Beyond Conflict & Independence: When Faith and Science Meet

Dr. Derek Gingerich in collaboration with Dr. Jamie Lyman-Gingerich,

Assoc. Professors of Biology, University of Wisconsin Eau Claire

I am a molecular geneticist that studies plants, with an interest in how plants respond to their environment (particularly the light environment). In doing this work, I spend a lot of time looking at molecular structures and pathways, and gene and genome sequences. The genome is, of course, the instructions for the building and development of an organism. It is the differences in these instructions that account for many of the differences we see between the structure and function of different individuals and species and it is changes in the instructions that are a critical driver of the evolutionary process. By studying genomes, we can learn a great deal about why organisms function the way they do and how the evolutionary process works. I believe that evolution is the process by which the creation of living organisms occurred, but I also believe in God and His involvement in His creation. Given this, I believe I am learning something about God as I study evolution and its outcomes.

What does my work as a scientist, studying physical/natural processes, tell me about God? First, I will list some key characteristics I see in living organisms, their genomes, and the evolutionary process. These characteristics are:

1. A mix of beautifully and precisely engineered elements with a lot of messiness, randomness, and imperfection.
2. A process where creativity is central.
3. A process where creation is continuous, ongoing, but doesn’t always proceed in a straight line.

4.  A process where small changes can have large effects.
5. But also a process where many changes have no effect.

1. A mix of beautifully and precisely engineered elements with a lot of messiness, randomness, and imperfection.  There are instructions in the genome that are  wonderfully precise and appear beautifully fine-tuned   Many genes function efficiently and very well. For many genes we see high similarity of their sequences across many organisms, suggesting those genes have been fine-tuned to be very specific, probably because a specific sequence is critical for function.

At the same time, we see a surprising amount of messiness. Bits and pieces of things that are nonfunctional. For example, a bane of my existence in the research I do are so-called “pseudogenes”. These are genes that were perhaps functional in the past but have been mutated so they no longer work. You see lots of these in genomes, as well as parts of genes scattered randomly in genomes.

2.  There is creativity in the evolutionary process. Creativity involves the creation of the new and novel. In evolution the new and novel comes from the process of mutation. These are random changes in genomes. Mutation provides a constant toolkit for nature to experiment with. Many of these changes will be irrelevant to the function of the organism, some will negatively affect the organism in some way (and may be selected out of the population over time), and a few will produce an effect that makes the organism function better within the context of its environment.

3. The third feature is process. Very little in evolution is instantaneous or proceeds in a straight line. Changes accumulate and develop over time. A beneficial mutation appears in a population, but it may take many generations for it to predominate there. It may even be lost, just because of chance. The process works in fits and starts, and even seems to go backwards at times. There are dead ends.

4. Small changes can make a big difference. There is a huge amount of interconnection and crosstalk in biological systems. For this reason, a single change in one entity can have sweeping effects.

5. Conversely, many changes make no difference. This connects back to my first point. As mentioned, many (actually, most) changes in genomes have no detectable effect (either positive or negative) for the organism.

Overall these characteristics are the fingerprints of a process that involves (apparently) random events (mutations) that are acted upon by a decidedly non-random process (natural selection). All of these features are what you would expect as an outcome of a process that works this way. So, what do these characteristics of living organisms and the process that have created them tell me about God as creator? Remember, my perspective is that God is using the evolutionary process as the mechanism by which creation of living organisms occurs.

First, creation is a process, it is not something that happened at a specific point in time in the past. It is ongoing. God has created a world that constantly changes. It’s never static. As William Carroll notes: “Creation is not essentially some distant event; rather, it is the on-going complete causing of the existence of all that is.” God is a God that constantly creates.

Second, God works with his creation to achieve outcomes. Although God has a guiding hand in initiating the natural forces that modify and modulate creation, God does not control the specific direction and outcomes of those processes, at least in the way that we humans think about “control”. There is freedom there. And I believe it is a true form of freedom. God’s will in creation is not achieved through brute force or by overriding the natural systems that underlie the creation process. Instead, creation 

occurs as these natural processes God has set in motion perform their functions. I believe there is a corollary here with the way that God interacts with us. Most Christians are comfortable with a core paradox that relates to us and our existence. We believe that God is in control, that there is a divine plan for history and also for our own lives. At the same time, we believe that free will is truly free. We can affect outcomes. We are not puppets. There is something critically important about this  reality. God’s creation (including us) would be fundamentally different, and its relationship with God would be fundamentally different, if that freedom were not there. God wants people who choose relationship with him of their own free will and I believe that he wants a creation that also has its own freedom and its own creativity baked in. To me it seems a system like this is something that a truly all-powerful, all-loving divine being would create, as opposed to a simplistic process of miraculously creating everything more-or-less fully-formed at a specific point in time and then afterward that creation being largely static.

Third, as I said, in evolution small things/small changes can have big, far-reaching effects. God has designed a creation system that has this feature. And I see a strong correlation with the way God chooses to act in human affairs. Over and over in the Bible we see God selecting specific individuals and groups (existing at specific points in history and located in very specific geographical locations) through which to work His plan for all of humankind. He worked through Abraham and his family, the nation of Israel, the prophets, and then ultimately Jesus, one individual who lived a specific location at a specific time but through that life achieved redemption for us all. This says something about God. He works through his creation, not (usually) by overriding, overpowering, or imposing on it. Nature and human society has interconnections and he makes use of those to create change through process. In the Bible we see over and over that God works through flawed individuals. He favors the weak and dispossessed. He uses people who don’t have much worldly power or influence to accomplish his goals. In nature, because of evolution, we have a system where the initially small, local, and apparently mundane can have far-reaching consequences. Mammals started as an insignificant group of small animals at the time that dinosaurs ruled the earth. Ultimately the world would be changed by them. For me, this is a far more compelling story of creation and points to a far greater God, then a story where everything appeared 10,000 years ago largely in their current forms.  

I’ll finish with a recent quote from Aaron Griffith, a professor of history at Whitworth University, who wrote: “Christians have always been comfortable with the notion that God is present and active amid the mundane and the material (think the bread and wine of the Eucharist), even if how remains a mystery.” I really like this quote. The miraculous is indeed important and God does use it in critical ways. I would not be a Christian if I did not believe in the resurrection. But God also works (and I believe primarily works) in and through his creation and his people (through the material). When I study my plants in my lab, I am getting a glimpse of that. When I interact with my students, I am getting a glimpse of that, as well. Thank you.

Beyond Conflict & Independence: When Faith and Science Meet

Dr. Derek Gingerich in collaboration with Dr. Jamie Lyman-Gingerich,

Assoc. Professors of Biology, University of Wisconsin Eau Claire

I am a molecular geneticist that studies plants, with an interest in how plants respond to their environment (particularly the light environment). In doing this work, I spend a lot of time looking at molecular structures and pathways, and gene and genome sequences. The genome is, of course, the instructions for the building and development of an organism. It is the differences in these instructions that account for many of the differences we see between the structure and function of different individuals and species and it is changes in the instructions that are a critical driver of the evolutionary process. By studying genomes, we can learn a great deal about why organisms function the way they do and how the evolutionary process works. I believe that evolution is the process by which the creation of living organisms occurred, but I also believe in God and His involvement in His creation. Given this, I believe I am learning something about God as I study evolution and its outcomes.

What does my work as a scientist, studying physical/natural processes, tell me about God? First, I will list some key characteristics I see in living organisms, their genomes, and the evolutionary process. These characteristics are:

1. A mix of beautifully and precisely engineered elements with a lot of messiness, randomness, and imperfection.
2. A process where creativity is central.
3. A process where creation is continuous, ongoing, but doesn’t always proceed in a straight line.

4.  A process where small changes can have large effects.
5. But also a process where many changes have no effect.

1. A mix of beautifully and precisely engineered elements with a lot of messiness, randomness, and imperfection.  There are instructions in the genome that are  wonderfully precise and appear beautifully fine-tuned   Many genes function efficiently and very well. For many genes we see high similarity of their sequences across many organisms, suggesting those genes have been fine-tuned to be very specific, probably because a specific sequence is critical for function.

At the same time, we see a surprising amount of messiness. Bits and pieces of things that are nonfunctional. For example, a bane of my existence in the research I do are so-called “pseudogenes”. These are genes that were perhaps functional in the past but have been mutated so they no longer work. You see lots of these in genomes, as well as parts of genes scattered randomly in genomes.

2.  There is creativity in the evolutionary process. Creativity involves the creation of the new and novel. In evolution the new and novel comes from the process of mutation. These are random changes in genomes. Mutation provides a constant toolkit for nature to experiment with. Many of these changes will be irrelevant to the function of the organism, some will negatively affect the organism in some way (and may be selected out of the population over time), and a few will produce an effect that makes the organism function better within the context of its environment.

3. The third feature is process. Very little in evolution is instantaneous or proceeds in a straight line. Changes accumulate and develop over time. A beneficial mutation appears in a population, but it may take many generations for it to predominate there. It may even be lost, just because of chance. The process works in fits and starts, and even seems to go backwards at times. There are dead ends.

4. Small changes can make a big difference. There is a huge amount of interconnection and crosstalk in biological systems. For this reason, a single change in one entity can have sweeping effects.

5. Conversely, many changes make no difference. This connects back to my first point. As mentioned, many (actually, most) changes in genomes have no detectable effect (either positive or negative) for the organism.

Overall these characteristics are the fingerprints of a process that involves (apparently) random events (mutations) that are acted upon by a decidedly non-random process (natural selection). All of these features are what you would expect as an outcome of a process that works this way. So, what do these characteristics of living organisms and the process that have created them tell me about God as creator? Remember, my perspective is that God is using the evolutionary process as the mechanism by which creation of living organisms occurs.

First, creation is a process, it is not something that happened at a specific point in time in the past. It is ongoing. God has created a world that constantly changes. It’s never static. As William Carroll notes: “Creation is not essentially some distant event; rather, it is the on-going complete causing of the existence of all that is.” God is a God that constantly creates.

Second, God works with his creation to achieve outcomes. Although God has a guiding hand in initiating the natural forces that modify and modulate creation, God does not control the specific direction and outcomes of those processes, at least in the way that we humans think about “control”. There is freedom there. And I believe it is a true form of freedom. God’s will in creation is not achieved through brute force or by overriding the natural systems that underlie the creation process. Instead, creation 

occurs as these natural processes God has set in motion perform their functions. I believe there is a corollary here with the way that God interacts with us. Most Christians are comfortable with a core paradox that relates to us and our existence. We believe that God is in control, that there is a divine plan for history and also for our own lives. At the same time, we believe that free will is truly free. We can affect outcomes. We are not puppets. There is something critically important about this  reality. God’s creation (including us) would be fundamentally different, and its relationship with God would be fundamentally different, if that freedom were not there. God wants people who choose relationship with him of their own free will and I believe that he wants a creation that also has its own freedom and its own creativity baked in. To me it seems a system like this is something that a truly all-powerful, all-loving divine being would create, as opposed to a simplistic process of miraculously creating everything more-or-less fully-formed at a specific point in time and then afterward that creation being largely static.

Third, as I said, in evolution small things/small changes can have big, far-reaching effects. God has designed a creation system that has this feature. And I see a strong correlation with the way God chooses to act in human affairs. Over and over in the Bible we see God selecting specific individuals and groups (existing at specific points in history and located in very specific geographical locations) through which to work His plan for all of humankind. He worked through Abraham and his family, the nation of Israel, the prophets, and then ultimately Jesus, one individual who lived a specific location at a specific time but through that life achieved redemption for us all. This says something about God. He works through his creation, not (usually) by overriding, overpowering, or imposing on it. Nature and human society has interconnections and he makes use of those to create change through process. In the Bible we see over and over that God works through flawed individuals. He favors the weak and dispossessed. He uses people who don’t have much worldly power or influence to accomplish his goals. In nature, because of evolution, we have a system where the initially small, local, and apparently mundane can have far-reaching consequences. Mammals started as an insignificant group of small animals at the time that dinosaurs ruled the earth. Ultimately the world would be changed by them. For me, this is a far more compelling story of creation and points to a far greater God, then a story where everything appeared 10,000 years ago largely in their current forms.  

I’ll finish with a recent quote from Aaron Griffith, a professor of history at Whitworth University, who wrote: “Christians have always been comfortable with the notion that God is present and active amid the mundane and the material (think the bread and wine of the Eucharist), even if how remains a mystery.” I really like this quote. The miraculous is indeed important and God does use it in critical ways. I would not be a Christian if I did not believe in the resurrection. But God also works (and I believe primarily works) in and through his creation and his people (through the material). When I study my plants in my lab, I am getting a glimpse of that. When I interact with my students, I am getting a glimpse of that, as well. Thank you.