The Language of God
The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief is a 2006 book by Francis Collins, a physician-geneticist who led the Human Genome Project. In it, Collins argues that science and faith can be compatible and that belief in God can be supported by reason, ethics, and scientific discoveries. He also describes his own journey from agnosticism to Christianity.
Collins grew up in an agnostic family but always wanted to be a scientist. After a successful career in biology and medicine, a Christian patient asked about his beliefs, prompting him to explore faith more deeply. He credits the Christian writer C. S. Lewis, especially Mere Christianity, with helping spark his conversion. The book opens and closes with his personal testimony.
A key part of Collins’s argument is the Moral Law—the sense of right and wrong that many cultures share. He argues this universal moral instinct points to a higher source and is hard to explain by evolution alone. He uses this idea, inspired by Lewis, to support belief in God. He also stresses that science and faith do not have to be enemies; scientific thinking and religious belief can coexist, and one’s faith should not hinder how a scientist does research.
The book introduces the term BioLogos, which Collins used to describe his view that life comes from God and that life’s complexity reflects God’s design. The organization BioLogos, founded in 2007, promotes harmony between science and faith and uses the term evolutionary creation to describe its approach to evolution and Genesis.
Reception has been mixed. Christianity Today gave it a Book Award in 2007. Publishers Weekly praised its blend of personal faith and scientific discussion. Some critics, like the blogger eSkeptic, found the book thoughtful but not convincing to everyone. Sam Harris criticized it strongly, while physicist Stephen M. Barr praised it as an important contribution to understanding faith and science.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 16:01 (CET).