Faithful Learning in Science- God and His Creation

By: Mr. Jeff Kirkpatrick (High School Science and Photography Teacher)

As both a student and a teacher of science over the past 25 years of my life Ive had many occasions
to think deeply about what it means to be a faithful follower of Jesus within this sphere of
knowledge and practice. One of the pleasant aspects of my time here at Rosslyn Academy has been
the opportunity to teach a class on environmental science. It will come as no surprise to those who
know me that this is an area of deep passion in my life, and this passion stems out of my love for
God and his creation. As I have struggled with ways in which to pass on the importance of this
pursuit to my students year after year, my thoughts always have gone back to two important
passages in the Bible. The first, at the very beginning of the narrative of Scripture, is the interaction
of God with himself in community, who, in the process of enabling mankind to take his place in the
created order, says let us make mankind in our Image. The ancients would likely have understood
this in the context of a kings dominion being placed in the hands of a faithful steward the Kings
image-bearer. This image-bearing role that has been given to mankind inspires me (and hopefully,
through me to my students) to be a faithful steward of all Gods creation as someone divinely
ordained to represent God and his purposes throughout all he has made.

In the second passage, Jesus, speaking to the crowds and to his disciples, when asked about the
greatest commandment, reiterates the Shema, that prayer of faithfulness that all devout Jews would
pray each day Love the Lord your God with all your Heart, Mind, Soul and Strength. He then
goes on to say that the rest of the greatest commandment is to love our neighbors as an extension
of this love for God. This then precipitates the well-known story of the Good Samaritan where Jesus
turns convention on its head and in no uncertain terms tells his listeners and us that our
neighbor relation extends to those most unlikely to be considered our neighbors. Theologian
Reinhold Neibuhr argues that this analogy extends to include both future generations of people and
to non-human creation. As I emphasize with my students, this means that my image-bearing role as
Gods steward places on me the responsibility to care for the created order, in a way that allows it to
flourish in its own God-appointed role and also seeks to allow all of humanity, both living now and
living in the future, to enjoy and benefit from this complex living world. I can only be effective in this
vocation if I dedicate my whole being to understanding the intricacies of creation.