| This thesis will demonstrate a strong correspondence between modern science and Christianity, with special reference to the correspondence between (1) the Christian soteriological concepts of (a) law, (b) sin, and (c) grace; and (2) the general scientific laws of (a) the conservation of energy, (b) the increase of energy or the decrease of available energy, and (c) the availability of new energy from the outside of a closed system, a quality to be called "endunamy." The relationships shall be shown in the same general spirit as in the Newtonian correspondences between the general theistic attributes of God and the corresponding elements in that scientific system of the world.; After presenting the historical background of the issue, the paper will begin by showing correspondences between Christianity and modern science in the areas of epistemology and ontology (the categories of being). Then, the correspondence will be extended to the traditional deistic and theistic concepts such as rationality.; The paper will then describe law, sin, and grace in the religious and scientific realms. First, the Christian concepts of law, sin, and grace will be defined and discussed. Then, the paper will define the scientific principles of the conservation of energy, the increase of entropy, and the availability of endunamy. Correspondences between the religious and scientific systems will be suggested. The paper will then illustrate how energy, entropy, and endunamy work together in the scientific world through a set of simple examples.; The main body of the paper will survey several major disciplines of science: classical and modern physics, chemistry, biochemistry, biology, and psychology, with a view to noting the equivalents of law, sin, and grace (energy, entropy, and endunamy) in each of them. The paper will exhibit an underlying unity in these branches of science, that unity being built around the Christian soteriology of law, sin, and grace.; The paper will argue that the scientific universe is not fragmented but essentially one, and that it can be understood in Christian terms. The paper will have some apologetic value as a form of the argument from design, and will help to affirm classical Christianity as a way of looking at the world. |
