Dear Friends,

In 2019, I left my laboratory and headed for Church Divinity School of the Pacific (CDSP) seminary. This was a somewhat scary as the laboratory had been my home all of my adult life. I soothed my fears by leaving under the terms of a sabbatical. As it transpired, however, I would never formally return to being a full-time scientist again. While it could be said that the COVID pandemic changed the course of my plans—and certainly it did in many ways—what actually happened is I fell in love with studying the Word of God. For decades, I had been working in God’s science sandbox – a place filled with God’s wonders of nature. And while I argue that there is indeed a divine language embedded in science, during my studies at the seminary I was privileged to pour over the Word. This is the language of prophecy, covenantal relationship and redemption.

While in the seminary, I started a set of writings entitled A Scientist Goes to the Seminary. As a scientist, I had been awe-struck and humbled by the majesty of divine presence in the natural world; so too, as a student of theology, I was joyfully caught by surprise at the science so clearly embedded in theology as well. My Scientist » Seminary essays focused on the divine harmony found at the intersection of science and theology. And as it happened, my musings emerged during a remarkable time in human history. As a Christian, I was experiencing the power of nature, in the form of a tiny virus, as it crashed against my faith in God’s presence and power. In hindsight, the COVID pandemic was a rather unique and inviting time to reflect on the remarkable synchronicity of science and theology.

Blessings,
SuEllen+
suellenp@stmaa.org