Location
ENS 245
Document Type
Paper
Start Date
30-6-2017 9:00 AM
End Date
30-6-2017 10:00 AM
Abstract
What is a biblical perspective of engineering? This paper seeks to answer some key questions related to the integration of faith and engineering. It is the second paper in a three paper sequel on this topic. It attempts to build from some initial concepts presented in a paper at the 2013 Christian Engineering Education Society (CEES) conference [1] and deepen the analysis on common grace and use new examples and present some new ideas on dominion mandate and its application to engineering and engineering education.
God is the Master Engineer. As an architect of His creation God presents wisdom as the basis of design in the universe. And this wisdom is no other than the Lord Jesus Christ. God is the source of all wisdom and all God’s creation reveals His intelligent design. Men’s knowledge is always secondary. By studying science and engineering, we are really reading God’s mind regarding His creation. We can imitate God by design and/or engineering for the good of ourselves and others.
The doctrine of common grace helps those in science and engineering professions to understand God’s dominion mandate, and His will and purpose for the entire human race. Engineering is part of God’s common grace to mankind. He gave man this gift to help fulfill His call to “subdue the earth.” Non-Christians are also bestowed this dominion mandate and they could contribute to the work of “subduing the earth” according to God’s common grace. Examples from optical engineering are used to demonstrate this “subduing” process.
Finally, implementation of these teachings in engineering curriculum is discussed.
Engineering Through the Eyes of Faith
ENS 245
What is a biblical perspective of engineering? This paper seeks to answer some key questions related to the integration of faith and engineering. It is the second paper in a three paper sequel on this topic. It attempts to build from some initial concepts presented in a paper at the 2013 Christian Engineering Education Society (CEES) conference [1] and deepen the analysis on common grace and use new examples and present some new ideas on dominion mandate and its application to engineering and engineering education.
God is the Master Engineer. As an architect of His creation God presents wisdom as the basis of design in the universe. And this wisdom is no other than the Lord Jesus Christ. God is the source of all wisdom and all God’s creation reveals His intelligent design. Men’s knowledge is always secondary. By studying science and engineering, we are really reading God’s mind regarding His creation. We can imitate God by design and/or engineering for the good of ourselves and others.
The doctrine of common grace helps those in science and engineering professions to understand God’s dominion mandate, and His will and purpose for the entire human race. Engineering is part of God’s common grace to mankind. He gave man this gift to help fulfill His call to “subdue the earth.” Non-Christians are also bestowed this dominion mandate and they could contribute to the work of “subduing the earth” according to God’s common grace. Examples from optical engineering are used to demonstrate this “subduing” process.
Finally, implementation of these teachings in engineering curriculum is discussed.