You may wonder how a scientist born almost 400 years ago could be relevant to your search for understanding in modern times. John Ray’s quest combined a love of God with a thirst for understanding the created world. He was especially concerned for people who seemed to have no mystical awareness of God’s presence. He thought if believing in God was necessary to be a Christian, then beyond faith there must be more than one way to support this belief.
John Ray (1627-1705); priest, botanist, natural theologian, and father of natural history. John Ray image ~ Wikimedia Commons; frame collage photos ~ æssmith photo
Ray agreed that there could be mystical evidence of God’s existence. This might include
- the “inner light” of the Quakers, which dwelt in each human being,
- miracles which could not be explained by natural or scientific laws, or
- the prophecies found in the Bible.
The problem was that these events were “not common to all persons and times.” In his work The Wisdom of God Manifested in the Works of the Creation, Ray wrote that belief in God must also “be demonstrated by arguments drawn from the light of nature and works of creation.” Today you would be surprised to read a scientific work so intertwined with theology as this one is, but in his time religion and science inspired and supported each other.
Both John Ray and the great Anglican theologian Richard Hooker had a particular care for people who had never known “religious illumination,” in which human thought is aided by divine grace. In Hooker’s view, knowledge and lifelong reading and thinking about Scripture weren’t enough for salvation. Reason and the study of nature were also needed to bring about a greater awareness of God’s existence. For John Ray, nature was not only an object of study, but of wonder. The earth, the cosmos, plants of every kind, creatures great and small, everything was worthy of his notice. “Truly,” he said,
“the Wisdom, Art and Power of Almighty God, shines forth as visibly in the Structure of the Body of the minutest Insect, as in that of a Horse or Elephant.”
In the record of Western history, you can find many insights into the fruitful relationship between the study of God through theology and the study of nature through science. Ray thought that belief in God “must be demonstrated by arguments drawn from the light of nature and works of creation.” Such arguments could be explained in ways that could be understood by anyone. Belief in God would not be limited to those who were highly sensitive to God’s grace working in their lives.
Today, Ray’s work continues through the John Ray Initiative (JRI) and the Ray Society. The JRI is an educational charity that seeks to reconcile scientific and Christian understandings of the environment. It was formed in response to the global environmental crisis and the challenges of sustainable development and environmental stewardship. The Ray Society publishes works devoted mainly to the flora and fauna of Britain.
John Ray’s writings proclaimed God as the creator whose wisdom is “manifest in the works of creation”, and as the redeemer of all things. He reminds us that each path to God and each quest for understanding is as unique as the person who follows it.
Further reading:
Olson, Richard G. Science & Religion, 1450–1900: From Copernicus to Darwin. 2004: Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, Paperback Edition, 2006.
You will find the source material and inspiration for this post on pp. 87-89 and 107-8.