Andy Crouch is the author of Culture Making: Recovering Our Creative Calling, winner of Christianity Today’s 2009 Book Award for Christianity and Culture. In 2011 he became special assistant to the president at Christianity Today International, where he is also executive producer of This Is Our City, a multi-year project featuring documentary video, reporting, and essays about Christians seeking the flourishing of their cities.
Jeff R. Warren is Assistant Professor of Music at Trinity Western University in Langley, British Columbia. He has presented and published internationally on musical improvisation, meaning in music, soundscape, modern European philosophy, psychology, and ethics. Jeff’s creative work includes jazz composition, performance on double bass, and sound installations. Jeff received his doctorate in music and philosophy from Royal Holloway, University of London.
Rick Kennedy received his BA, MA, and Ph.D. from the University of California, Santa Barbara and is professor of history at Point Loma Nazarene University, San Diego, California. His books include A History of Reasonableness: Testimony and Authority in the Art of Thinking (University of Rochester Press, 2004), Aristotelian and Cartesian Logic at Harvard (Colonial Society of Massachusetts and University Press of Virginia, 1995), and Faith at State: A Handbook for Christians at Secular Universities (InterVarsity, 1995).
Thomas is a science writer based in Washington, DC. He has worked with the American Scientific Affiliation, National Academy of Sciences, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He has degrees in philosophy and the history of science from Rice University and University of California, Berkeley.
Mark H. Mann is the director of the Wesleyan Center, Point Loma Press, and Honors Program at Point Loma Nazarene University. Mark received his bachelor's degree from Eastern Nazarene College and went on to earn both an M.Div. and a Ph.D. in Religious and Theological Studies (2004) from Boston University. Mann previously served at Colgate University where he was both chaplain and professor. Mann has previous experience in editing, student development and staff ministry at the local church level.
James Hannam took a Physics degree at Oxford before training as an accountant. He enjoyed a successful career in the City, mainly financing film production, but harboured ambitions to write about the history of science. In 2001, he started a part time MA at Birkbeck College, London in Historical Research. The experience only served to further whet his appetite for the subject. In 2003, he was accepted at Cambridge to do a PhD in the History and Philosophy of Science. His thesis on the decline of medieval learning during the sixteenth century was completed in 2008. In the meantime, he also worked on his book for the general reader, "God's Philosophers: How the Medieval World Laid the Foundation of Modern Science" which was published by Icon in 2009. It is published in the US as "The Genesis of Science: How the Christian Middle Ages Launched the Scientific Revolution". The book was shortlisted for the Royal Society Prize for Science Books in 2010. James has also written for various magazines and newspapers including the Spectator, History Today, Standpoint and New Scientist. He lives in Kent, England with his wife and two children.
Ruth Bancewicz is a research associate at the Faraday Institute for Science and Religion, working on the 'Test of Faith' resources project. After reading Genetics at Aberdeen University, she completed a PhD at Edinburgh University, based at the MRC Human Genetics Unit, working on gene-environment interactions during verterbrate development. After two years of postdoctoral research at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Cell Biology, Edinburgh University, she worked as the Development Officer for Christians in Science for three years, before moving full-time to the Faraday Institute.
Michael Horton is the J. Gresham Machen professor of apologetics and systematic theology at Westminster Seminary California (Escondido, California), host of the White Horse Inn, national radio broadcast, and editor-in-chief of Modern Reformation magazine. He is author of many books, including The Gospel-Driven Life, Christless Christianity, People and Place, Putting Amazing Back Into Grace, God of Promise: Introducing Covenant Theology, and Too Good to be True: Finding Hope in a World of Hype.
Stephen Matheson is an author, editor, and developmental cell biologist, formerly at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He writes regularly on his blog “Quintessence of Dust”, which explores issues of science and Christian faith, focusing on genetics, development, evolution, neuroscience, and related topics, regularly discussing intelligent design, creationism, and other scientific issues that worry evangelical Christians.
John Polkinghorne is a British physicist and theologian who has written extensively on matters concerning science and faith, becoming a leading advocate for their compatibility as different ways of knowing. He worked in theoretical elementary particle physics for 25 years before resigning his chair in 1979 to study for the Anglican priesthood. He was ordained in 1982 and served as a priest for several years. Polkinghorne has written many books on issues in science and theology, including Science and Christian Belief (in the USA, The Faith of a Physicist), Belief in God in an Age of Science, and Questions of Truth (with co-author Nicholas Beale). In the United Kingdom, Polkinghorne has been the Chairman of several Committees advising on ethical and social issues related to new developments in science and technology. In 2002 he was awarded the Templeton Prize. John Polkinghorne was one of the founders of the Society of Ordained Scientists and the Founding President of the International Society for Science and Religion.
Matthew Blackston is a nuclear physicist working at Oak Ridge National Laboratory performing research on new technologies for detecting and imaging nuclear and radiological materials. He earned his PhD in experimental nuclear physics in 2007 from Duke University. Prior to his graduate work in physics, he spent a year studying theology at Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando, FL.
Stephen Rodeheaver is the senior pastor of Southeast Church of the Nazarene in San Diego, California, and a visiting associate professor in the department on theology and Christian ministry at Point Loma Nazarene University. He is the author of Snapshots of the Kingdom: Glimpses of Heaven on Earth.
Sørina Higgins is an adjunct faculty member in English at Penn State (Lehigh Valley) and Lehigh Carbon Community College. She has published one poetry chapbook, The Significance of Swans
Jon Garvey studied medicine at Cambridge and theology at the Open Theological College, Cheltenham. During a career in General Practice he was also on the leadership team of a large (by UK standards) evangelical church, and did medical and Christian journalism. Retired, he now lives close to Devon's Jurassic Coast and spends his time in wondering how it got there and in writing and performing music, his first love.
Bruce Ellis Benson is Professor and Chair of the Department of Philosophy at Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois, and Executive Director of the Society for Continental Philosophy and Theology. Dr. Benson’s research interests include the "theological turn" in phenomenology and work at the intersection of continental philosophy and theology; hermeneutics and interpretation theory; and aesthetics, with special interest in the philosophy of music. He has written three monographs, the most recent of which is Pious Nietzsche: Decadence and Dionysian Faith
Matt J. Rossano is Professor of Psychology at Southeastern Louisiana University and author of Supernatural Selection: How Religion Evolved.
Rusty Pritchard is the CEO of Flourish, a ministry that equips Christians to engage the world of environmental science and action. He holds a Ph.D. in natural resource economics and a masters degree in systems ecology.
is an astronomer, speaker, and author, recently appointed as the senior project scientist for NASA's Hubble Space Telescope at the Goddard Space Flight Center, where she previously headed the Laboratory for Exoplanets and Stellar Astrophysics. Wiseman received a doctorate in astronomy from Harvard University. While a student, she co-discovered the comet 114P/Wiseman-Skiff. She conducted postdoctoral research in star formation as a Jansky fellow at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory and as a Hubble fellow at The Johns Hopkins University. Wiseman was the 2001–2002 Congressional Science fellow of the American Physical Society and served with staff of the Committee on Science of the U.S. House of Representatives. From 2003 to 2006 she was the program scientist for the Hubble Space Telescope at NASA headquarters in Washington, D.C. Wiseman is also interested in promoting positive dialogue on science and faith. She is currently the Council President of the American Scientific Affiliation and the new director of the Dialogue on Science, Ethics, and Religion for the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Tim Keller is pastor and founder of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City. The “Influentials” issue of New York magazine featured Keller as “the most successful Christian evangelist in the city” for his engagement with the young professional and artist demographics. He received his bachelor’s degree from Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Penn., his Master of Divinity from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in South Hampton, Mass., and his Doctor of Ministry from Westminster Theological Seminary. Keller has helped start more than 100 churches throughout the world. He is the author of Counterfeit Gods; The Prodigal God; The Reason for God: Belief of God in an Age of Skepticism -- named book of the year by World Magazine in 2008; and the recently released Generous Justice.
Michael L. Peterson is is professor of philosophy at Asbury University. He is also managing editor of Faith and Philosophy: Journal of the Society of Christian Philosophers. His books include Reason and Religious Belief (Oxford); God and Evil (Westview); With All Your Mind: A Christian Philosophy of Education (Notre Dame); and Evil and the Christian God (Baker). He has produced multiple edited volumes and journal articles.
July 14, 2011
In The Trinity and the Kingdom, Moltmann anchors the original act of creation and its continuance in the inner-trinitarian love of the Father for the Son. The Father’s engendering love for the Son calls creation into life through the power of the Holy Spirit. The indwelling Spirit, then, permeates the entire cosmos—every atom, super nova, and biological form—with life-giving energy.July 12, 2011
Evolution is the only rational way to account for the molecular uniformity of all organisms, given that numerous alternative structures and fundamental processes are, in principle, equally likely. Moreover, the accumulation of damaged or “junk” DNA, passed on over time to species further down that branch of the Tree, makes the probability that evolution did not occur infinitesimally smallJuly 5, 2011
The various scientific disciplines in aggregate constitute an extensive account of the way things are in the natural realm. Each scientific discipline investigates various domains peculiar to it: physics, for example, includes subatomic physics, condensed matter physics, continuum mechanics, and so on.June 30, 2011
Jesus himself extended the idea of mutual indwelling in an ecclesiastical direction in his prayer, “That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us” (John 17:21 NRSV). So, the amazing invitation is for humanity to be drawn into the life of God—to become a partner in the great dance of mutual love relations.June 27, 2011
Classical Christianity is the definition of Christian belief hammered out by councils, synods, and consensual bodies convened during the early life of the church. These conclaves met on a worldwide basis to enunciate a precise understanding of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, the Trinity, and other doctrines and, in so doing, to distinguish authentic Christian belief from heresy and error.June 24, 2011
The controversy over the scientific theory of evolution, of course, raises the more general issue of the relationship between science and religion—a controversy dating back to the dawn of the modern age when the Galileo affair foreshadowed the coming clashes between these two important human activities. The challenge then, as it is now, is that of relating the theories and findings of science to specifically Christian theological knowledge.May 16, 2011
Both Classical Christian Theology and Evolution suggest a dynamic, self-actualizing aspect to reality. Lewis is insightful about this congruence and incorporates it into his articulation of the Christian vision. In doing this, he is clearly a Christian Theistic Evolutionist, or an Evolutionary Christian Theist. So, what does Lewis say God is up to in this evolutionary universe? In answering this question, Lewis is at his best.May 12, 2011
Lewis was extremely critical of Evolutionary Naturalism as a total package because Naturalism involves the denial of God, moral relativism, and human devaluation. What science legitimately reveals about Evolution is then pressed into the service of a completely secular and godless vision that justifies the technological and political manipulation of humans—and this is touted as a “progressive scientific outlook.”May 10, 2011
Since Lewis rejects ID in the narrower sense, what does he think about Evolution? Lewis accepted both cosmic and biological evolution as highly confirmed scientific theories. He understood that when a scientific theory—which is a proposal about how some natural phenomenon is caused by some natural mechanism—is confirmed by many factors, we call it a fact.May 5, 2011
In nearby passages, Lewis states the scientific fact that the universe is running down and that all life will ultimately come to an end, as well as the obvious fact that pain is experienced by all sentient animals, including human beings. Lewis knows that such important facts must be included in the complete rational evaluation of any case for an Ultimate Being or Transcendent Intelligence.May 2, 2011
This brief sketch of the descriptive aspect of science should be augmented with information about the testing of hypotheses, which is central to science as it pursues its explanatory mission. But Lewis’s critical point for present purposes, in current parlance, is that we must distinguish the appropriate methodological naturalism of science from philosophical naturalism— something ID fails to do.April 28, 2011
IDers formulate statistical arguments to show how mathematically improbable it is that random genetic variations plus natural selection, even over great spans of time, could result in the highly complex structures they identify. These arguments involve lots of zeroes after a decimal point. Think of this strategy in terms of probabilities in poker.April 25, 2011
Probably no other modern Christian thinker fulfills this admonition better than C. S. Lewis as he engaged in what may be called intellectual evangelism, pre-evangelism, natural theology, or apologetics. Lewis stands within the long Christian tradition of natural theology: the enterprise of giving reasons for the existence of an Ultimate Being or God, reasons that are based on some feature of the world rather than on special revelation.
Marty Ostrow has been a producer, writer and director for public, commercial and cable television for more than 25 years. His award-winning films include the acclaimed 90-minute documentary America and the Holocaust: Deceit and Indifference, for the PBS series The American Experience. Marty’s work is known for the intimate portrait style he brings to his subjects. His public television films about the arts have earned him three Emmy Awards. Marty’s films have been seen in festivals around the world.
April 22, 2011
Seven years ago, during this springtime season of rebirth, fellow filmmaker Terry Kay Rockefeller and I set out on a voyage of discovery that would result in RENEWAL, the first feature-length documentary about America’s religious-environmental movement. This was a period of relative national disinterest in the environment, yet we became aware of clusters of people, from many faith traditions, who were taking action for the earth.
John Leax is poet-in-residence at Houghton College in the Genesee Valley of western New York, where he taught literature and writing for nearly forty years. He is the author of four books of poetry, four books of nonfiction, and one novel, in addition to having written a newspaper column and shepherded Houghton’s online literary journal, Stonework. The subjects he has explored include vocation, family heritage, community, gardening, environmental stewardship and civil disobedience, the integration of faith and learning, and the interrelationship of nature and culture. This essay combines several of those themes as a reminder that our science, faith, and art must be integrated in order to fully live out our calling as God’s image-bearers. More about Leax may be found here and here.
Dr. Oliver Barclay is a retired zoologist, who was the founding secretary of Christians in Science and the first editor of Science & Christian Belief.
April 8, 2011
The idea of the beauty of creation at first sight appears to be intrinsic to the idea that it expresses the glory of God. For many people it is the extraordinary beauty of the world that strikes them as evidence that God has designed it. However, I cannot find this stated in the Bible either explicitly or even indirectly.April 1, 2011
The biblical idea of creation and providence as fulfilling God’s good purposes implies, as we have said, that the world is designed by him. But we have to ask: Designed for what? The answer must be to play its part in God’s overall beneficent purposes of creation and providence. God’s purposes could, in principle, be achieved as much through an evolutionary process as in any other scientifically defined process.March 25, 2011
ID arguments have a tendency to separate the created order into the ‘natural’ and the ‘designed’. Indeed, implicit in Dembski’s suggestion that ‘design’ can be detected by strictly mathematical arguments is the assumption that there must be a backcloth of ‘nondesign’, otherwise the argument makes no sense.March 18, 2011
The Old Testament repeatedly states as fact that this universe is created by God, but is at pains to stress that it is the God, Jahweh, and not any of the other so-called gods, who is responsible both for its creation and its continuing functioning. In the Old Testament there is no real attempt to argue for the fact that this is a created world, rather it is treated as almost self-evident:Jeff R. Warren is Assistant Professor of Music at Trinity Western University in Langley, British Columbia. He has presented and published internationally on musical improvisation, meaning in music, soundscape, modern European philosophy, psychology, and ethics. Jeff’s creative work includes jazz composition, performance on double bass, and sound installations. Jeff received his doctorate in music and philosophy from Royal Holloway, University of London.
January 22, 2012
Returning to our exploration of the confluence of music, science, and Christianity, I’ll reiterate that the way music is practiced in different cultures may be different, but every culture we know of has music; or, as Cambridge scholar Ian Cross puts it, “humans are one single, recently emerged species, biologically fairly uniform though culturally diverse.”January 15, 2012
I’ve purposely looked at these last two instances of research into the neuroscience of music because they have gained wide attention and become popularized, pointing to how this area of study is subject to both ‘trickle down’ and ‘seep up’ effects. Supposed insights from research by specialists and philosophers often find their way into popular practice, becoming part of the general knowledge of the public.January 8, 2012
Humanity is marked by the biological capacity for musicality. Every known culture has something like music. Understanding how we experience and create music in the present gives us clues to why and how music emerged as one of the defining features of human culture (and, therefore, of humanness itself) in the past. But thinking carefully about music and evolution can also help us reassess how we use music now: in the wider culture, collectively as the church, and even within our own homes.March 13, 2011
Imagine for a moment that you are out in the wilderness, walking through a meadow of waist high grass with snow-capped mountains in the distance. You hear the wind blowing through the grass and the chirping and cooing of birds from all directions. You think to yourself: “It is great being surrounded by nature. God’s creation is so beautiful.”
Arie Leegwater is a professor emeritus of chemistry at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and editor of Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith, the journal of the American Scientific Affiliation. He received his doctorate in chemistry from The Ohio State University, where his thesis was on steric effects in organic chemistry.
March 8, 2011
On a late April 2010 visit to the Smithsonian, I viewed a diversity of exhibits, particularly those in the David H. Koch Hall of Human Origins. This mind-boggling experience, coupled with a recent Science issue and reading this issue of PSCF, devoted to the historicity of Adam and Eve, genomics, and evolutionary science, challenged some of my long-cherished positions.
Marcio Antonio Campos is a journalist and Economics editor at Gazeta do Povo in Curitiba, Brazil. He keeps the “Test Tube” blog, the only journalistic blog on science and religion in the Portuguese language hosted by a news outlet. Aimed at a general public, regardless of religion or level of scientific knowledge, the blog discusses a wide range of topics including creation/evolution issues. Last December Campos won the 2010 Top Blog award (the main award for Brazilian blogs) in the category "religion/professional blogs," according to popular vote.
March 7, 2011
For Old Earth Creationists a certain interpretation of these (and other) biblical texts would lead to a “temporal” impossibility for evolution: if the processes of natural selection could be triggered only after the Fall, there wouldn’t be enough time for species to evolve as proposed by Darwin. In order to learn whether this barrier can be considered a valid problem, I interviewed a Catholic priest and two Protestant theologians.
Ian H. Hutchinson is professor of nuclear science and engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His primary research interest is plasma physics and its practical applications. He and his MIT team designed, built and operate the Alcator C-Mod tokamak, an international experimental facility whose magnetically confined plasmas are prototypical of a future fusion reactor. He received his bachelor’s degree in physics from Cambridge University and his doctorate in engineering physics from the Australian National University. He directed the Alcator project from 1987 to 2003 and served as head of MIT’s nuclear science and engineering department from 2003 to 2009. In addition to over 160 journal articles on a variety of plasma phenomena, Hutchinson is widely known for his standard monograph on measuring plasmas: Principles of Plasma Diagnostics. He has also served on numerous editorial boards and national fusion review panels. For more, see Hutchinson's upcoming book Monopolizing Knowledge.
Dean Nelson directs the journalism program at Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego. His book, Quantum Leap: How John Polkinghorne found God in Science and Religion, written with Karl Giberson, will be released in 2011 by Lion-Hudson Press of Oxford. His book God Hides in Plain Sight: How to See the Sacred in a Chaotic World, was published by Brazos Press in 2009.
October 7, 2011
Across the river is the building where Polkinghorne used to live, the President’s Lodge. It is where he designed the crest for his presidency, imprinted with what has become one of his favorite scripture verses – I Thessalonians 5:21 “Test everything. Hold fast to what is true.” After lunch, back at his house, he picks up his writing where he left off and works until mid-afternoon. Then he reads theology for a few hours.September 30, 2011
His question was simply: Is it true? And if so, what is the case? As with the existence of electrons, gluons and quarks—none of which can be seen directly—the best one can do is create a theory and test it. “Part of my reason for being a Christian is that I believe that a Christian understanding offers us such a coherent framework adequate to the perplexing way the world is.”September 23, 2011
In his professional research, Polkinghorne was part of the team that began to challenge the longstanding conclusion that the smallest known particles that made up atoms were protons and neutrons. Experimental evidence suggested that there was something “inside” protons and neutrons. But what could that be? It became clear that those particles were made up of other particles, but no one could see what those smaller particles were.September 16, 2011
In both his science and his faith commitments, Polkinghorne embraces Michael Polanyi’s thinking, taken from the chemist/philosopher’s influential book, Personal Knowledge. Polkinghorne summarizes Polanyi’s thinking into this maxim: “To commit myself to what I believe to be true, knowing that it may be false.”September 9, 2011
Weinberg and Polkinghorne famously sparred in a celebrated debate on the existence of God at the Natural History Museum The showdown was a clash of two titans of science -- similarly trained theoretical physicists who, one might think, would hold identical views of the world. How could a world described by mathematical equations be otherwise?September 2, 2011
We don’t believe that at all, and neither does the deep thinker we profile in this book. We hope you won’t either, when you are finished reading.
Much has been written about faith and science – the history of supposedly major conflicts and minor harmonies between the two; the rational and irrational accounts from people who read just one of the two books set before us.February 9, 2011
John Polkinghorne remembers the day when some of his colleagues thought he had lost his mind. He was already famous as a physicist for his work in helping explain the existence of quarks and gluons, the world’s smallest known particles. He was a member of England’s Royal Society, one of the highest honors bestowed on a scientist –Isaac Newton is also a member.
Noah Efron is a senior faculty member on the Graduate Program in Science, Technology and Society at Bar Ilan University, in Israel. He is also a member of the Executive Committee of the International Society for Science and Religion. He has been appointed to serve on the Israeli Ministry of Agriculture’s committee to evaluate and regulate genetically modified agriculture and invited to participate in Knesset deliberations on human cloning. Efron has been a member of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, a fellow of the Dibner Institute for History of Science and Technology at the Massachusetts Institute for Technology and a fellow in History at Harvard University. He was recently selected to receive a Greenwall Ruebhausen Fellowship, which will support a tenure as a visiting Professor at the University of Pennsylvania.
February 3, 2011
Many see the meeting of science and religion as a meeting of ideas. Biologists propose evolution and believers counter with creation. Physicists say "Big Bang" and pastors say "God's handiwork." Science is theories, religion is theology; sometimes the ideas put forth by each mesh, and sometimes they grind.
Rev. Scott E. Hoezee is an ordained pastor in the Christian Reformed Church in North America and has served two congregations. He was the pastor of Second Christian Reformed Church in Fremont, Michigan, from 1990-1993. Then from 1993-2005 he was the Minister of Preaching and Administration at Calvin CRC in Grand Rapids, Michigan. In the spring of 2005 Scott accepted the Seminary's offer to become the first Director of the Center for Excellence in Preaching. He has also been a member of the Pastor-Theologian Program sponsored by the Center of Theological Inquiry in Princeton, New Jersey, where he was pastor-in-residence in the fall of 2000. He currently serves as one of three co-editors of Perspectives: A Journal of Reformed Thought.
February 3, 2011
Ever since I was a kid, that was my gut reaction to those well-meaning people in my church and school who told me that despite what many in the sciences were saying, the earth and the entire universe were actually of relatively recent manufacture (say, on the order of 10,000 years of age or so).
Robert C. Bishop is the John and Madeline McIntyre Endowed Professor of Philosophy and History of Science and an associate professor at Wheaton College in Illinois. He received his master’s degree in physics and doctorate in philosophy from the University of Texas at Austin. Bishop's research involves history and philosophy of science, philosophy of physics, philosophy of social science, philosophy of mind and psychology and metaphysics. He is a member of the American Physical Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Scientific Affiliation and the Philosophy of Science Association. Bishop is the author of The Philosophy of the Social Science and co-editor of Between Chance and Choice: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Determinism. He has also written twenty articles for peer-reviewed journals.
June 22, 2011
Central to Coyne and these atheists’ approach to religion is what looks to be a straightforward intellectual or scientific value: objectification. Objectification is a stance towards things that abstracts away from so-called subject-related qualities. The latter include the meanings of and relationships among things that show up within our ordinary experience, values, aims and concerns.June 13, 2011
Much of his blog response focuses on my exposing his theological speculations about a designer in the context of evolutionary biology. Coyne claims to be doing straightforward scientific inference–looking at various evolutionary developments and then drawing consequences for what they would mean if some being had designed them.May 19, 2011
This kind of reconciliation often isn’t done well. We see this in partners who let their own pride or needs get in the way of genuinely listening to and being affected by what the other is saying. In the science-religion discussions neither the creationist nor ID advocates, nor militant atheists like Dawkins do this very well.May 11, 2011
Even though it’s controversial to identify the intelligent agency of ID with God—ID advocates regularly deny that the designer they are seeking is God—Coyne clearly relishes this identification and intends for his remarks to reflect badly on God as the designer of natureMay 4, 2011
Coyne explores the evidence currently supporting the scientific judgment that evolution is a provisionally true framework for understanding the natural history of organisms. Indeed, the history of evolutionary theory is no different than that of any other major scientific theoretical framework–one of constant modification and refinement as we learn new things.February 28, 2011
The final element of the DoC that I will cover is the functional integrity God has given creation. Creation has the causal capacities to both be itself and to create elements of itself, so creation can accomplish what God intends it to accomplish in Christ. The functional integrity of creation follows from God’s purpose that creation be itself (i.e., be something other than Him).February 21, 2011
Another element of the DoC is the idea that God’s action in creation parallels His action in salvation and sanctification. For instance, creation, salvation and sanctification are all mediated by Jesus and the Spirit. When examining the Bible, we see these parallels show up in numerous ways. For example God saves in space and time, and God creates in space and time.February 14, 2011
We’re used to thinking about how God is personally involved in the lives of His people, but we rarely think about how the Trinity is personally involved in creation.1 Personal involvement is pictured at the beginning of Scripture: “On the day the LORD God made the earth and heavens…” (Gen. 2:4b). The Hebrew phrase translated as “LORD God” is Yahweh elohim, God’s personal name revealed to Moses.February 9, 2011
Often forgotten in Christian thinking about creation is the fact that Jesus and the Holy Spirit are intimately involved in creation (Irenaeus famously referred to them as God’s “two hands”). For instance, we see Jesus involved in creation in various ways: “For by Him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible…” (Col. 1:16a).January 31, 2011
In teaching at an evangelical liberal arts college that holds firmly to the inspiration and authority of Scripture, I find most of my students think the biblical doctrine of creation (DoC) is limited to two points: (1) God created out of nothing (ex nihilo) and (2) God created the world in six days (whatever they think “days” is supposed to mean!).Ross Hastings is an associate professor of Pastoral Theology at Regent College, Vancouver British Columbia. Hastings teaches in the areas of the theology and spirituality of mission, pastoral theology and ethics. He has served as a pastor in Kingston, ON, Burnaby, BC, and Montreal, QC, and for eleven years as the senior pastor of Peace Portal Alliance Church in White Rock, BC. He has earned two PhDs, one in organo-metallic chemistry at Queen’s University (ON), and the other in theology at St. Andrew’s University, in his native Scotland. His theological dissertation is a comparative study of the Trinitarian theology of Jonathan Edwards and Karl Barth and is in the publication process.
April 30, 2011
Interestingly, Augustine, who articulated the doctrine of original sin most clearly, did not envision original sin as originating structural changes in the universe, and he even suggests that the bodies of Adam and Eve were already created mortal before the Fall. It is not just evolutionary creationists who need to grapple with the reality of animal death before the fall. Progressive creationists must do so also.April 18, 2011
Interestingly, Augustine recognizes that the interpretation of the creation story is extremely difficult, and remarks that we should be willing to change our mind about it as new information comes up. I think many Evangelicals are under the false impression that until the advent of modern geology in the nineteenth century there was only one interpretation of Genesis 1—the literalistic twenty-four hour day view.April 14, 2011
I am fully aware that I will in this section begin to show where my own leanings are in the dialogue. I therefore ask that these are received only as part of the dialogue, and not because I think I have now found new light and irrevocable solutions. My musings here will be more questions than answers.April 11, 2011
Each has been given these charisms by Christ according to this passage but all passages taken together inform us that each of the persons of the Holy Trinity working together has been engaged in this act, such is their value. And this is to say nothing of the cost of those gifts, which was Christ’s descent to earth to accomplish redemption, or the significance of those gifts.February 24, 2011
Another way to say this is that science is also an art. Michael Polanyi believed that “Science can’t be done without imagination and passion.” Central to Polanyi's thinking was the belief that creative acts (especially acts of discovery) are shot-through or charged with strong personal feelings and commitments (hence the title of his most famous work Personal Knowledge).February 16, 2011
We are all bound by the essentialist creeds as we develop our specific thinking about creation. Here are five tenets to which I think we will all adhere, and which will keep us together as we debate the finer points of the “how” of creation.February 11, 2011
We are, I trust, united theologically in the main things that are the plain things—that is, around the essentials of the faith which are developed and more fully expressed in the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed (AD 381), which includes the affirmation “We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible,” without saying how!February 7, 2011
In what follows, I want to give a basis for the preservation of the unity of the church as it comes at the issues of science and faith, and in particular as it dialogues over the more controversial areas in this arena. I would suspect this first point is not groundbreaking, new information for most of us, but it is necessary exhortation nevertheless.February 3, 2011
My own interest in theology and science arises out of a curiosity to know the truth that takes care of itself in every realm of reality, and that sets us free. It is motivated by the presupposition that all truth is God’s and that all truth concerning the creation of the universe and its reconciliation is centered in the God-Man Jesus who said, “I am the truth” (John 14:6).
Amy Carleton received a bachelor's degree in English from Simmons College in Boston and master's degree in literature from Northeastern University. She has worked as a manuscript editor in the North American offices of the Journal of Physics and Chemistry of Solids, has taught at several Boston-area universities, and run several short-term study abroad programs.
January 27, 2011
As a graduate student in literature, I have been taught to read carefully, think critically, and to synthesize my interpretations with other critical perspectives on a given topic or text. This is often more difficult than it sounds.
Dr. Loren WIlkinson has for 30 years been professor of philosophy and interdisciplinary studies at Regent College, a graduate school of Christian Studies affiliated with the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. His academic background is in philosophy, literature and theology, with graduate degrees from Johns Hopkins, Trinity International University, and Syracuse University. He has published and taught widely on the Biblical foundations for the care of creation. He is currently working with other Regent faculty with support from a grant by the John Templeton Foundation, with the goal of helping Christian ministers involve science and scientists more thoroughly in their preaching, teaching and worship. He lives with his wife on Galiano Island, British Columbia, where, together they teaches courses developing a Christian understanding of creation, and a more creational understanding of Christian faith.
James Bradley is a Professor of Mathematics emeritus at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He received his bachelor of science in mathematics from MIT and his doctorate in mathematics from the University of Rochester.
Philip Yancey is a best-selling author of evangelical Christian literature and editor-at-large of Christianity Today. He received master’s degrees in communications and English from Wheaton College in Illinois and the University of Chicago. His publications include The Jesus I Never Knew and Where is God When It Hurts? Yancey is a member of the editorial board of Books & Culture, and his books have sold more than 14 million copies worldwide and have been translated into 35 languages. He has received two Christian Book of the Year awards and 13 Gold Medallion awards.
December 15, 2010
In this video “Conversation,” Philip Yancey, Christian journalist and author, discusses the inspiration behind his new book What Good is God? Yancey explains that his book arose from the many interesting circumstances he’s found himself in throughout his travels as a writer.Dr. Sy Garte earned his Ph.D.in biochemistry from the City University of New York, where he also holds a bachelor’s of science degree in chemistry. In addition to publishing more than 200 scientific publications in genetics, epidemiology, the environment and other areas, Dr. Garte is the author of Where We Stand: A Surprising Look at the Real State of Our Planet (Amacom) and Genetic Susceptibility to Environmental Carcinogenesis (Kluwer) and is co-editor of Molecular Epidemiology of Chronic Diseases (Wiley). He has been a Professor of Public Health and Environmental Health Sciences at New York University, UMDNJ, and the University of Pittsburgh. He currently works as a science administrator for a government agency in Bethesda MD.
December 12, 2010
I was raised in a household of atheists. My parents were card-carrying members of the American Communist Party, and therefore the atheism in my household was quite close to the militant anti-theism of the so-called “new atheists”.
Makoto Fujimura is an artist, writer, and speaker recognized worldwide by both faith-based and secular media as a cultural catalyst and champion of the reconciling power of creative art. A Presidential appointee to the National Council on the Arts (2003-2009), Fujimura speaks and exhibits his work across the globe, and founded the International Arts Movement (IAM) in 1992. Fujimura’s second book, Refractions: A Journey of Faith, Art and Culture (NavPress, 2009), is a collection of essays bringing people of all backgrounds together in conversation and meditation on culture, art, and humanity, and in which he often draws upon images and metaphors from science and the natural world. More of his visual and literary work may be explored at www.makotofujimura.com.
December 5, 2010
Why would one take this journey? The only reason that I can even begin to think in such audacious terms is because I believe in the audacity of the Incarnation. The greatest mystery, and the miracle of miracles, is that God became a man to dwell among us—that he took on flesh.
Keith Miller is research assistant professor of geology at Kansas State University in the United States. He is editor of Perspectives on an Evolving Creation (Eerdmans, 2003), an anthology of essays by prominent evangelical Christian scientists who accept theistic evolution. He is also a prominent board member of the Kansas Citizens for Science, a not-for-profit educational organization that promotes a better understanding of science.
Mark Sargent is the provost of Gordon College in Wenham, MA. He and his family live in Hamilton, MA. Sargent has been a strong supporter of BioLogos and spoke at the BioLogos Gordon Conference last June.
November 25, 2010
Thanksgiving, as Arlyne knows, is my favorite holiday. But it should be a better habit. Two millennia ago the Apostle Paul—in a Mediterranean prison at that— extolled the young believers at Philippi to “Rejoice in the Lord always. And again, I say rejoice.” I don’t know about you, but I am often grateful for that second reminder.
Kerry L. Bender is the pastor of Faith Baptist Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He has been interested in the conversation between science and faith for some time, but his interest has intensified in the last few years with his own children entering middle-school and high school. Their questions were a catalyst for Pastor Kerry’s renewed interest in this topic, and he is currently working on a book project to provide solid exegetical and scientific information for young people within the church. Rev. Bender received his bachelor's degree in religion and history from Jamestown College, his Master of Divinity from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, and his Master of Theology from the University of Edinburgh.
December 2, 2010
In first of these two installments titled, “The Weapon of Science, the Sword of the Spirit, and a Call to Prayer,” I presented what I perceive to be a temptation of evangelicals to see and use science as a weapon rather than a tool. This thwarts the true purpose of science to seek truth in the physical world.November 24, 2010
I tell this story because I think that my current perception of science is different than many in the conservative evangelical community of which I am a part. My perception is that science is a tool, but I fear that far too often we as evangelicals have perceived it as a weapon; a perception with which I grew up and fostered for a time.Michael Lipford serves as Executive Director of The Nature Conservancy in Virginia and a deacon in First Baptist Church of Richmond, Virginia. A version of this essay originally appeared in First Things First, the newsletter of First Baptist, as an account of Michael’s journey of faith, and we share it here as an example of the way that a life in the ‘secular’ world of the natural sciences can lead towards the Lord and an active engagement of the world through His Church, rather than away from orthodox, evangelical faith. About the tenor of much of the debate over these issues among fellow believers, Michael once observed that we Christians seem to spend so much time arguing over the very beginning and very end of the Bible that we leave ourselves little time or energy to do what it says in all the pages in between.
November 21, 2010
Along the side of our patio in front of our family garden, I grow grapes. I was inspired to grow them from the tradition of my mother's homeland in Cyprus, where grapes, olives, figs and lemons adorn the patios of each house. I was challenged to grow them well by the words of Jesus in John 15: "I am the vine, you are the branches, I will prune you to produce much fruit."Susanne Antonetta is an award-winning writer and teacher, the author of three books of nonfiction (Body Toxic and A Mind Apart and the forthcoming Inventing Family) and four books of poetry, which she writes under the name of Suzanne Paola. She has contributed to the New York Times, Washington Post, Orion, Seneca Review, and Image Journal, among other publications. She lives in Bellingham, Washington. For me information, see her website.
November 14, 2010
For the last several years, my husband and I have done something I would once have found quite improbable: attending an evangelical Korean church. Improbable because we are neither evangelical—or not in the sense that I understood it when we first went--nor Korean.
Kelsey Luoma is a graduate of Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego, California, where she received a bachelor's degree in biology. She plans to continue her education in medical school. As an evangelical Christian and student of biology, Luoma is very interested in resolving the conflict between faith and science. She has spent two summers working as a student intern for BioLogos. In the future, she hopes to serve internationally as a physician.
January 19, 2012
In our last BioLogos podcast, we looked at the question of transitional fossils, and how the transitional species story strongly supports, and certainly does not disprove, evolutionary theory. In our latest, we move on to look at the genetic evidence for evolution. The discovery of DNA has revolutionized our understanding of common descent, particularly in the past few decades.November 10, 2011
A common argument leveled against the theory of evolution is that scientists have not been able to produce transitional fossils that show the change of one species into another. In our first ever BioLogos podcast, presented by BioLogos intern Kelsey Luoma, we address the misconception about what a transitional fossil actually is. Rather than a mix between two related species, these fossils point back to the common ancestors that modern species share.April 22, 2011
The religion-environmental movement is powerful exactly for these reasons. When people are motivated by a deep-rooted desire to worship God, they are willing to invest time, energy and emotion to what they believe is the right thing to do. Throughout history, as C.S. Lewis pointed out in his famous work Mere Christianity, “those who did most for this world are those who thought most of the next”.November 11, 2010
While Behe presents his ideas in an articulate and convincing manner, he relies on only a few weakly supported arguments. In fact, many of the arguments he uses are misleading and illogical. In this post, I will isolate one such misleading argument- that “complexes of just three or more different proteins are beyond the edge of evolution”- and present evidence to show that Behe may have been wrong (p. 135).
George Murphy has been active for many years in helping churches see the relevance of science for faith and to deal with religious issues raised by science and technology. With a Ph.D. in theoretical physics from Johns Hopkins, he taught college science courses in the United States and Australia for twelve years. Now retired from regular parish ministry, he continues to write and speak on issues of science and theology and is an adjunct faculty member at Trinity Lutheran Seminary in Columbus. Dr. Murphy has published many papers in physics as well as articles in the science-theology His most recent books are Pulpit Science Fiction and The Cosmos in the Light of the Cross.
November 20, 2010
Our estrangement from God began when early humans disobeyed God’s will and took a path leading away from God. Genes and culture contribute to a sinful world in which all people are born and nurtured, and our impact on our environment distorts the terrestrial creation.November 12, 2010
We’ve looked at ways in which western and eastern Christians have understood Genesis 2 and 3. The latter view, in which humanity was created in an immature condition and expected to grow, corresponds best to our scientific picture. The earliest human sin was not a fall from perfection but a start along a path that led away from God.November 5, 2010
Can I believe in God and accept evolution? That depends on what God you have in mind. The Christian answer is that God makes himself known to faith in the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. The true God participates in creation, suffering and dying for it. Yet God is hidden from observation, for the cross looks nothing like our expectations of deity.
David Ussery is an associate professor of comparative microbial genomics at the Center for Biological Sequence Analysis at the Technical University of Denmark and on the faculty at the University in Oslo, Norway. Ussery is the co-author of Computing for Comparative Microbial Genomics and has authored or co-authored 130 articles for science and professional journals. He is also a frequent public speaker on the topic of bacterial genomics.
December 4, 2010
This series of posts has been going through Michael Behe’s book, The Edge of Evolution, chapter by chapter. This penultimate chapter focuses on the findings of one of the most fascinating new topics in biology today, evolutionary developmental biology (evo-devo). In essence this is a field that couples two sub-disciplines, evolutionary biology and developmental biology using the tools of molecular biology.November 19, 2010
Behe’s argument in this chapter is essentially that even with more than several hundred million years of evolution, this is simply not enough time for the ‘right mutations’ to occur in order for the complexity we see around us, in terms of plants and animals, to have evolved via ‘random processes’.November 3, 2010
In this chapter, Behe concludes that evolution is a 'tinkerer', not an engineer. Fair enough. But then he concludes that “If Darwinism is just a tinkerer, then it cannot be expected to produce coherent features where a number of separate parts act together for a clear purpose, involving more than several components.” (Page 119). But what about Dawkin's Climbing Mount Improbable?October 30, 2010
There are three things I'd like to say, in relation to the first three parts that have been posted from my review. Firstly, thank you very much for many useful comments and discussion. One good thing about this discussion is that it can be used as a teaching tool, in order to get students interested in the controversy (and hence the science) about genomic sequences and evolutionary biology.October 23, 2010
The title for this chapter is a bit deceptive, in that most of this chapter is not really about what evolution CAN do, but rather what the limits to evolution are (the topic for the next chapter). There is a short description of genome sequence analysis and the types of mutations observed in the laboratory, but in my opinion this chapter is really missing a thorough discussion of the astounding variety and diversity we find when we examine genomes.October 18, 2010
One of my Ph.D. students was a mathematician, and I can still remember trying to read through his paper—lots of formulas—and sometimes they were difficult for me to understand. I have since learned that many people in math departments have a strong disliking for statisticians - I used to naively think that the two are the same. In this chapter, it looks as though Behe has confused mathematics with statistics.October 16, 2010
This brings me to mention the target audience of this review. Of course anyone can read this, but it is intended mainly for educated readers who are interested in the science/religion dialogue, and in particular are interested in Intelligent Design, and either have read or want to read The Edge of Evolution: The Search for the Limits of Darwinism, by Michael Behe.
Brandon G. Withrow (Ph.D., Westminster Theological Seminary) is Assistant Professor of Historical and Theological Studies and Director of the Master of Arts (Theological Studies) program at Winebrenner Theological Seminary (Findlay, OH). He also teaches courses for a joint Bachelor of Arts in Religious Studies program with the University of Findlay. His specialization is the history of Christianity, with research interests in ancient and early-modern Christianity. He is the author most-recently of Katherine Parr: A Guided Tour of the Life and Thought of a Reformation Queen. His blog, The Discarded Image, focuses on "living ontologically" by exploring the intersection of faith, philosophy, and science through literature.
November 4, 2010
Today, Protestant students in the classroom may not know Copernicus’ name or even what he is known for, but they generally assume the truth of his assertions. So how do we get a sense for the pulse of the intellectual world of the seventeenth- and eighteenth-centuries and account for the gradual changes in the public perception of Copernicus?October 28, 2010
Every semester I ask my students certain questions that begin, “How many of you have heard of…?” When the name “Copernicus” was attached to the end of that question this term, and several students had either not heard of him, or only knew his name but not what he had done for science, I was shocked.October 19, 2010
Augustine's Christian Neoplatonism provided the tools for this methodology; i.e., this world is a shadow of the eternal world, and so the literal words of the Bible represent something above and heavenly. The earthly or literal reading of Scripture cannot be discarded as unimportant, but the literal reading is that which works as a sign post to the heavenly or allegorical meaning.October 11, 2010
Saint Augustine (354-430 C.E.) was not always a saint. His famous Confessions show him to be a self-indulgent hedonist, a seeker looking for satisfaction in something, anything. Philosophy, rhetoric, friendship, sex—whatever sounded good at the time drove him to experiment. His devout Christian mother, Monica, pushed the resistant Augustine toward Christianity at every opportunity.September 30, 2010
In part one, we saw that Origen of Alexandria could not ignore the intellectual difficulties that came with reading Scripture literally. He believed that the most literal or earthly-bound reading of the text was akin to divine baby talk and that Scripture is written with layers of deeper, spiritual meaning. Like Scripture, human beings are both material and immaterial.September 24, 2010
Infants learn to crawl before they learn to walk, or so they say. Ancient Christian theologians had a similar theory about the sacred text. Scripture is baby talk for an infant human race, said Origen of Alexandria (C.E. 185-254). It is God speaking to our young species like an adult to a child, matching our intellectual limitations.
Randy Isaac is a solid-state physics research scientist and executive director of the American Scientific Affiliation (ASA), where he has been a member since 1976 and a fellow since 1996. Isaac received his bachelor’s degree from Wheaton College in Illinois and his doctorate in physics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He joined IBM to work at the Thomas J. Watson Research Center in 1977 and most recently served as the vice-president of systems technology and science for the company.
October 21, 2010
The three ideologies described previously have failed to provide a persuasive answer from science to the question of God. Other philosophical perspectives such as cosmological fine-tuning and the anthropic principle also claim many adherents but these arguments are not compelling for everyone. Many others have and will attempt such an answer.October 14, 2010
Stephen Meyer’s use of the term “specificity” puts it in this third category of information. Meyer adds a second type of specificity, namely functionality. Usually functionality refers to the characteristics or action of a design compared with the design specification set by the designer. If that functionality involves symbolic meaning at any level, then an intelligent agent does need to be involved in some direct or indirect way.October 7, 2010
The detection of the trademark of a designer has been a major theme in natural philosophy for centuries. Many people accepted William Paley’s early nineteenth century concept of detecting the divine designer until Darwin published his theory. Design lost favor until it was revived in the late 1980s and 1990s when it blossomed into a widely publicized movement known as Intelligent Design (ID).October 1, 2010
The modern surge of creationism arose in the mid-twentieth century, about a century after Darwin published his ideas. Many factors for its rise have been articulated and three of them merit mention here. First of all, there was the rise of literary higher criticism of the Bible in the early twentieth century.September 23, 2010
Can science provide substantive insight into the question of God’s existence? This series of blogs will examine three schools of thought regarding the possibility of detecting God’s existence through science: Evolutionism, Creationism, and Intelligent Design. I will then assert, though without formal proof, that science may not be able to lead us to a clear conclusion regarding the existence of God.
Peter Doumit is a consulting geologist with a background in education, a licensed Professional Geologist for the state of Wyoming, and author of A Unification of Science and Religion (2010). A former high school science teacher and junior college geology and astronomy professor, Mr. Doumit has experienced first-hand the questions that surround the roles that science and religion play in the lives of many people. He holds a B.S. in Natural Science with a Geology emphasis from the University of Puget Sound, and an M.A. in Earth Science with a Geology emphasis from the University of Northern Colorado. He resides in western Colorado with his wife and three children.
September 18, 2010
So what is the real relationship between science and religion? Bitter rivals or teammates? Adversaries or advocates? The truth and the lie? The media would have you believe that there is an immense chasm between science and religion, with no possibility of overlap or complementarity.
John Hawthorne has spent the past 30 years in Christian Higher Education as a sociology professor and college administrator. He earned his PhD in sociology in 1986 from Purdue University. His research interests focus on articulating Christian community in congregations and schools. He currently lives in the greater Los Angeles area.
September 10, 2010
This final point, given while they were wrapping up, is in fact the most important piece to consider. It underscores the reality that it is hard to find actual evidence of “slippery slopes” in either direction. As a sociologist, I admit that social definitions of acceptable behavior do change over time. But we too often exaggerate the significance of such change and give it more weight than necessary.Denis Lamoureux is the associate professor of science and religion at St. Joseph’s College in the University of Alberta. He holds a PhD in evangelical theology and a PhD in evolutionary biology. Lamoureux is the author of the books Evolutionary Creation: A Christian Approach to Evolution (2008) and I Love Jesus and I Accept Evolution (2009).
September 17, 2010
It is understandable why most Christians believe that Adam was a real historical person. This is exactly what Scripture states in both the Old and New Testaments. To defend their position, these believers often offer three arguments by appealing to the apostle Paul. First, they use a conferment argument.September 11, 2010
Typical of ancient accounts of origins, the Lord God created these de novo; that is, they were made quickly and completely formed. But Genesis 2 focuses mainly on the origin of humanity. Adam is made “from the dust of the ground” (v. 7). Notably, the use of earth to rapidly form mature human beings appears in other ancient Near Eastern creation stories.September 2, 2010
De novo creation is the ancient conceptualization of origins found in the Bible. This term is made up of the Latin words de meaning “from” and novus “new.” Stated more precisely, it is a view of origins that results in things and beings that are brand new.
Stephen Mapes is a web developer and editorial coordinator for The BioLogos Foundation and Science & the Sacred.
November 29, 2011
As we noted in our response to the June article in Christianity Today “The Search for the Historical Adam,” the evidence for gradual creation is overwhelming, with more studies supporting the evolutionary process being published each year. We’ve looked at many of these evidences: from fossils, from comparative anatomy, from genetics. Today, we’d like to highlight for our readers a compelling video from the annual TED Conference.October 13, 2010
We at BioLogos have been aware of the need for our readers to be able to access the treasure trove of older essays that address the subjects they’re most interested in learning about. With that in mind, we’re excited to offer our new “Topics” section, a new way for visitors to find blogs on the topics and questions they want to read about.August 22, 2010
It may seem a bit obvious to explain the relation to the Sabbath, but I’ll do it nonetheless: in our everyday lives, we’re often so focused on the waypoints and destinations – the kids, the bills, the mortgage, even our religious debates – that we rarely take time to acknowledge the marvelous world God has made for us with anything more than a simple, “Oh, that looks awesome.”
Dr. Ken Wolgemuth is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Tulsa and a Petroleum Consultant teaching short courses on petroleum geology and “Geology for the Non-Geologist.” Over the last 10 years, he has developed a keen interest in sharing the geology of God’s Creation with Christians in churches and seminaries.
August 27, 2010
In Part 3 , we considered three examples which suggest that the earth’s geological features cannot be explained by a global Flood. In our final post in this series, we examine a fourth line of evidence—tree rings and lake sediment layers (varves)—and make concluding remarks.August 21, 2010
In part 2, we concluded by noting that, as Christian geologists willing to consider the possibility, we find no compelling evidence that the earth’s geological features can be explained by a global Flood. Here we consider three lines of evidence: global salt deposits, the order of deposition of sediment layers in the Grand Canyon, and the sequence of fossils in geological strata.August 12, 2010
From a biblical perspective, Young-Earth/Flood-Geology advocates consistently argue that “the plain reading of Scripture,” with six literal 24 days is the only interpretation of Genesis that is free of textual and theological problems. All other approaches are claimed to require hermeneutical manipulations that ultimately undermine the simple and clear message of the Bible.August 5, 2010
As Christians and geologists, we frequently encounter people with stories of storm tossed and shipwrecked faith that started when they began to wrestle with apparent conflicts between science and the Bible. The stories have a common thread. The Bible, they were told, clearly teaches the earth was created a few thousand years ago with life forms fashioned more or less as we find them today.
Dr. Gregg Davidson is a Professor in the Department of Geology and Geological Engineering at the University of Mississippi and conducts original research in geochemistry and hydrogeology, often employing radiometric dating methods to determine the age of groundwater and sediments. In 2009 he published a book about his keen interest in integrating a lifetime of studying geology with his firm conviction about the infallibility of God’s Word, When Faith & Science Collide – A Biblical Approach to Evaluating Evolution and the Age of the Earth.
August 27, 2010
In Part 3 , we considered three examples which suggest that the earth’s geological features cannot be explained by a global Flood. In our final post in this series, we examine a fourth line of evidence—tree rings and lake sediment layers (varves)—and make concluding remarks.August 21, 2010
In part 2, we concluded by noting that, as Christian geologists willing to consider the possibility, we find no compelling evidence that the earth’s geological features can be explained by a global Flood. Here we consider three lines of evidence: global salt deposits, the order of deposition of sediment layers in the Grand Canyon, and the sequence of fossils in geological strata.August 12, 2010
From a biblical perspective, Young-Earth/Flood-Geology advocates consistently argue that “the plain reading of Scripture,” with six literal 24 days is the only interpretation of Genesis that is free of textual and theological problems. All other approaches are claimed to require hermeneutical manipulations that ultimately undermine the simple and clear message of the Bible.August 5, 2010
As Christians and geologists, we frequently encounter people with stories of storm tossed and shipwrecked faith that started when they began to wrestle with apparent conflicts between science and the Bible. The stories have a common thread. The Bible, they were told, clearly teaches the earth was created a few thousand years ago with life forms fashioned more or less as we find them today.
Mark Noll is a historian, essayist and professor specializing in the history of American Christianity. Since 2006 he has been the Francis A. McAnaney Professor of History at the University of Notre Dame. His books include America’s God: From Jonathan Edwards to Abraham Lincoln; God and Race in American Politics: A Short History and The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind, which has been widely recognized for making a strong appeal for a better approach to intellectual life among American evangelicals.
September 6, 2011
If the mystery of divinity and humanity fully inhabiting a single being is at the heart of Christian faith, and if this faith offers Christ as the definite answer to the deepest mysteries of existence itself, then there is a way forward. It is not a way forward along the path of latemedieval univocity when it was assumed that a natural explanation for any phenomenon was a fully sufficient explanation.August 30, 2011
In his words, “recent debates concerning evolutionist and ‘creationist’ accounts of the origins of nature are marked through and through by modern assumptions about a distant, competitive, and occasionally intervening God, whether the existence of such a God is affirmed or denied.”August 22, 2011
A case study that shows how profitable it can be to approach scientific issues with Christological principles is provided by the career of Benjamin B. Warfield. In chapter three, when discussing the doubleness of classical Christology, we saw how Warfield forcefully affirmed “this conjoint humanity and divinity [of Christ], within the limits of a single personality.”August 15, 2011
At the dawn of modern science in the early seventeenth century, the iconic experimenter and polemicist Galileo Galilei recorded exceedingly wise words about how to combine investigations of nature with complete trust in Scripture. Implicit in his comments was an anchorage in christological realities that I hope to make explicit at the end of this chapter.August 8, 2011
The bearing of Christology on science involves historical as well as theological awareness because the relationship between God’s “two books” has changed significantly over the course of centuries between biblical times and the present. So long as Christian communities thought it a straightforward task to harmonize what Scripture seemed to communicate about the natural world and what observing nature or reflecting on nature seemed to communicate, the discussion was contained.August 20, 2010
In sum, a plethora of well-established historical conclusions, along with observations from the present day, demonstrate beyond cavil that no simple formula can adequately describe the rich, thickly textured, and complex history linking Christianity and science.August 13, 2010
A stunning array of solidly grounded reasons indicates why White was simply wrong in how he told his story. The sixteen reasons that follow have been driven home so often by so many scholars that the really puzzling historical problem is how any credibility at all still clings to the notion of warfare between Science and Theology.August 7, 2010
Between White’s first lecture in 1869 and the publication of his full statement in 1896, others had also taken up the cry. White knew well the work of John W. Draper, an English-born, New York City chemist, who in 1874 had published a widely noticed study entitled The Conflict between Science and Religion; moreover, White considered Draper’s book “a work of great ability.”
Tremper Longman is the Robert H. Gundry Professor of Biblical Studies at Westmont College in Santa Barbara, California, as well as Visiting Professor of Old Testament at Mars Hill Graduate School and adjunct of Old Testament at Fuller Theological Seminary. He is the author of over twenty books, including the upcoming Science, Creation and the Bible: Reconciling Rival Theories of Origins with physicist Richard F. Carlson.
August 14, 2010
In my previous comment, I indicated that there is a lot of figurative language in Genesis 1. The same may be said for Genesis 2, the second creation account in which there is a focus on Adam and Eve. Also, as we saw in Genesis 1, there is an implicit polemic against ancient Near Eastern mythological ideas. Listen to the description of human beings in the Babylonian Atrahasis.August 6, 2010
To understand and apply Genesis 1 correctly, we have to consider issues of genre and intention. Too often these chapters are read as if they present a purely straightforward (read literal) historical and even scientific account of cosmic and human origins. They are thus then read as a polemic against modern scientific ideas, particularly Darwinism.
Catherine Crouch is associate professor of physics at Swarthmore College in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, and lives in Swarthmore with her husband Andy and their children Timothy and Amy. She earned her Ph.D. in experimental condensed matter physics from Harvard University; at Swarthmore, she teaches both physics majors and nonmajors, mentors undergraduates in research, and is developing an innovative introductory physics course for life science students.
August 8, 2010
became a scientist because over and over, when I was a child, a teenager, and a college student, I experienced the sheer delight that comes with understanding the amazing physical mechanisms that are at work in our universe. For me, this delight came because the universe is not only understandable, but elegant, with just a few physical principles giving rise to the behavior of atoms, galaxies, and everything in between.August 1, 2010
Sara Groves’s song “You Are the Sun” is, quite simply, one of the best songs I’ve heard. It is built around an extraordinarily rich metaphor: Jesus Christ as the sun and the singer as the moon. The lyrics explore the many facets of the metaphor, and as they do so, resonate with manifold Scriptural images of Jesus and his people (not to mention the rhyme between sun and Son), from the Psalms to Revelation.
Syman Stevens studied physics at Furman University. He then received a master's of science in applied mathematics and theoretical physics at the University of Cambridge, completed a fellowship at the Trinity Forum Academy, and received a master of arts in the philosophical foundations of physics at Columbia University. During his time in New York, he helped compile and respond to a collection of most frequently asked questions about science and faith regarding Francis Collins' book The Language of God. In August of 2009, he became Executive Director of The BioLogos Foundation.
July 30, 2010
The topic of Intelligent Design (ID) comes up frequently here at Science and the Sacred. Just use the search bar on this page to see for yourself. But because ID can be hard to pin down, it’s worth pausing to remind ourselves what we’re talking about when we use the term on this site.
Bethany Sollereder has a Master's Degree in Christian Studies from Regent College in Vancouver, Canada. Her focus was on science and religion, and her thesis was entitled "Evolutionary Theodicy: Toward an Evangelical Perspective." She has been accepted into PhD studies at the University of Exeter and hopes to start in 2011. Bethany's first degree was in intercultural studies. Bethany's other great love is 19th century British history, so when she is not reading about science and religion, she can usually be found reading Victorian literature.
July 31, 2010
Over the past week, I have been trying to show that the world we inhabit is in fact a very good world. It is marred by human sin, but the operations of the natural world express the values of freedom and growth, just as God intended them. Today, we come to what is likely to be the most contentious of my entries. How do we deal with the biblical language about death?July 26, 2010
I began to look at these questions by researching Irenaeus’s theology of creation. Irenaeus of Lyons was a second-century Church Father, and one of the Church’s greatest theologians. One of the most intriguing parts about his theology is that he understood the creation as being made in immaturity.July 22, 2010
“How could a good God create through a process that involves so much pain and death?” For many people, accepting evolution is less a scientific question than a theological one. After all, seeing evolution as God’s method of creation requires affirming that death, pain, and natural disasters are part of God’s creative toolbox instead of a result of the Fall.
Dr. Joel W. Martin is Curator of Crustacea and Chief of the Division of Invertebrate Studies at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. He is also an adjunct professor at the University of Southern California and at UCLA. His research interests include the morphology, natural history, and evolutionary relationships of crabs, lobsters, shrimps, and their many relatives. His research has benefitted from more than 20 grants from the U.S. National Science Foundation, and he is an elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Martin is also an ordained elder in the Presbyterian Church USA, where he works with the high school youth ministry.
July 15, 2010
The issue is hardly new. In fact, it’s been 85 years this month since the first legal case was aired in Dayton, Tennessee, convicting substitute teacher John Scopes of the heinous crime of teaching evolution in a public school setting. So we’ve had plenty of time to learn where everyone stands on the issue of creationism and evolution, plenty of time to explore the complexities and nuances of the relationship between faith and science
Justin Topp is Assistant Professor of Biology at North Park University in Chicago, IL. His research interests are in cell and molecular biology and include cell signaling, alternative splicing, and currently, the molecular characterization of Borrelia burgdorferi, the causative agent of Lyme disease. He has recently started blogging on science and religion at wordpress.com.
July 13, 2010
Given the current tension between modern science and the church, the following question was posed: “Which would be better: Evangelicalism changing to accommodate modern scientific findings, or the development of a new, ‘better equipped’ theological basis?” In the discussion that followed the question, it was clear that the majority agreed that Evangelicalism must not fade out of the picture. Why?
Jonathan Kooiman is a native of Virginia Beach, Virginia. However, he currently resides in Wheaton, Illinois where he is studying biochemistry at Wheaton College. He hopes to continue his studies at medical school. Jon is passionate about making God's name great among the nations and plans on serving as a medical missionary.
July 2, 2010
I was methodical about it – pointing out gaps in the geological record and the lack of transition states to more complex organisms; then connecting evolution to atheism. I isolated the professor from my classmates with appeals to emotion and religious background. My intent was to destroy the evolutionary theory but I ended up targeting her instead.