Kelsi Vanada

Dear Friends,

Today, the Church celebrates Robert Grosseteste, Bishop of Lincoln in the 13th century (born c. 1168-70, died 1253).

One of the things he’s most known for is his contribution to science. He played an important role in the development of the scientific method and was ahead of his time in his understanding of light and color—he even described the birth of the universe as an explosion, seven centuries before the Big Bang Theory.

From 4th grade through 12th grade, I went to a charter school with a curriculum designed by a homogenous group of white Evangelical Christian families. For them, science and religion were often opposed.

So, for example, while we couldn’t have Bible classes at school, we spent only a day or two on the theory of evolution (heavy on the idea that it was “just a theory”). Yes, the Christians I grew up among believe that God reveals Godself to us through the natural world—but they believe that natural world is only a few thousand years old.

I like to think that Robert Grosseteste’s view of science must have been much closer to that of the Charlotte Mason Christian school in Denver where I taught for a few years, mostly junior high. (Charlotte Mason, by the way, was an Anglican.) At that school, we used this beautiful phrase: “All truth is God’s truth.”

If you learned a truth about the water cycle, or about cell division or the Pythagorean theorem or plate tectonics, you were learning a truth about God, God’s world, and God’s care for us. No need to strain (or ignore!) the scientific evidence to try and prop up your theology.

Maybe “All truth is God’s truth” is a helpful inspirational idea for you—or the young people in your life!—today. And thanks be to God for the example of Robert Grosseteste, bishop and scientist.

In Christ,

—Kelsi