These resources may prove useful in organizing or facilitating discussions regarding Christian faith and science. Most of the web links connect to other sites. Inclusion of any items in this resource list does not constitute endorsement by either the Lutheran Alliance for Faith, Science, and Technology, or the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).
Darkwood Brew Video Series — Evolving Universe, Evolving Faith. This six-episode video series (with portions available on Youtube) features scientists and theologians discussing various issues of faith and science. It includes a leader’s guide.
Test of Faith — A course with books and video, Test of FAITH is a series of introductory resources on science and Christianity for both adults and young people. Contributors include leading scientists and theologians, including Francis Collins, John Polkinghorne and Jennifer Wiseman. This excellent resource was developed by the Faraday Institute for Science and Religion. The website includes a lot of additional resources as well as information on the course.
Meaning of Creation — Theologians and scientists discuss the meaning of the creation account in the book of Genesis and how to interpret the story while remaining true to the intent of the writer(s). Contributors include N.T. Wright, John Polkinghorne, Alister McGrath, John Walton, Peter Enns, and others.
Transhumanism as a New Religious Movement — Theologian Ted Peters gives a presentation on “The Future of Transhumanism as a New Religious Movement.”
Videos for science students — Frank Gregorio is a high school teacher of Biology, Earth Science and Astronomy. He produces a series of popular educational video trailers to inspire science students. A variety of topics are available at this site.
“Genesis” — Theologian N.T. Wright performs the song “Genesis” which he co-wrote with scientist Francis Collins. Sung to the tune of the Beatle’s Yesterday, it is entertaining, thoughtful, and great for getting a discussion started.
Super Soul Short with Grace Wolf-Chase — Lutheran Astronomer Grace Wolf-Chase presents her thoughts on God and the universe. Lots of stunning Hubble satellite photographs.
Coral reefs — What are coral reefs and what is their purpose?
Great Barrier Reef — Coral reefs in the Caribbean are slowly dying! It’s estimated that one-eighth of the reefs will be dead in the next 20 years! What is the purpose of these reefs, and can this damage be stopped?
NASA infrared imagery — This brief video is an introduction to real-time infrared imagery of weather patterns on earth provided by the GOES-R satellite.
NASA Perpetual Ocean — This visualization shows ocean surface currents around the world during the period from June 2005 through December 2007.
NASA Earthrise: The 45th Anniversary — Using photo mosaics and elevation data from Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), this video commemorates the 45th anniversary of Apollo 8’s historic flight by recreating the moment when the crew first saw and photographed the Earth rising from behind the Moon.
NASA Sun, Magnetosphere, and Ocean Currents — This NASA animation as it shows a coronal mass ejection from the sun pelts Venus, and then zooms in for a close-up view of Earth’s winds and ocean currents.
NASA The Ocean: A Driving Force for Weather and Climate — Most of Earth’s water is stored in the ocean. This animation helps to convey the importance of Earth’s oceanic processes as one component of Earth’s interrelated systems.
Scanning Electron Microscopy — This video explains how scientists observe surfaces at the atomic level with a scanning tunnelling microscope. An extremely fine tip “feels” its way over a surface at a constant distance of a few atomic diameters.
Have You Ever Seen an Atom? — Scientists at the University of California Los Angeles reveal a 3D reconstructing of platinum nanoparticles at an atomic scale. These are being used to study tiny structural irregularities called dislocations.
What Was There Before the Big Bang? — This video Includes a discussion by Jacques Arnould, a theologian and head of Ethics at CNES – the French space agency.
How Brains See — At the micro-scale the brain is a mess; a thick tangle of nerve cells connected at synapses, according to a video from the journal Nature. Mapping just a tiny portion of this mess, a few hundred cells, is a huge challenge.
Curiosity Landing on Mars — This movie from NASA’s Curiosity rover shows most of the high-resolution frames acquired by the Mars Descent Imager between the jettison of the heat shield and touchdown. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS”
Curiosity’s First Year on Mars: Twelve Months in Two Minutes — From NASA JPL, this video shows a rover’s eye view of driving, scooping and drilling during Curiosity’s first year on Mars, August 2012 through July 2013.
Immunotherapy: Boosting the Immune System to Fight Cancer — The video from the journal Nature takes an audio-visual journey through the different approaches that are being investigated to harness the immune system to treat cancer.
50th Anniversary of Spacewalks — This NASA documentary celebrates 50 years of extravehicular activity (EVA) or spacewalks that began with the first two EVAs conducted by Russian Alexey Leonov in March 1965 and American astronaut Edward White in June 1965.
Flu: How a Virus Invades Your Body — When you get the flu, viruses turn your cells into tiny factories that help spread the disease. In this animation, NPR’s Robert Krulwich and medical animator David Bolinsky explain how a flu virus can trick a single cell into making a million more viruses.
