Beyond Two Books: Teaching Science and Religion for Digital Citizens

The interdisciplinary topic of science and religion creates tension in American culture. Undergraduates at a Midwestern public university studied the relationships between science and religion, learned about the “Two Books” metaphor, and proposed their own metaphors, many inspired by modern digital technology. According to the “Two Books” metaphor, since God, the author of all truth, wrote both the book of nature and the sacred books, then science (pursuit of a true description of nature), should be in harmony with religion (seeking God’s truth). Student-generated metaphors are described here and categorized according to Barbour’s typology for relating science and religion.