Dr. Francis Collins

For the past 16 months or so, Park Street Church has been celebrating its 200th anniversary. Founded in 1809 at the corner of Park and Tremont Streets in Boston, it is located between the Granary Burying Ground and Boston Common, and has been home to many historic events. The pulpit of Park Street Church is where William Lloyd Garrison gave his first abolitionist sermon, for one example.

Anyway, we've had, over the past year-plus, a special speaker series, where about once a month someone comes in from outside to preach. The list reads includes the likes of NT Wright, John Piper, Ravi Zacharias and Franklin Graham, as well as former Red Sox pitcher Justin Masterson and former Patriot Grant Williams.

This coming Sunday, February 28, 2010, the speaker series comes to an end with Dr. Francis Collins, former director of the National Institute of Health and the man who led the Human Genome Project which mapped the human genome. Dr. Collins is a high-level scientist, an expert in biology and human DNA, and a believer. For anyone at all interested in, or curious about, the issues related to the intersection of science and faith, this is an excellent opportunity to hear some of your questions discussed. Anyone is welcome, so if you're in the greater Boston area on Sunday and interested in the topic, well, come on down. Services are at 8:30, 11:00, 4:00 and 6:00.


next speaker: Francis Collins [February 28, 2010]
8:30 & 11 am and 4 & 6 pm


Park Street is pleased to have Dr. Francis Collins, Director of the National Institutes of Health and previous Director of the National Human Genome Research Institute, as the last speaker in our bicentennial series. Collins has led the effort to decode human DNA, along the way developing a revolutionary method of screening genes for disease. Yet according to Collins, the newfound power to “read our own instruction book” is no obstacle to faith in the existence of God.


“In the 21st century, increasingly shrill voices announce that atheism or religious fundamentalism are the only world view choices available. Reflective people should challenge that. An entirely harmonious synthesis of the truths of science and the truths of the Christian faith is not only possible, but deeply satisfying."
 
Collins claimed his faith in his late twenties through a quest to find truth and evidence. Converting to Christianity from atheism, he remarks that Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis, helped confront the question of God’s existence, yet more importantly, Collins found the evidence he had been longing to understand. Evidence that provided proof that God cares for each of us, individually. Some 30 years later, he stands by his convictions, positioning science not as substitute for theology, but as a subset of it.

What to know more about Francis Collins? Read his interview with PBS or listen to his interview with NPR.