The Thoughts of Wesley son of Cornelius

“From the start, Faraday’s investigations were more than a joyous commune with nature; they were a sincere attempt to discern God’s invisible qualities through the very design of the world. Through well-constructed observations and experiments, he sought to distill nature’s seemingly diverse phenomena to a common, irreducible basis—and in this fundamental unity of the universe, he would witness the divine signature.” (Hirshfeld, The Electric Life of Michael Faraday.)

Who was Michael Faraday? Well, Wikipedia says he may be considered one of the great scientists of history. The development of electric motors, generators, and transformers come out of the work and experimentation of Faraday. He even has an equation named after him (see above). Through this equation and the work of Andre-Marie Ampere, James Clerk Maxwell was able to show that electromagnetic waves propagate through (empty) space at the speed of light. Coincidence? Of course not, since light would later be determined to be a type of electromagnetic radiation. What is this to you? We can thank the work of Faraday for the advances in our current electronic generation.

Being a scientist, the work of Faraday interests me (even though I barely understand electromagnetism). However, his faith interests me more. I am always refreshed to find a great scientist with a faith in Jesus Christ. In the modern world, scientists commonly fear or reject religion. However, Faraday held strongly to his religious views. The book referenced above goes on to say that Faraday took a literalist view of the Bible. He was also humble. He had no problem with other scientists correcting or refuting his theory because he strongly held to human fallibility.

Isaac Watts, hymn writer, theologian and logician, was an inspiration for Faraday. I pray that I too can be scientist for Christ like Michael Faraday!