“We think that the faith and science question is so important for young people particularly not because we think youth workers should regret not being science majors, or because young people need to be taught what string theory is, but because young people are really wrestling with how to have faith in a God who is transcendent.” This is the reason why Andrew Root, associate professor and Carrie Olson Baalson Chair of Youth and Family Ministry at Luther Seminary, started the program Science for Youth Ministry: The Plausibility of Transcendence.
Science for Youth Ministry (SYM) is a three year project funded by a $1.2 million grant from the John Templeton Foundation. Root leads the project along with David Wood, senior pastor of Glencoe Union Church in Glencoe, Ill. and Tony Jones, professor in the practice of theology at United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities.
“With this grant, we’re going to create resources that platform the faith-and-science conversation with adolescents as a way of really exploring the plausibility of transcendence. Is it logical—or even possible—for teenagers to believe that there’s a God who exists beyond the natural, material universe? We will seek an answer to this question.” Through this grant, Root and others seek to explore what it means to believe in a God who is active in the world (that is, transcendent) in a society driven primarily by science, empiricism and the observable. “We think that this project is really important,” Root says, “because wrestling with scientific theories and scientific ideas helps people really wrestle with the claims of a personal God and even the plausibility of a personal God.”
Among the goals of the grant, Andy Root and the SYM team hope to produce an arsenal of resources relevant to conversations surrounding science, youth ministry and the plausibility of transcendence. They also hope this grant and their research will spark conversations across the greater, global church about the intersections and challenges of science and youth ministry.
A major output will be “just in time resources” that can be used in Sunday school classes, youth groups and confirmation. These resources will be used to draw the youth worker into our larger conversation and have direct impact on youth. These just in time resources include: four animated videos for youth that raise issues of science and faith, a curriculum for parents (and grandparents) to discuss faith and science issues at home, the production of a downloadable curriculum for youth ministers and documentary videos from a science, faith and transcendence pilgrimage to Italy.
Grant money is also being disseminated in the form of 10 “mini-grants.” Professors and thought leaders from around the world have applied for these grants to help them fund research and develop curricula and tools around science and youth ministry.
SYM is also funding scholarly research articles surrounding the topic and sponsoring conferences at which these articles will be presented. SYM even funded a group of high schoolers on a pilgrimage to Italy to experience the place where the scientific revolution was born. In conjunction with the grant, Root will also release a new book in 2018 focusing on the themes of SYM.
Luther Seminary Children, Youth and Family concentration offers a course every June called Contemporary Issues in Children, Youth and Family. SYM will be the focus for three years on a new topic relevant to faith and science in youth ministry issues. In 2016, the course focused on neuropsychology and children and featured guest lecturer Tina Payne Bryson, co-author of the bestselling book “The Whole-Brain Child.” This past June, the focus was Medicine & Disability and addressed how living in a diagnostic culture impacts ministry with children, youth and their parents. The course featured guest lecturers John Swinton and Ben Connor. Next spring, the focus will be on evolution, theology and ministry to young people.
The SYM grant will culminate with a conference May 7-8, 2018 in Edina, Minn. called Jesus Rode a Dinosaur…(And Other Silly Tales): Faithful Youth Ministry in a Scientific Age. This conference will be centered on generative conversations between scientists, authors, pastors, theologians and philosophers. Krista Tippett, Andy Root, Mike McHargue, Rozella Haydee White and others will be discussing raising and ministering to teenagers in a scientific age.
“To actually take science head on or to jump into the theories of science and form an appreciation for how faith and science can interrelate and can talk and can disagree,” says Root, “becomes a way for young people to think about how to encounter a personal God. That’s really our big takeaway.”