What if the real story isn’t science versus faith—but how faith helped give rise to modern science? That question sits at the heart of this episode of Thinking Things Through.

Rather than rehearsing familiar culture-war arguments, we invite you to rethink the relationship between science and Christianity from a historical, philosophical, and deeply human perspective. Ron makes the provocative claim that modern experimental science did not arise despite Christianity, but within a culture shaped by it.

For most of human history, people from every culture on every continent observed nature, but they did not conduct experiments to test their explanations. What changed around 500 years ago was the belief that the universe is not only orderly, but intelligible—and that humans are permitted, even encouraged, to understand how it works. The European Christians began to believe that God wanted the faithful to understand the universe to alleviate suffering. This led to modern medicine and pharmacology.

Science refines and deepens theology. Charles Darwin was an example of how rigorous science and deep faith can coexist. Ron’s own faith is stronger because of science.

If you’re shaped by scientific thinking but curious about Christianity—or if you’re a believer trying to make sense of faith in a scientific age—this conversation is for you.

Let’s think it through.

What makes some Beliefs credible and others, not?

In its 2000-year history, Christianity revised some interpretations of the Bible in light of new discoveries.

To help us unpack that, Dr Ron Choong, whose life and work span cultures and continents converses with philosophical theologian, Dr Andre Ong.

In this podcast, Ron shows that where possible, Christian beliefs that stand the tests of geography, history and science, earn the confidence of believers.

• How does where we live influence what we believe?
• ⁠How does when we live — our moment in history - shape the beliefs we inherit or question?
• And how does what we know — the discoveries of science - transform our interpretation about God and the universe?

The “Hidden Christians” or Kakure Kirishitan went underground in the 17th century when the Tokugawa shogunate repressed Christianity from 1638 until the ban was lifted in 1873. In response, many Christian believers modified their spiritual practices to resemble Buddhist ones on a surface level, but which held hidden Christian meaning.

Depictions of the Virgin Mary modeled on the Buddhist deity Kannon (Avalokiteśvara), goddess of mercy, were known as "Maria Kannon". The prayers were adapted to sound like Buddhist chants, yet retained many untranslated words from Latin, Portuguese, and Spanish. The Bible and other parts of the liturgy were passed down orally, because printed works could be confiscated by authorities.

Approximately 30,000 secret Christians came out of hiding in 1873 after the Meiji Restoration. The Kakure Kirishitan became known as Mukashi Kirishitan or 'ancient Christians.' Some Kakure Kirishitan did not rejoin the Catholic Church and became known as the Hanare Kirishitan or 'separated Christians' and live on the Gotō Islands. Today, there are less than 100 Hidden Christians left on the island of Ikitsuki in Nagasaki, down from 10,000 in the 1940s.

In this episode, Christine Leong interviewed me to explain what I discovered about these “Hidden Christians”.