, including meiotic processes, groans to be set free from the bondage of sin (Romans 8:21-22). We can see this clearly when meiosis goes awry. Nondisjunction results in aneuploidy. That means sometimes genetic material fails to separate evenly, so new gametic cells (sperm or eggs) can have too little or too much genetic material. This results in things like Down Syndrome (an extra copy of Chromosome 21) or an increased risk of cancer.
And yet, all is not lost. Despite the problems, we recognize that those who suffer from the Fall in this way are still made in God’s image. They still carry the hope of the resurrection, and so we try to bring a glimmer of that hope of redemption to this world while we await the final consummation. We can discuss how we can bring relief of symptoms outwardly as well as Gospel healing inwardly. There is also some recent exciting research where these kinds of aneuploidy issues can be rescued and returned to a normal state using genetic engineering in cultured cells. These kinds of fixes cannot cure our mortality, but they provide glimmers of the greater redemption that is promised: “And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies” (Romans 8:23 ESV).
And so, what was a series of facts to be memorized has been elevated to doxology. Ideally, students have learned something about the steps of meiosis, but more importantly, they’ve been inspired to worship and praise God in new ways.
I’m still learning to do this and growing each year, but I thought it might be encouraging to see one person’s attempt at it. May we spur one another on in this way, leaving no stone unturned, seeking to glorify God in our teaching.
After all,
“For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen” (Romans 11:36 ESV).
Thank you for your pursuit to return God’s glory back to Him.