It only occurred to me about halfway through my career that I could use my professional training (as well as my platform as a university teacher) to facilitate Kingdom building.
I had always imagined that this was possible for liberal arts professors who teach philosophy or literature, but I taught Materials Science and Engineering.
But as C.S. Lewis said, “I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.”
At Texas A&M, I began to explore more deeply how science, and the presuppositions behind the scientific enterprise, relate to the Christian faith.
In the second half of the 20th Century, the “battlefield” between theism and atheism increasingly moved from philosophy to science. As a result, the developments in our scientific understanding of origins of the universe, of first life, and of the diversity of life emerged as the new frontlines of this battle.
It occurred to me that I might be able to synthesize these developments into talks that highlighted the many new discoveries in science that were supportive of theism. My talks focused on the question “Is There Scientific Evidence for the Existence of God?”
I have had the opportunity to make campus-wide presentations on more than 100 campuses across the United States to over 75,000 students and professors, many of whom are agnostics. The robust Q&A times that follow the talks serve to establish the reasonableness of the claims that I make in the talk.
As part of this journey, I have co-authored The Mystery of Life’s Origin: Reassessing Current Theories, which was reviewed more or less favorably in five major scientific journals. I have also written sixteen book chapters that share the synergism between science and theism and the possibilities for harmonizing science and the Bible. It has been a terrific way to leverage my scientific training to argue in the Academy for a Christian worldview.
I should note that I have friends in sociology, psychology, history, literature, physics, chemistry and other fields that have also used their professional training to address issues in their disciplines in a scholarly way and/or popular way. They have found ways to use their professional and academic interests to advance a Christian worldview in a thoughtful way—“with reverence and gentleness” as we are told in I Peter 3:15-16. May their tribe increase!
Conclusion
As I reflect on this amazing journey I shudder to think how different my life might have been working in industry or being a Professor who just happens to be a Christian.
I’m so thankful for the thousands of relationships with students and colleagues and the opportunity to pursue mechanical engineering in three great universities. It has been an immense joy to be used by God in so many ways in one of the most strategic places in the world–the universities of the world.
It is my hope that some of the things shared will stimulate you to seek God’s leading on how He might use you on your own journey as a Christian Professor.
Have a rich summer break.
Walter Bradley