RELG 340 - Science and Religion
Course Notes for Module 14
Practicing Science, Living Faith : chapters 12 & 4
The reason I put the study of chapter 12 immediately after we finished Dr. Collins' book, is because Robert Pollack has worked in the same general field as Dr. Collins, at roughly the same time, and they have faced some of the same ethical and psychological pressures in their work. However, Dr. Pollack was brought up in a Jewish family, and he and his wife are observant Jews, so this may give us a slightly different religious perspective.
- p.222 - phage genetics
- "phage" is short for Bacteriophage. A bacteriophage is about the same size as a virus - smaller than a bacterium. Phages do not have a nucleus, and cannot reproduce themselves unless they infect a bacterium. They reproduce by injecting their DNA into a bacterium. Their DNA takes over the metabolism of the bacterium, so that it starts to produce phage DNA and proteins rather than bacterial DNA and proteins. Eventually the bacterium bursts, and a new generation of phages is released. The name phage comes from the Greek root "phag-" meaning "eat"
- p.224 - leaving Cold Spring Harbor
- Cold Spring Harbor was THE premier place for scientific research in the USA. Maybe about one in a thousand scientists could hope to get a place there. At that level, the academic rat race and the pressures to perform, publish or perish, are beyond what a non-scientist can imagine. So to give up such a position shows a remarkable insight into the values of life and a strength of character beyond the norm.
- p.225 - observant
- An observant Jew is one who "observes the commandments" - keeps them; i.e. keeps the Sabbath, eats kosher, uses specific forms of prayer every day, is a member of a synagogue
- p.225 - the notion of the Sabbath
- The idea that one should have a day of rest and refreshment once a week. In research labs one tends to work 7 days a week, and not 9 till 5, but till well after midnight or even round the clock if a particular experiment calls for it.
- p.227 - our daughter was getting close to thirteen
- Thirteen is the normal age for an American Jewish girl to become Bat Mitzvah, "a daughter of the covenant", to make a public profession of faith by reading the Scriptures aloud in a synagogue, and to take on the religious responsibilities of an adult Jew.
- p.227 - the mocking tone that science often takes about any religious observance
- It is not really science that mocks religion, but some particular scientists who are loud in their mockery. In most labs that I worked in there was no real antagonism towards those who were religious - condescension and sometimes scorn, yes, but very often respect that one had religious convictions. In the Lab in Heidelberg I had an arrangement with one observant Jewish researcher, that on Saturdays (his Sabbath) I would do his work as well as mine, and on Sunday mornings (when I went to church) he would do mine as well as his.
- p.227 - Talmud
- The Talmud is the commentary on the Biblical text, written in Hebrew by many rabbis over many years. There are actually two Talmuds - one written in Jerusalem, and one in Babylon
- p.228 - people for whom the throne of God is empty
- This is Rabbi Steinsaltz' way of saying that they do not believe that there is a God. I do not really go along with what the Rabbi says about them being the most powerful and good people in the world
- p.231 - say the final confession
- For Jews, this is not a confession of sins, but a confession of faith, the Shemah - "Hear, hear, O Israel, The Lord our God is One Lord."
- p.233 - I don't care how you get that creature
- Notice that for Dr. Pollack the accounts in Genesis are completely unimportant. What is of extreme importance is that the creature (human beings) chooses to pray to Him and behaves ethically in the world.
- p.239 - the article by Richard Stone
- Religious practice is, and always has been, an aspect of health care. Hospitals have Chaplains - not only to care for the patients and their families, but also for the doctors, nurses, and other staff of the hospital.
Copyright © 1999 Shirley J. Rollinson, all Rights Reserved
