Sharing of Dr. Chan Man Ho
As Christians enter the college arena, the dialogue between academics and faith is one of the important themes that must be considered. Can the pursuit of academic knowledge help us in knowing the truth? How can we fulfill our mission as believers while pursuing academic studies? We are honored to invite Dr. Chan Man Ho to share his understanding and practice of academic knowledge and faith during the Staff Consultation Day.
Interaction between Academic Disciplines and Faith
Dr. Chan describes both the academic disciplines and theology as attempts to reach the summit of truth in their own ways. He shares that there are three modes of interaction between the disciplines and faith:
The first mode is “complementary to each other”, which means that the academic content and the Bible both point to the truth. While the Bible focuses on personal morals and behavior, the academic content is the knowledge derived by man through repeated argumentation, and it can supplement the knowledge in the areas of natural sciences and social sciences, which are lacking in the Bible’s content. These two work side by side, and together they point to the truth. The second mode is “understanding the Bible through academic facilitation”, which means that academics can help us to understand the Bible more deeply and to avoid misinterpretation of the Bible due to our own culture, experience, and worldview. The third mode is “developing academic through religious facilitation” which refers to the contribution of religion to the development of academics. For example, the scientist Isaac Newton’s belief in the simplicity of God’s laws of creation helped him discover the three important laws of physics. Academic disciplines and religions have had an intricate relationship throughout history. Although religions had once hindered the development of science, Christians have been involved in many academic researches in an attempt to pursue Christian thoughts and values to facilitate academic studies and find the truth.
Responding to Academic and Faith Integration
As a Christian scholar, Dr. Chan has the following four responses: to be an active researcher, to teach well in the classroom, to popularize science education, and to promote apologetics. First of all, he points out that he strives to be an active researcher and to pursue academic excellence, but at the same time, he keeps a low profile and humility, and spends his free time to learn more about history, psychology, and other fields to enrich himself. Just as the interaction between academics and faith is described above, he believes that academic research is also a process of approaching the truth, in which God’s traces can be seen, and that there is no need to over-exploit the results of academics to testify about God.
In terms of teaching, Dr. Chan hopes to demonstrate his passion for the discipline through classroom teaching, and to lead students into the world of the discipline to understand its beauty and great truths. At the same time, he will not directly address the issue of faith, nor will he avoid discussing the topic of faith with his students, and accompanying them to pursue the truth on the path of faith. He is also determined to popularize science education, attending different talks and programs
such as RTHK’s Talk Show to help the public understand science and reflect on the truth. In addition to this, he believes that Christians should also equip themselves in apologetics. Although it is not our intention to insist that the more we debate the truth, the clearer it becomes, and to keep arguing with people, we should at least know how to discern and respond when people use false arguments to attack our faith.
In facing faith and science, Dr. Chan reminds us that we should not be fully confrontational and unswervingly defend religion, nor should we be fully integrative, and that some of the core elements of faith and academic pursuits should not be easily shaken. He argues that we should have an open mind, allowing ourselves to have our own stance as well as recognizing things with different stances. Faith is a combination of rational and emotional understanding and experience, preceded by affective understanding and connected to different situations.
Full text is available in Chinese version.