If you took out a loan, you would be borrowing capital from someone in exchange for the promise of repayment – generally with interest – at a later date. Some theologians have used the phrase “borrowed capital” to describe what is happening when a non-Christian scientist  “borrows the capital” provided by the Christian worldview and uses that “capital” to make advances in science. This point is well-taken but, in my opinion, not completely accurate. A more precise analogy would be to say that the non-Christian investigates nature successfully by “stealing capital” from the Christian worldview. That is, there is no acknowledgment of debt or promise to repay.

Whether the non-Christian scientist’s use of Christian principles in his work constitutes “borrowing” or “stealing,” this is a concept that needs further explanation. First, it is important to acknowledge that there is no hard and fast distinction between religion and science. God owns everything – his domain is not limited to “religion” but extends over every corner of creation. So it is a mistake for a Christian to yield territory to the non-Christian by acting as if a neutral set of principles exists whereby we can make scientific progress. The territory is all God’s. Therefore, it is also a mistake for an unbeliever to claim autonomy and self-sufficiency in science by not acknowledging that the world is knowable and predictable due to forces outside the realm of nature. Without the doctrines of creation and providence intelligibility in human experience is dependent on the subjectiveness of human autonomy.

The only way to interpret nature rightly is to subordinate it to Scripture. Whether the non-Christian admits this or not, it is the reality. And this reality presupposes that the common distinction made between the knowledge of natural things and the knowledge of heavenly things. As Christians, we must not fall into the trap of this false sacred/secular distinction. We must not fail to recognize Christ’s Lordship over earthly things as well as spiritual ones. If we try to find common ground with the unbeliever by ceding to his false view that human thinking and science is autonomous – detached from a higher reality – in an attempt to convince him of the truth of Christianity, we have already lost half the battle. 

Continued next time.