Science and Faith in Harmony: Contemplations on a Distilled Doxology
“Sy Garte has a gift for winsomely demonstrating the truth and goodness of the gospel message. His extensive knowledge of scientific issues enables him to deftly explain how advanced processes in molecular biology provide evidence for the Creator and his intimate care for us. Sy’s insightful chapters in Science and Faith in Harmony will keep you engaged as you learn more about how God’s voice is revealed in his creation.”
—Lee Strobel, New York Times best-selling author and founder of the Strobel Center at Colorado Christian University
“This wonderful collection of 44 easy-read vignettes on science and faith will inspire, engage, and educate all those with an interest in the varied ways in which these two great enterprises relate to each other. The author draws on his decades of experience in the scientific community to provide a lavish array of personal stories that make the text come alive.”
—Dr. Denis Alexander, emeritus director of The Faraday Institute for Science and Religion, Cambridge, UK
“Science and Faith in Harmony is an informed, clear, and personable place to enter a fascinating and crucial conversation. In friendly, short chapters, prominent scientist Sy Garte helps the Christian reader appreciate how he has experienced science and faith mutually encouraging each other. The book is both reasoned and winsome as Garte tours key insights, from the startling presence of so many finely tuned constants in physics to the surprising emergence of immensely complex cellular life.”
—James C. Peterson, PhD, Schumann Professor at Roanoke College, Virginia Tech and editor-in-chief of Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith
“This delightful book presents a multitude of striking, insightful analogies and other connections between modern science and the Christian faith, incorporating Sy’s personal and professional experience. Engaging a wide range of fields, from quantum mechanics to ecology—and especially his favorite enzyme aaRS—Sy draws out the divine design he sees at all levels in the book of God’s works. Each chapter can be read as a stand-alone devotional, valuable for non-scientist and scientist alike, as Sy passionately and invitingly presents various aspects of the good news of Jesus alongside accessible descriptions and explanations of the world’s wonders as explored by science.”
—Arnold Sikkema, executive director of the Canadian Scientific & Christian Affiliation and professor of physics at Trinity Western University
“Sy’s pithy chapters are like salted peanuts: you say to yourself, ‘Just a couple more’ . . . only to find yourself consuming the whole bag.”
—Perry Marshall, founder, Evolution 2.0 Prize
“In his latest book, biochemist Sy Garte inspires a sense of wonder as he demonstrates the many ways that science—the study of God’s spoken word—harmonizes with Scripture—God’s written Word—in profoundly beautiful and meaningful ways. The lovely harmonies between the Christian faith and science can draw us closer to God—if we are willing to listen carefully.
“Sy Garte’s short yet rich reflections on the compatibility of science and the Christian faith illuminate God’s fingerprints in nature and in our lives, each set inspiring us to love the Lord and love others more deeply.”
—Fazale “Fuz” Rana, president, CEO, and senior scholar, Reasons to Believe
The Works of His Hands: A Scientist’s Journey from Atheism to Faith
“Combining a childlike enthusiasm for discovery with a polymath’s understanding of the natural world, Sy offers unusually clear explanations and insight into why it is important for us, not just the specialists, to know such things as how cells get their energy. For decades he saw the pursuit of truth through science as the height of life’s purpose. What could top the joy of scientific exploration he conveys so well? Sy has an answer for this question too—discovering the God who created these wonders. As the book unfolds, he does not just show us that science and faith are compatible. He offers the story of his life to illustrate how the two together offer a new and much heightened view of life’s purpose.”
—Paul Wason, vice president of life sciences and genetics at the John Templeton Foundation
“An arresting, wholly transparent account of a scientist’s struggle with faith. There are many books of this sort, but almost none of this caliber or candor. Garte is a biochemist who competently explores physics, philosophy of science, quantum entanglement, mathematics, evolution, consciousness, and the fight for morality and justice, all in a fast-moving personal story that’s quite funny at points and heart-wrenching in others.”
—Perry Marshall, author of Evolution 2.0, and founder of the Evolution 2.0 Technology Prize
“There are two pernicious myths about the Christian faith that circulate through modern culture. The first asserts that to become a Christian, one must park one’s mind at the doors of the church before entering. The second myth is that senior academics set their foundational beliefs in stone early in their careers, and they remain intact until retirement. The spiritual and intellectual voyage of Dr. Sy Garte crushes both of these myths. Raised by parents steeped in communism and anti-theistic materialism, then educated in biochemistry and biological evolution, Garte spent much of his academic career as a fervent atheist. Yet an intuitive inkling that something was missing in his life—and in his science—opened the way for him to discover the grace of God in his Son, Jesus Christ. This book deals with many intellectually challenging issues Garte faced in his journey, including a renewed understanding of evolution as God’s method of creation. Garte is a brilliant example of a Christian following Jesus’s command to love God with our minds (Matt. 22:37).”
—Denis O. Lamoureux, DDS, PhD, PhD, professor of science and religion at St. Joseph’s College, University of Alberta
“Sy Garte may be compared to C. S. Lewis in Surprised by Joy. As his pastor, I delighted in reading this personal narrative about Sy’s transformation from an atheist to a believer in the triune God. His conversion was stimulated by his thoughtful inquiries as a scientist but completed by an encounter with the risen Christ. Sy found God only to realize that our gracious God had been wooing him with love and glimpses of joy for decades. A book worth reading by anyone who struggles with the intersection of science and faith.”
—Reverend Martha Meredith, pastor of Rockville United Methodist Church
“In The Works of His Hands, biochemist Sy Garte shares what he learned (and is still learning) during his career as a scientist in search of purpose and meaning. He discovered Christianity, to paraphrase C. S. Lewis, as the ‘light by which everything else may be seen.’ His insights, offered in narrative and creative storytelling, provide a road map for reconciling science and faith, both for spiritual seekers peeking over the fence from the yard of agnosticism and for worried believers gazing out the chapel window at the so-called challenges of modern science. Thoughtful, provocative, playful, and intimate.”
—Stephen O. Moshier, professor of geology at Wheaton College
“The Works of His Hands thus leads us through two territories. The first is the world of the natural sciences; the second is the world of religion. Many unthinkingly assume these are incompatible or in a permanent state of warfare. Garte’s story will cause many to rethink this long-outdated media trope, and to reflect on how science and faith might get along better. Garte hints at the great Renaissance metaphor of the ‘Two Books of God’ as he explains the harmony he finds between the two books of God’s revelation to humanity, the ‘Book of Words’ and the ‘Book of Works.’ This timely and well-crafted book deserves to find a wide readership, especially among natural scientists who are weary of the sterility and superficiality of the ‘New Atheism.’”
—Alister McGrath, Andreas Idreos Professor of Science and Religion, Oxford University
“Sy Garte offers us a unique and enjoyable book on a scientist’s journey from atheism to faith. It is unique in at least three ways.
(1) Sy’s trajectory was not the typical individual raised in cultural Christianity who lost faith and then regained it. He was raised by atheist parents immersed in Marxist ideology. There was no religious baggage to be jettisoned before considering alternatives. There was no family pressure to come back into the fold.
(2) Sy does not follow his backstory with the usual launch into the arguments or experiences that convinced him of the truth of the Bible. Instead, he lauds the beauty and wonder of science, communicating why modern science does, in fact, reflect what is seen in nature. There was no scientific baggage that had to be jettisoned in order to see an alternative truth in the Bible. His journey to faith started with a deep appreciation for science – and a recognition that science was limited in its explanatory power. As an example, science can potentially answer the question of how feelings of love manifest neurologically in the brain, but not whether love is intrinsically real, or if it has an origin or purpose beyond physical reproduction.
(3) Sy makes no apologies for embracing the role of personal experience in his search for truth. While actively engaged in the scientific enterprise, he also rejects the logic of those insisting that only that which is testable by science can serve as genuine evidence. His personal encounters with God included dreams, something Middle Eastern converts are far more familiar with than most in the West.”
—Gregg Davidson (author of Friend of Science, Friend of Faith)
“As someone trained in the field of biochemistry, I was eager to read this book by Dr. Garte (a biochemist). Regardless of one’s views on creation/evolution, every Christian can appreciate Sy’s personal account of he came to know and love our Lord Jesus.
Psalm 138 tells us that “though the LORD is high, he regards the lowly, but the haughty he knows from afar.” Other verses speak to the same truth – namely, that God resists the proud. I kept thinking of these verses as I read this book, as both gratitude and humility were key components of every step in Sy’s journey towards Jesus. It takes humility to admit the limits of one’s own knowledge and it takes a humble heart not to presume one should be given more in life. When we can muster that kind of humble gratitude, the God in whom we live and move and have our being is not far from us. And he was not far from Sy.
What strikes me the most is that apart from the evidences from science, Dr. Garte’s conversion hinged on his humble wonder at the world and deep gratitude for the goodness that surrounded him. He struggled as much with the problem of good as some struggle with the problem of evil. When he looked at the world, the tremendous good confounded him as much as the evil. He discusses how one’s “default position” is crucial when it comes to our ability to draw near to God. “Those with a humbler default position,” he writes, “often find great joy in the happiness they find.” Like the Psalmist, they can more readily see that God has hemmed them in, behind and before. Such an incredibly wise insight that even as Christians we are too prone to forget. I was so thankful for the reminder. This book is full of these.
In this, he reminds me so much of one of my favorite thinkers and hearts, G.K. Chesterton. Gratitude and wonder were for Chesterton the highest forms of thought – but these are impossible without humility. God resists the proud.
Garte’s conversion account offers up a wonderfully integrated mix of scientific evidences, classic apologetics (stated in new and unique ways – I love his computer analogy to illustrate the Argument from Reason – one of my favorites), and deeply personal testimony. I particularly like his use of stories as illustrations. These enchanting, imaginative excursions offer the reader some fun ways of understanding the deeper points that he is making. Again, very Chestertonian!
I think that to see the extraordinary in the everyday is actually a discipline – it takes practice and determination. It doesn’t come easy for us for, as Chesterton once said, fallen creatures such as ourselves have sinned and grown old – repetition in life (and nature) wears us out. In a passage titled “An Ordinary Human Takes an Ordinary Trip”, Garte offers the reader an excellent example of how to practice this the discipline of wonder.
In the end, the greatest benefit of reading Dr. Garte’s conversion story is that it will renew your wonder at the world our Lord created, helping you to see, once again, the extraordinary in the seemingly ordinary. Our modern world is in desperate need of re-enchantment. This book goes far in doing just that. Enjoy!”
—Rebekah Valerius
“This was a captivating read that pairs Sy Garte’s personal journey with the evidence that led him to Christianity. The chapters are a perfect length, not too long, but with just enough information. He also does a great job of explaining complicated scientific discoveries at a layman level. I am going to recommend this book to anyone who is having doubts about Christianity.”
—Michael Jones (Inspiring Philosophy)