The BioLogos Forum: Mike Tice

Mike Tice is a geobiologist and Assistant Professor in the Department of Geology & Geophysics at Texas A&M University. He conducts research on the evolution of the earliest forms of life on Earth and the ways in which life and the environment have shaped each other through deep time. He is also interested in exploring the interface between the theory of evolution and the Christian doctrine of creation.

Posts by Tice

Oxygen and Co-Creation

October 23, 2009

In the mid-seventeenth century, John Mayow conducted a series of experiments in which he showed that burning candles in bell jars consumed one-fifth of the enclosed air before extinguishing. Remarkably, mice placed in bell jars did exactly the same thing (although the conclusions of these experiments were rather more terminal for the living subjects than for the candles).
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Essays by Tice

The BioLogos Forum: John Stott

John Stott has been referred to as "the most influential clergyman in the Church of England during the twentieth century." He was appointed rector of All Souls Church in London after WWII, and it remained the only church he served at throughout his life. As a church leader, his credentials included sponsoring two groundbreaking National Evangelical Anglican Congresses, becoming the principal drafter of the covenant for the International Congress on World Evangelization and starting John Stott Ministries, which sought to equip and train pastors with the Word of God. Stott authored more than 42 books, edited 14 books, and has written 500 chapters, essays, articles, and booklets all with great excellence. John Stott passed away on July 27th, 2011.

Posts by Stott

Saturday Sermon: John Stott, Genesis One, and Evolutionary Creation

August 6, 2011

On July 27, 2011, renowned evangelical John Stott passed away at the age of 90. His work was an influential voice in conservative evangelicalism. In honor of Stott’s work in promoting “balanced and thinking biblical faith”, we feature an audio excerpt from Stott’s address “Genesis 1: Called to Full Humanity”, which he delivered at the Lambeth Conference in 1998.
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Essays by Stott

The BioLogos Forum: Frederica Matthewes-Greene

Frederica Mathewes-Green is a wide-ranging author whose work has appeared in diverse publications such as the Washington Post, Christianity Today, Smithsonian, and the Wall Street Journal. She has been a regular commentator for National Public Radio, on Morning Edition and All Things Considered, a commentator on the Hallmark TV network, and a columnist for the Religion News Service, and Christianity Today. She writes regular book and movie reviews, and her podcast “Frederica Here and Now” is carried on Ancient Faith Radio. She has published 9 books, including The Jesus Prayer: The Ancient Desert Prayer that Tunes the Heart to God. She has also appeared as a speaker at prestigious places like Yale, Harvard, the Smithsonian Institute, Washington National Cathedral, and the National Right to Life Committee.

Posts by Matthewes-Greene

Good Nous

January 22, 2011

I was once asked to give a talk at Washington’s National Cathedral on prayer in the Eastern Orthodox tradition. I brought with me a large icon, one familiar to many people, showing the Holy Trinity as the three visitors who came to Abraham (Gen. 19:1-8); it was painted by St. Andrei Rublev, in 1411. I set up the icon on an easel, but after saying a few words about it, focused on the Jesus Prayer.
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Essays by Matthewes-Greene

The BioLogos Forum: Luci Shaw

Luci Shaw is a London-born author, teacher, editor and poet. She travels widely, everywhere discovering and interpreting the sacramental qualities of the natural world—the way the good creation calls us to see glimpses and hear whispers of its good Creator. A 1953 high honors graduate of Wheaton College, Shaw is author of ten volumes of poetry, including the most recent, Harvesting Fog . She has also written or edited many non-fiction books of prose. Since 1988, she has been Writer in Residence at Regent College, Vancouver, Canada.

Posts by Shaw

Forgetting and Remembering

April 10, 2011

Because I am a poet I’ve been involved all my life in paying attention to the details of what I see, hear, smell, taste, feel, and then clothing those observations in words. Someone has called our eyes, ears, noses, tongues and skin the windows of the soul. Exactly. And if I am cut off from those windows my recognitions of reality are diminished and I am deprived of illumination.
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Essays by Shaw

The BioLogos Forum: Alex Berezow

Alex Berezow is editor for RealClearScience. He attended Southern Illinois University, receiving a Bachelor of Science in Microbiology. He later earned his PhD in Microbiology from the University of Washington. He has several publications on his work. Other experience includes being a tutor of math and science, a teaching assistant to microbiology and genetics, and a Washington Sea Grant Writing Fellow.

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Stephen Hawking is No Albert Einstein

May 18, 2011

What's worse is that he is still a well-respected and beloved figure, not just by scientists but by everybody. It's not an exaggeration to say Stephen Hawking is probably as popular as Albert Einstein. Most likely, Einstein didn't believe in God, either -- at least not in the same way that most Americans believe in a personal God. But, Einstein didn't go around telling people how childish they were; Hawking is. Why?
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Essays by Berezow

The BioLogos Forum: Katharine Hayhoe

Katharine Hayhoe is a highly-respected expert on climate change. An associate professor in the Department of Political Science and director of the Climate Science Center at Texas Tech University, her focus is developing new ways to quantify the potential impacts of human activities at the regional scale. As founder and CEO of ATMOS Research, she also bridges the gap between scientists and stakeholders to provide relevant, state-of-the-art information on how climate change will affect our lives to a broad range of non-profit, industry and government clients. Her work has resulted in over 50 peer reviewed publications in key reports on the issue. She is currently writing a guidebook and creating accompanying videos on how to incorporate climate projections into impact assessments for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife. She also teamed up with Andrew Farley, author, professor and lead teaching pastor of Ecclesia, to write A Climate for Change: Global Warming Facts for Faith-Based Decisions.

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Katharine Hayhoe: Evangelical Christian, Climate Scientist

May 26, 2011

As an evangelical scientist, Katharine Hayhoe is already a member of a rare breed. As a climate change researcher who is also married to an evangelical Christian pastor, she is nearly one of a kind. In these three videos, Hayhoe divulges her beliefs about God, climate change, and the difficulties of believing in both those things
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Essays by Hayhoe

The BioLogos Forum: Loretta Cooper

Loretta Cooper established the Clarity Communications Group in which she uses her experience with network television news to help clients navigate the media world. She spent over a decade covering the White House, Capitol Hill and the Courts as a correspondent for ABC news. Her client list includes policy analysts, law makers, law enforcement officials, and leaders in federal government. She has also worked with film makers and television producers to generate positive media coverage about their projects, teaching them how to tell their stories in a way that communicates effectively. She is the recipient of numerous awards for outstanding broadcasting, including the prestigious Du Pont Award for her coverage of the events of September 11th 2001 and the Edward R. Murrow Award for Best Feature Reporting. John Van Sloten is the senior pastor of New Hope Church in Calgary, Canada. Previously, he worked as a real estate developer in Toronto (planning and constructing shopping centers, office towers, etc). For the past 10 years, he and others have been building the unique vision and community of New Hope Church.

Posts by Cooper

From Chaos to Order: The Random Process as the “Precision Tool"of God

September 14, 2011

For many, the importance of apparent randomness in evolution can be a major stumbling block when considering whether God could have created through an evolutionary process. After all, if God created for a purpose, how could there be room for “unguided and purposeless” processes? Aren’t randomness and design naturally opposed?
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Distinctions: “Ancestry”

June 2, 2011

Not all Christians view evolutionary science as a threat to their faith, and not all scientists see human evolution as a strictly materialistic process. There are those in both communities who believe the explanation is much more complex, including Dr. Rick Potts. Dr. Potts is one of the world’s leading paleoanthropologists, and the curator of (anthropology at) Smithsonian’s Museum of Natural History.
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Distinctions, Part 2: “God as a Scientific Theory?”

April 27, 2011

Over the past two decades, the intelligent design movement has been working diligently to offer a parallel version of modern science, one that can scientifically show God at work in creation. In a way, it is similar to Christian music and Christian art, creating an evangelical version of science. But is their goal an admirable one?
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Distinctions.  Part 1: Randomness

April 25, 2011

In our first Distinctions video -- featuring biologists Sean Carroll and Kerry Fulcher, Smithsonian Human Origins Program director Rick Potts, and Old Testament scholar John Walton -- we look at the concept of randomness. While it is understood by many simply to mean blind, undirected and purposeless, in truth, randomness is far more complex and awe-inspiring than this overly-simplified definition.
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Essays by Cooper

The BioLogos Forum: John Van Sloten

John Van Sloten is the senior pastor of New Hope Church in Calgary, Canada. Previously, he worked as a real estate developer in Toronto (planning and constructing shopping centers, office towers, etc). For the past 10 years, he and others have been building the unique vision and community of New Hope Church.

Posts by Van Sloten

Saturday Sermon: “Science vs. Faith: A False Dichotomy?”

June 25, 2011

According to John Van Sloten of New Hope Church Calgary, however, the idea that God’s truth and scientific truth disagree with one another is a “false dichotomy if ever [he] has heard of one.” If God has indeed created all things, pure scientific truth should never be a “problematic thing” for Christians. If anything, Van Sloten continues, scientific truth enriches the faith as it reveals his majesty and provides Christians with a deeper understanding of God.
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Essays by Van Sloten

The BioLogos Forum: Ravi Zacharias

Ravi Zacharias is presently Senior Research Fellow at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford University, the leader of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries, and speaker for his radio programs “Let my People Think” and “Just Thinking.” He pursued a career in business management before speaking and writing. For forty years he has spoken all over the world and in numerous universities, notably Harvard, Princeton, and Oxford University. Zacharias has been a visiting scholar at Cambridge University, where he studied moralist philosophers and literature of the Romantic era, and has been honored with the conferring of three doctoral degrees, including a Doctor of Laws. Dr. Zacharias has authored or edited over twenty books including the Gold Medallion winner Can Man Live Without God, Why Jesus and Has Christianity Failed You?

Posts by Zacharias

Saturday Sermon: Who is Jesus? Part 2

July 9, 2011

Today’s featured message (which is an extension of the previous Saturday Sermon post, see here ) continues to focus on the uniqueness of Christ Jesus. While the previous sermon primarily emphasized humanity’s sin and redemption through Jesus’ crucifixion, this week’s discourse accentuates his engagement in history, his disclosure of reality, his embodiment of the ideal, and finally, his triumph over the grave.
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Saturday Sermon: Who is Jesus?

July 2, 2011

Although it is now clear that we, “the sons and daughters of Adam,” were created through an evolutionary process, we believe that all of humankind has a fallen nature in need of redemption. Like Eve before us, we hear a voice telling us that we can sort out good and evil on our own. We don’t need God, we think. We, like the primal couple, can easily be fooled into thinking that life is best lived our way and not God’s.
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Essays by Zacharias

The BioLogos Forum: Malcolm Guite

Malcolm Guite is a priest, chaplain and teacher at the University of Cambridge. He is also a poet and singer-songwriter. He has authored various essays and articles as well as a book about contemporary Christianity, and a new book on theology and imagination called Faith Hope and Poetry.

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The New String

July 10, 2011

The presence in the cosmos of the "new string" the Messiah, does not intrude on or threaten what is already there but is a means of establishing harmony. He is both a measure of the order in creation and a means and promise of redemption. Donne, like Shakespeare, was deeply aware of the interconnections between inner and outer nature, between the microcosm of our humanity and the macrocosm of the universe.
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Essays by Guite

The BioLogos Forum: David Fitch

David Fitch is a professor in the Biology Department at New York University, teaching courses such as Molecular Genetics and Principles of Evolution. He received his Bachelor of Arts in biology from Dartmouth College and his PhD in genetics from the University of Connecticut. His current research project involves using the developmental genetic model system Caenorhabditis elegans to characterize genes responsible for morphogenesis. He is affiliated with the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution, the Society of Systematic Biologists, and the Society for the Study of Evolution. He has also been published in numerous scientific papers.

Posts by Fitch

A Biologist’s Perspective

March 29, 2012

In today's video, Dr. David Finch, a biologist at New York University, discusses his thoughts on both Creationism and the effects of "new atheists" like Richard Dawkins. Finch voices his frustration that many "seekers of truth" ignore the scientific truth of evolution. "Science can neither prove nor disprove the existence of God," he says.
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Essays by Fitch

The BioLogos Forum: Ben Cross

Ben Cross is Senior Pastor at First Baptist Church of Eugene.

Posts by Cross

Saturday Sermon: God’s Autograph

September 3, 2011

One of our readers in Oregon suggested that we would be interested in this, a sermon her pastor preached a couple of years ago. She’s right. Dr. Ben Cross, of First Baptist Church in Eugene holds a young earth view of creation. In this message he lays out various positions that evangelicals hold, including what he calls “theistic evolution.” (Editorial commentary by D. Falk)
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Essays by Cross

The BioLogos Forum: Kevin Kim

Kevin Kim is one of the teaching pastors at Menlo Park Presbyterian Church and the campus minister at Open Door Church San Mateo. He graduated from the University of Virginia with a B.A in Biology and from Biblical Theological Seminary with a Masters of Divinity.

Posts by Kim

Saturday Sermon: Two Trees, Some Fruit, and a Piece of Bread

August 13, 2011

In his sermon “The Great Invitation”, Kevin Kim raises a question that all Christians should address: what’s so great about the gospel anyway? In Philippians chapter 3, Paul hints at an answer, saying, “but our citizenship is in heaven and we eagerly await a savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ.” But why are we eagerly waiting? And why do we need a savior at all?
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Essays by Kim

The BioLogos Forum: Ryan Pettey

Ryan Pettey is a filmmaker and the director/editor of Satellite Pictures. He produced the feature length video From the Dust, which examines the question of human physical origins from a theological, historical and social perspective.

Series by Pettey

From the Dust (7 Parts)

In this series, Ryan Pettey offers several clips from his powerful documentary "From the Dust". This feature-length film is divided up into various sections, each of which wrestles with the difficult problems that arise when reconciling Scripture with the theory of evolution. A light of hope dawns on the science-faith conversation, however, as scientists and theologians engage in honest dialogue about tough issues such as the interpretation of Genesis, the nature of the Fall, and the idea of random design. Their profound insights are sure to enlighten all minds, raise deeper questions, and provoke new thought.

Posts by Pettey

From Chaos to Order: The Random Process as the “Precision Tool"of God

September 14, 2011

For many, the importance of apparent randomness in evolution can be a major stumbling block when considering whether God could have created through an evolutionary process. After all, if God created for a purpose, how could there be room for “unguided and purposeless” processes? Aren’t randomness and design naturally opposed?
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Essays by Pettey

The BioLogos Forum: Aaron Daly

Aaron Daly is a Young Earth Creationist with a humble approach to the science and faith dialogue.

Posts by Daly

A Young Earth Creationist’s Perspective

September 28, 2011

In this video, young earth creationist Aaron Daly offers his thoughts on theistic evolution, creation, and how Christians should handle disagreements over issues such as the age of the earth and how God created. Most of all, however, Aaron highlights the need for love in our discussions with one another, especially when we disagree.
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Essays by Daly

The BioLogos Forum: Ken Myers

Ken Myers is founder of Mars Hill Audio, an organization which commits “to produce creative audio resources that encourage Christians to grow in obedient wisdom concerning the cultural consequences of our duty to love God and neighbor.”After completing his Bachelor of Arts in communications, with an emphasis in film theory, Ken Myers worked for National Public Radio, where he edited material for the arts and performance programming which, at the time formed a much larger proportion of NPR’s creative work. He also finished a Master of Arts in Religion degree at Westminster Theological Seminary.

Posts by Myers

Art, Worship, Creation, and Imaginative Engagement

October 15, 2011

While some view the realms of the church and the arts as completely separate, Myers notes that both have suffered from a “diminished appreciation for the meaning of creation”. Creation is not simply a collection of materials for us to manipulate; rather it is a reflection of God’s own creativity. Creation is “an epiphany”.
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Essays by Myers

The BioLogos Forum: John Piper

John Piper has been Senior Pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota since 1980. He attended Wheaton College as an undergraduate, majoring in literature with a minor in philosophy. After, he completed a Bachelor of Divinity degree at Fuller Theological Seminary. Through Dr. Fuller he discovered the writings of Jonathan Edwards, his most influential "dead" teacher. John did his doctoral work in New Testament Studies at the University of Munich in West Germany. His dissertation, Love Your Enemies, was published by Cambridge University Press and Baker Book House. Upon completion of his doctorate, he went on to teach Biblical Studies at Bethel College in St. Paul, Minnesota for six years.

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Saturday Sermon: John Piper on Genesis 1:26-28

October 1, 2011

In this message, John Piper, one of America's most loved pastors explores the sense in which creation "begs for completeness."
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Essays by Piper

The BioLogos Forum: David Swaim

David Swaim is Senior Pastor of Highrock Covenant Church in Arlington, Massachusetts. After attending graduate school, he served in numerous churches until he settled at Highrock.

Series by Swaim

Maker of Heaven and Earth (5 Parts)

In his sermon, Dave Swaim discusses the early chapters of Genesis that seemingly contradict scientific evidence, and he suggests that Christians have simply asked the “wrong questions” about this ancient text, which has led to warfare between the two. He affirms it is a poetical piece rather than a rigid dictation of what occurred at the moment of creation. In light of this, Swaim wraps up his sermon with the three concluding points that he feels sums up the Biblical truth of creation: there is an all-powerful God, he has a perfect plan, and he has given us his love through Jesus Christ.

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Essays by Swaim

The BioLogos Forum: Pete Shaw

Pete Shaw is Senior Pastor at Crosswalk Community Church.

Posts by Shaw

Seeing the Flood Story Through an Ancient Israelite Lens

November 12, 2011

The early chapters of Genesis appear to pose scientific problems that challenge our literal, post-Enlightenment lens through which we often read the Word of God. This leads many scholars to believe that the descriptions in Genesis 1-11 are meant to reveal more than raw journalistic account. Pete Shaw highlights the story of Noah to explore how the story would have been understood in ancient times and from there he goes on to explore how we might consider it today.
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Breaking Free of the Enlightenment’s Shackles

October 29, 2011

In this excerpt, he explains how the Church adopted Enlightenment thinking and advocated the scientific method as a way to verify God’s created order in nature. However, as science became more sophisticated, scientists began to question whether or not God intertwined with the natural world or even existed.
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Essays by Shaw

The BioLogos Forum: Mark Swarner

Mark Swarner is Mission Pastor and Team Leader for Serving at Menlo Park Presbyterian Church. The Serving Team includes missions, leadership development, and multisite campuses. Before joining the church in 2007, he served at Village Community Presbyterian Church in Rancho Santa Fe for four years. He has also served as Chair of the Missions Committee for the Presbytery of San Diego. A graduate of Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, and Fuller Theological Seminary, Mark was ordained as a Presbyterian Minister in 1996. He is currently completing the Doctor of Ministry program at Fuller Theology Seminary.

Posts by Swarner

Gratitude

November 24, 2011

Of all the blessings to be thankful for on Thanksgiving Day, none of them surpasses the riches of the eternal blessings which the Lord has bestowed on his sons and daughters in Christ Jesus. Pastor Mark Swarner of Menlo Park Presbyterian emphasizes this point as he looks at Psalm 103: 1-4 (NIV).
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Essays by Swarner

The BioLogos Forum: Nancey Murphy

Nancey Murphy joined the Fuller Theological Seminary faculty in 1989 and serves as professor of Christian philosophy. Murphy serves on the board of the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences, Berkeley, and is a member of the Executive Committee of the International Society for Science and Religion. Murphy’s first book, Theology in the Age of Scientific Reasoning, received the American Academy of Religion’s Award for Excellence. Other recent books include Philosophical and Neurobiological Perspectives on Moral Responsibility and Free Will and Did My Neurons Make Me Do It?. Murphy serves as an editorial advisor for numerous publishers and journals. She is also a research professor at the International Baptist Theological Seminary in Prague, and is an ordained minister in the Church of the Brethren.

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Narrative Theology

November 30, 2011

When addressing the science and faith dialogue, one of the first things we must look at is how we interpret scripture. In today's video, Nancey Murphy, Professor of Christian Philosophy at Fuller Theological Seminary discusses the importance of stories as a tool for the ancient writers to teach theological truths, especially about the nature of creation (who created? what is the role of humanity in the creation?).
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Essays by Murphy

The BioLogos Forum: Jill Carattini

Jill Carattini is Managing Editor of A Slice of Infinity, a daily reading considering themes from theology and culture to philosophy and the arts. Her early suspicion of Christ's uniqueness and compulsion towards thinking theologically led her to pursue a degree in religion from Hope College and later a Masters of Divinity from Western Theological Seminary. She is ordained as a specialized minister in the Reformed Church of America and has enjoyed living and working in diverse ministry settings, including urban ministry and university campus ministry.

Posts by Carattini

The Miracle of Light

December 4, 2011

One of the things about Christianity that I admire most is its comfort with mystery even in knowing. "O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! 'For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?'"
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Visions of Ordinary

July 17, 2011

In this sense, the psalmist and prophets and ancient storytellers are indeed all struggling artists, closing the infinite distance between the grandeur of God and an ordinary humanity. What is man that Thou art mindful of him? The son of man that Thou visitest him?
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Essays by Carattini

The BioLogos Forum: Kerry Fulcher

Kerry Fulcher is Provost and Chief Academic Officer at Point Loma Nazarene University (PLNU), responsible for all undergraduate and graduate operations in the area of curriculum, instructional programs, educational policy, academic planning, and academic resources. He studied biology as an undergraduate at Northwest Nazarene College, and then earned his PhD in Zoology from the University of Idaho. He further did his Postdoctoral IRTA Fellowship with the National Institute of Environmental Health Science, NIH. He was a professor of biology at PLNU as well as Biology Chair from 2002 to 2008. He is a professional member of the Society for the Study of Reproduction, National Association for Research in Science Teaching, and the National Science Teachers Association. He has also given numerous lectures on stem cells, the Creation-Evolution debate, and spiritual lessons from nature and science.

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An Unfolding Creation

January 4, 2012

In today's video, Kerry Fulcher discusses the idea of viewing creation as a constant, evolving process in which God is intricately involved rather than a single explosion of creation a long time ago. When we get stuck on the idea of having biological ancestors, says Fulcher, we can miss the relationship with God reflected in our bearing the Image of God and our responsibilities of being stewards of creation and reflecting God's glory.
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Essays by Fulcher

The BioLogos Forum: Lincoln Harvey

Lincoln Harvey is Tutor in Theology at St Mellitus College. He studied Systematic Theology at King's College London under the supervision of Colin E. Gunton, on whose theology he has edited a collection of essays with T&T Clark. He was previously Tutor for Christian Doctrine at The South East Institute for Theological Education (SEITE), and has also taught on the MA programmes at King's College, London. He has contributed to a number of books and journals, and is currently working on a theology of sport. Lincoln is Associate Priest at St Andrew's Fulham Fields, having served his curacy at St John-at-Hackney in East London.

Posts by Harvey

A Lively God

January 11, 2012

In today's video, Rev. Lincoln Harvey discusses our desire to "domesticate" the liveliness and abundance of God. Harvey notes that the Trinity highlights both the manyness and oneness of God, which can be hard to Christians to fully understand. While this lack of understanding can be unsettling, Harvey encourages Christians not too force God into too neat of a box.
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Science as Our Priestly Vocation

November 1, 2011

In this video, Lincoln Harvey explores the intended role of humans in God’s creation as seen in Scripture from Genesis to Revelation. It is significant, he notes, that in the beginning humankind is placed in a garden. The Biblical narrative, however, does not remain here, but journeys from this garden to the city in the book of Revelation where culture—whether the sciences or the arts—reflects God’s intention for his creatures to “grow into the fullness of its stature.”
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Essays by Harvey

The BioLogos Forum: Michael Ramsden

Michael Ramsden has been European Director of RZIM Zacharias Trust since its foundation in 1997. He also is Director of the Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics and Lecturer in Christian Apologetics at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford. While at Sheffield University doing research in Law and Economics, Michael taught Moral Philosophy and lectured for the International Seminar on Jurisprudence and Human Rights in Strasbourg. He has been invited to lecture to a variety of groups including the White House staff in Washington, D.C., leaders at NATO HQ in Brussels and members of the European Parliament.

Posts by Ramsden

Mystery and Faith

January 25, 2012

In today’s video, Michael Ramsden discusses the importance and meaning of mystery in the Bible. The mystery in the Bible does not come from ignorance, as the word is often used in modern times, but rather it is mystery born out of insight and wonder, one that is informed by understanding the world around us.
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Life and Death

November 16, 2011

I think there are sometimes a couple of biblical images we struggle to lay hold of. In the New Testament we find when we talk about life, we have the idea of living or ‘bios’. In other words, we talk about how we are alive. But Jesus talks about the fact of “coming to life “ when we know him. That doesn’t suddenly mean that our heart starts beating. It means that there is this whole side to us which was dead… which wasn’t alive and is now… that has actually sprung to life.
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Gaining Perspective

October 5, 2011

In today’s video, Michael Ramsden of the Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics discusses the humility and openness we need to have before we approach Scripture. Ramsden encourages us to continually question to what extent our paradigms of Scripture can be open to change, lest we end up defending paradigms rather than what Scripture actually says.
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Essays by Ramsden

The BioLogos Forum: Michael Lloyd

Michael Lloyd, who is Tutor in Theology at St. Paul’s Theological Center (SPTC), completed his doctoral thesis on the problem of evil at Oxford University. Following this, he was on staff at St. James the Less in Pimlico before returning to Oxford to teach doctrine at St. Stephen's House. He was also a member of Oxford University's Faculty of Theology. He also is the author of Cafe Theology, published by Alpha International.

Posts by Lloyd

In the Face of Evidence

February 1, 2012

In today's video, Rev. Dr. Michael Lloyd talks about how being created in the Image of God transcends survival of the fittest and how what we believe (or don't believe) as Christians speaks volumes about our worldview and it's ability to be expanded.
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Essays by Lloyd

The BioLogos Forum: Michael Gungor

Michael Gungor is a well-known musician and song-writer form Denver, Colorado. He and his wife have together produced the albums “Beautiful Things” and the more recent “Ghosts Upon the Earth.” The songs celebrate the beauty of creation and life in the midst of a painful and imperfect world. Their lyrics are thought-provoking and honest while the music is authentic and creative, leading to a poetic masterpiece.

Posts by Gungor

The Creation of Beauty

February 4, 2012

Physical death is a necessary and, perhaps, disconcerting element of the evolutionary process for many Christians. It is difficult to imagine a perfect and loving God designing such a universe where forces such as natural death and entropy operated. Michael Gungor of Bloom Church in Colorado addresses this idea and offers wisdom on such a complex issue.
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The Fall

January 28, 2012

The song entitled “The Fall” by Gungor is from the artists’ latest album Ghosts Upon the Earth. The lyrics begin by painting a picture of the Fall as something in which each person has participated as indicated by the assertion that “the fruit (of the Fall of man) is seen in every eye and every hand.” It then goes on to suggest that nothing is yet a true reality, but rather, a mere shadow of the things to come.
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Essays by Gungor

The BioLogos Forum: David Wenham

David Wenham has been a faculty member at Trinity College since 2008. Previously the Vice Principal of the college until 2011, he is now Tutor for the rural context students in the Woodbridge Group of Churches in Wiltshire. He studied Theology at Cambridge University as an undergraduate and later earned his PhD in research on the Gospels from Manchester University. He also taught New Testament at Wycliffe Hall at Oxford University for 24 years. David has published widely on the Gospels and on Paul. He is Chairman of the New Testament Group of the Tyndale Fellowship, and a member of the Society for New Testament Studies. He has recently been honored by the University of Bristol with the title Research Fellow.

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Discerning Intention

February 8, 2012

In today's video, Revd. Dr. David Wenham discusses how defending the Truth of scripture doesn't always require an ultra-literalistic interpretation.He sympathizes with those who fear that liberal theology gives away too much of the bible and notes that there are parts of Genesis to be taken literally, but he insists that those who seek the true meaning of scripture must respect the intention of the authors.
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Essays by Wenham

The BioLogos Forum: Carl M. Canon

Carl M. Cannon is Executive Editor of PoliticsDaily.com. Carl was previously the DC bureau chief for Reader's Digest and (for a decade before that) covered the White House for National Journal. Before coming to Washington during the Reagan presidency, he worked for six newspapers over a 20 year span, covering police, courts, politics, education, and race relations. He has covered every presidential campaign and major political convention since 1984. He and his father co-wrote Reagan's Disciple: George W. Bush's Troubled Quest for a Presidential Legacy, which was published last year. His book, co-written with California writer Patrick Dillon and published in 2009, is Circle of Greed: The Spectacular Rise and Fall of the Lawyer Who Brought Corporate America to Its Knees.

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The Public Face of Religion in America

February 14, 2012

For 30 years, Alaska Airlines gave passengers little prayer cards with their meals. One favorite among the inspiring messages was a verse from the 107th psalm: "Give thanks to the Lord for He is good; His love endures forever." Gradually, the commercial airlines stopped serving hot meals. On Alaska Airlines they've stopped handing out prayer cards, too. Most passengers liked them, but a minority complained. This wasn't a First Amendment battle, but the capitulation reflects the changing public face of religion in America.
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Essays by Canon

The BioLogos Forum: Brian McLaren

Brian McLaren is an author, speaker, activist, and public theologian. A former college English teacher and pastor, he is an ecumenical global networker among innovative Christian leaders. He graduated from the University of Maryland with his degrees in English (Bachelor of Arts and Masters). In 2004, he was awarded a Doctor of Divinity Degree from Carey Theological Seminary in Vancouver, BC, Canada, and in 2010, he received a second honorary doctorate from Virginia Theological Seminary. Brian has been active in networking and mentoring church planters and pastors. He is a popular conference speaker and a frequent guest lecturer for denominational and ecumenical leadership gatherings around the world. He is also an accomplished writer and has authored books such as A New Kind of Christianity, The Secret Message of Jesus, and Finding Our Way Again.

Posts by McLaren

Reconciliation

February 15, 2012

In today’s video, Brian McClaren talks about reconciliation in the face of differences. He offers insight into how to treat those whose opinions differ from yours and points out how to have constructive dialogue. Even if we disagree with a person’s ideas, we can still show interest in the person who holds them and why those interests are important.
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Revealing God’s Nature

January 18, 2012

In today's video, Brian McLaren,discusses the value of considering Scripture in light of the cultures that surrounded them. The Biblical writers were aware of the myths of the power nations that surrounded them, but flipped their stories on their heads to reveal truth about God.
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A Paradigm of Compatibility

November 23, 2011

In today’s video, Brian McLaren talks about what he calls a paradigm of compatibility between evolution and Christian faith. He explains his own comfort with accepting Scripture and evolution and seeing the process of evolution as a wonderful opportunity for adaptation, growth, and development and a reflection of God’s glory.
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Confidence and Slippery Slopes

October 24, 2011

In today’s video, Pastor Brian McClaren discusses the idea of the “slippery slope”. As he notes, the metaphor itself is problematic, because we often assume that we are on the top of the slope to begin with, when in fact changing our views may help us ascend the slope, or to reach a new peak of understanding on the other side.
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Navigating the Crises

September 21, 2011

In this video, author and pastor Brian McLaren discusses the idea of surrogate arguments, in which a debate over one thing is really a means for arguing something completely different. According to McClaren, the argument over the age of the earth is one such argument, which can lead to crises of confidence and ethics. Managing the crises well requires courage of convictions while also respecting tradition and maintaining a gracious spirit. Anything less, is not only unwise, it is also unfaithful.
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Essays by McLaren

The BioLogos Forum: Ross Pomeroy

Ross Pomeroy is the weekend editor of RealClearScience and a regular contributor to the Newton Blog.

Posts by Pomeroy

Science, Religion Can Coexist in School

February 16, 2012

On January 31st, the Indiana State Senate passed Senate Bill 89, allowing public schools to teach creationism alongside the theory of evolution in science classes. Unsurprisingly, the Indiana bill has once again rekindled the dispute over the teaching of creationism in public schools and, in doing so, it has breathed new life into the debate over whether or not faith and science can coexist in society.
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Essays by Pomeroy

The BioLogos Forum: Richard Dahlstrom

Richard Dahlstrom has been Senior Pastor at Bethany Community Church since 1995. He earned his Master of Divinity from Talbot Seminary, and he was an International Field Representative and Bible Teacher for Torchbearers Missionary Fellowship. He also authored the book O2: Breathing New Life into Faith and frequently writes in his blog Fibonacci Faith: Changing Everything.

Posts by Dahlstrom

Saturday Sermon: Gloriously Functional

February 18, 2012

Is Genesis 1 describing material creation or functional creation? Pastor Richard Dahlstrom of Bethany Community Church beautifully articulates the insights he has received through John Walton’s book The Lost World of Genesis One and probes deep into the Biblical text with us.
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Science and Faith: From Collision to Collaboration

December 3, 2011

in Genesis two, God calls humankind to know and study the surrounding world. The scriptures say that Adam took on the God-given task of naming the animals, which is, in fact, science: the exploration of the natural world. It is a wonderful gift to men and women to study the surrounding world and so discover more about the God who is its Creator.
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Essays by Dahlstrom

The BioLogos Forum: David Wilkinson

David Wilkinson is Principal at St. John’s College and a part-time professor in the Department of Theology and Religion at Durham College. His background is research in theoretical astrophysics with an emphasis on star formation, chemical evolution of galaxies and terrestrial mass extinctions. He later earned his PhD in Systematic Theology and Christian Eschatology from Cambridge University. His present work focuses on the relationship between science and contemporary culture. He has written several books, newspaper articles, and essays in academic journals. Some books include Christian Eschatology and the Physical Universe, God, the Universe and Everything: 42 days through faith and pop culture, and God, Time and Stephen Hawking.

Posts by Wilkinson

Scientists Tell Their Stories: David Wilkinson

April 10, 2012

Q3 Director Michael Pasquarello III describes the Scientists Tell Their Stories series in this way—“We asked the scientists who participated to give us a few minutes to [share]. . .a personal account of their commitments and work in relation to faith and science. We hope these are helpful, and that you will be able to see more clearly how much we share in common with not only these, but with many other scientists."
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Essays by Wilkinson

The BioLogos Forum: Chris Tilling

Chris Tilling is Tutor in New Testament Studies and teaches across the whole at St. Mellitus College. He studied at St Andrew’s University and London School of Theology and has completed a doctorate under Max Turner in Pauline Christology. He has written several articles on aspects of New Testament studies, and has translated many others from German into English. Additionally, he is the author of a popular theology blog site entitled Chrisendom.

Posts by Tilling

A Mediating Voice

April 15, 2012

In today’s video, theologian Dr. Chris Tilling discusses the need for a mediating voice in the science and faith discussion. He begins by noting the relative newness of the discussion over the “literalness” of Scripture. “Whether a matter is literal or not is an important concern,” he notes, “but how it is framed is a modern concern.”
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Biblical Genre and Relational Truth

November 7, 2011

In today’s video, theologian Chris Tilling, New Testament Tutor for St Mellitus College and St Paul's Theological Centre in London, discusses biblical genre and the relational truth of Scripture. Tilling notes that when we read the Biblical text, we bring our own presuppositions and assumptions to the text (what theologians call “eisegesis”). The genre of the text is central to how we understand the Bible. For example, we read poetry very differently than we would read a phone book.
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Essays by Tilling

The BioLogos Forum: Randall Pruim

Randall Pruim is Professor of Mathematics and Statistics at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan. His research interests include biostatistics, statistical genetics, and the relationships among statistics, philosophy, and religion.

Series by Pruim

Randomness and God’s Governance (3 Parts)

In this three-part series from Pruim’s chapter in the book Delight in Creation: Scientists Share Their Work with the Church, mathematician Randall Pruim begins by describing the way chance and purpose interact in familiar games, moves on to explain what scientists and mathematicians mean when they speak of something being “random,” and finally addresses God's use of apparent randomness in creation as a part of his sovereign rule.

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Essays by Pruim

The BioLogos Forum: Owen Gingerich

Owen Gingerich is a former Research Professor of Astronomy and of the History of Science at Harvard University, and a senior astronomer emeritus at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. In addition to his research and teaching, he has written many books on the history of astronomy. Gingerich is also a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, and the International Academy of the History of Science. He has been active in the American Scientific Affiliation and a society of evangelical scientists.

Posts by Gingerich

Scientists Tell Their Stories: Owen Gingerich

May 6, 2012

When it came time to go to graduate school, one of Owen Gingerich's science professors told him “If you feel a calling to go to astronomy, you should give it a try, because we shouldn’t let atheists take over any particular field.”
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Essays by Gingerich

The BioLogos Forum: Alister McGrath

Alister McGrath is professor of theology, ministry, and education and head of the Centre for Theology, Religion, and Culture at King’s College, London. He is also involved in theological research and the professional development of clergy from a range of Christian denominations. McGrath has written many books on theology and history, including Luther’s Theology of the Cross and Surprised by Meaning. McGrath is an ordained minister in the Church of England and spends his Sundays pastoring and preaching in a group of rural churches in the beautiful Cotswolds, close to his home in West Oxfordshire. Previously, he served as professor of historical theology and principle of Wycliffe Hall at the University of Oxford. Before becoming a theologian, McGrath conducted research in molecular biophysics at Oxford University and earned a doctorate in biochemistry for his work. McGrath also studied Divinity at Saint John’s College of Cambridge and became ordained as a minister of the Church of England. In 2001, he earned an Oxford Doctorate of Divinity. His extensive experience in the worlds of both science and theology has equipped him to be a powerful voice in the science/faith debate.

Posts by McGrath

Sin and Seeking Truth

March 13, 2012

In today's video, theologian Alister McGrath discusses how we can make sense of the world in light of a fallen creation. One way, he notes, is to look for evidence from as many sources as possible, as science does. Certainly, the scientific community does change it's mind on things, but this does not mean we should stop asking, "What seems to be the best way of making sense of things?"
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Below the Surface; Behind the Scene

December 22, 2011

In today's video, Alister McGrath discusses the importance of going beyond surface readings, both in Scripture and in the natural world. McGrath highlights the parables as examples of passages with "levels of meaning" in the Bible. In the same way, McGrath argues that a Christian world view enriches our reading of the natural world, allow us to find deeper meaning in the world around us.
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What Are We to Make of Adam and Eve?

March 31, 2010

One of the most important questions concerning the origins of life is about Adam and Eve, suggests theologian Alister McGrath. Are Adam and Eve real historical figures that lived 6000 years ago, or are they metaphorical representations? It is an interesting question, says McGrath, because based on one’s response, the whole theory of evolution would shift the time period back a very long way from what many evangelicals hold as true.
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Essays by McGrath

The BioLogos Forum: William A. Dembski

William A. Dembski is Research Professor of Philosophy and Director of the Richard Land Center for Cultural Engagement at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas. He is also a senior fellow at the Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture, and directs the International Society for Complexity, Information, and Design. A mathematician and philosopher, Dembski is one of the leading figures in the intelligent design movement and a proponent of the idea of “irreducible complexity” as proof of intelligent design in nature. He has published many books and journal articles critiquing evolution and offering arguments from a design perspective for an intelligent creator.

Series by Dembski

Southern Baptist Voices: Is Darwinism Theologically Neutral? (2 Parts)

The second entry in our Southern Baptist Voices dialogues, this series features William A. Dembski and Darrel Falk considering the question, "Is Darwinism Theologically Neutral?" from Southern Baptist and BioLogos perspectives. As with the first Southern Baptist Voices series, the exchange is carried out with and respect and humility as Dr. Dembski argues that Darwinism undercuts several "non-negotiables" of Christianity, and Dr. Falk confirms that assessment on several points, while demonstrating that the BioLogos position is not the same as Darwinism.

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Essays by Dembski

The BioLogos Forum: Deb Haarsma

Deb Haarsma is chair of the department of physics and astronomy at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Mich, and Co-Director of The Ministry Theorem, a project to help ministers engage science in their congregations. Haarsma also speaks and writes on topics of science and Christianity and co-authored the book Origins: A Reformed Look at Creation, Design, and Evolution with her husband Loren D. Haarsma.

Series by Haarsma

Southern Baptist Voices: Kenneth Keathely (2 Parts)

The first entry in the Southern Baptist Voices series presents a unique ongoing dialogue between Kenneth Keathely, a significant voice for the Southern Baptist churches, and several BioLogos scholars. Carried out in a respectful and humble manner, Keathely simply expresses six areas in which he does not agree with the BioLogos approach to Genesis 1-3. Darrel Falk, Kathryn Applegate and Deborah Haarsma then thoughtfully respond to each point in order to clarify the BioLogos’ view on each issue and, hopefully, remove any stumbling blocks.

Posts by Haarsma

Essays by Haarsma

The BioLogos Forum: Mike Arnold

Mike Arnold, PhD, is Distinguished Research Professor of Genetics at the University of Georgia. He holds a B.Sc. in Botany and a M.Sc. in Zoology from Texas Tech University, and a Ph.D. in Population Biology from the Australian National University. Mike has concentrated his research work in the area of evolutionary genetics, particularly the study of natural hybridization. His study of Louisiana Irises has become a classic example of the role of hybridization in adaptive evolution and speciation.

Mike has championed the view of hybridization as a critical evolutionary process in both plants and animals, and his group has collected a wealth of empirical data demonstrating that hybridization can be widespread. Through breeding experiments and genomic analyses, Mike’s students, postdocs (and even occasionally Mike himself) have carried out experiments that have demonstrated that hybridization often leads to significant gene exchange between closely related species. Mike is particularly well known for his study of Louisiana Irises, which have become a classic example of the role of hybridization in adaptive evolution and speciation. Mike is author of three books and more than 120 academic articles, the specifics of which may be found here.

Notwithstanding all of the enjoyment his scientific career has brought him, Mike’s relationship in Christ, Frances, his wife of 35 years, his kids Jenny and Brian, and his daughter-in-law Amber remain the true catalysts of his joy.

Posts by Arnold

Satan’s Toady?

April 27, 2012

On the other hand, I must admit that in my least charitable moments I just pray that they would get a grip, start enjoying some hobby, or maybe a spouse or girlfriend/boyfriend, and in the process forget to accuse me, and others like me, of giving aid and comfort to those evil folks who stand on the other side of the philosophical fence.
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Essays by Arnold

The BioLogos Forum: Scot McKnight

Scot McKnight, a New Testament scholar who has written widely on the historical Jesus, Christian spirituality, and the emerging church, has been the Karl A. Olsson Professor in Religious Studies at North Park University in Chicago, Ill., since 1994. Before joining NPU, McKnight held a position as professor at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Grand Rapids Baptist College, a master’s degree from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, and a doctorate from the University of Nottingham. He has written several books, including the popular The Jesus Creed, which won an award from Christianity Today in 2004, and his latest book The King Jesus Gospel. You can read more from McKnight at his blog Jesus Creed.

Series by McKnight

Thinking Aloud Together (3 Parts)

This series by Scot McKnight relates a lecture given at the 2012 BioLogos workshop for Evangelical theologians, scientists, authors and pastors. He explains that evolution is taught in public schools, and therefore must be addressed by Evangelical pastors in the churches as well. This will educate a whole generation of upcoming scientists on the issues of science and faith, which will offer a perspective on faith that, does not contradict scientific discoveries. Overall, he encourages scientists and pastors to collaborate on the issue as they rethink the long held interpretations of Genesis 1-3.

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Essays by McKnight

The BioLogos Forum: Lisa Jeanguenin

Lisa Jeanguenin serves as administrative assistant at BioLogos, supporting the Evolution & Christian Faith grant program and the Foundation's annual Biology by the Sea workshop. Lisa holds a Bachelor of Science in biology from San Diego State University and a Master's in Biology from Point Loma Nazarene University. Outside the office, Lisa is an avid snowboarder and fan of live music.

Posts by Jeanguenin

Letting God Out of the Box

April 20, 2012

Realizing such a beautiful thing made me desire God even more, and I began regularly attending the church a friend had introduced me to early on in my relocation to San Diego. The pastor’s messages were funny, relevant, convicting, and oftentimes full of scientific facts used to illustrate God’s majestic creation.
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Essays by Jeanguenin

The BioLogos Forum: Praveen Sethupathy

Praveen Sethupathy is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Genetics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he directs a research laboratory focused on the genetics/genomics of complex human diseases. Praveen received his B.A. in Computer Science from Cornell University and his Ph.D. in Genomics and Computational Biology from the University of Pennsylvania. He continued his training in genetics/genomics as a post-doctoral fellow with Dr. Francis S. Collins at the National Institutes of Health. Praveen was recently selected by Genome Technology as one of the nation’s top 25 rising young investigators in genomics. He is also a committed Christian, husband, and father of three precious children.

Posts by Sethupathy

Teaching Science in Tennessee

April 18, 2012

Last week, Tennessee legislators approved a bill on science education (the Teacher Protection Academic Freedom Act) that has stoked controversy around the country. As a deeply committed Christian, an educator, and an active member of the scientific research community, I am grateful to BioLogos for the opportunity to contribute my views about this legislation.
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Essays by Sethupathy

The BioLogos Forum: Gerald Cleaver

Gerald Cleaver is an Associate Professor of Physics at Baylor University. He is a member of the Physics Department's High Energy Physics group and also heads the Early Universe Cosmology and String Theory division of Baylor's Center for Astrophysics, Space Physics, and Engineering Research. Gerald earned his Ph.D. at Caltech in 1993, where he studied under John H. Schwarz, one of the founders of string theory. His research interests focus on elementary particles, fundamental forces, and superstring theory. His hobbies include radio-controlled model aviation, small-boat sailing, and tae kwon do.

Series by Cleaver

Universe and Multiverse (5 Parts)

Baylor University Physicist Gerald Cleaver describes the changing state of our understanding of the cosmos and suggests ways that Christians can make theological sense of a theoretical Multiverse.

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Essays by Cleaver

The BioLogos Forum: Stephen Barr

Stephen M. Barr is professor of physics at the University of Delaware and Director of its Bartol Research Institute. Barr’s areas of specialty are theoretical particle physics and cosmology, and in 2011 he was elected Fellow of the American Physical Society “for original contributions to grand unified theories, CP violation, and baryogenesis." He is also author of Modern Physics and Ancient Faith and A Student’s Guide to Natural Science.

Posts by Barr

Fearful Symmetries

March 15, 2012

Perusing the writings of atheistic scientists and philosophers like Daniel Dennett, one could easily get the impression that arriving at a simpler explanation for something equates to a revelation that things are “lower, cruder, and more trivial.” But at the heart of Barr’s critique is the observation that in fundamental physics and advanced mathematics, “simpler” does not mean more chaotic and inchoate, but rather more elegant and beautiful.
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Essays by Barr

The BioLogos Forum: Rev. Charles Alley

The Rev. Charles D. Alley, Ph.D., is Rector of St Matthew’s Episcopal Church in Richmond, VA. Dr. Alley received his B.S. and M.A. in Biology from the College of William and Mary and his Ph.D. from the Department of Anatomy of the Medical College of Virginia/VCU. Prior to earning his M. Div. from Virginia Theological Seminary and entering parish ministry in 1991, Dr. Alley was a cellular immunologist with interests concentrated in the areas of mucosal immunology and autologous bone marrow transplantation.

Posts by Alley

What is Truth?

March 11, 2012

Human beings ask “what is Truth” because we have an innate drive to be correct and to live lives that are significant. In his essay “Of Truth,” Frances Bacon said “the inquiry of truth…is the sovereign good of human nature.” In Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis articulated the same point when he wrote, “human beings, all over the earth, have a curious idea that they ought to behave in a certain way, and cannot really get rid of it”
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Essays by Alley

The BioLogos Forum: David Buller

David Buller grew up in Severn, Maryland and graduated from Bob Jones University in 2011 with a BS in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. Currently studying theology and the religion-science dialogue in Chicago, David is pursuing a career devoted to fostering increased dialogue between science and faith within Christianity.

Series by Buller

Following God's Path (2 Parts)

In this series, Bob Jones University graduate David Buller recounts his spiritual and intellectual journey in which he came to a deeper understanding of the metaphorical nature of the Genesis creation account and no longer views evolution as contradictory to God’s Word. It is the story of a courageous and truth-seeking heart.

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Essays by Buller

The BioLogos Forum: Kenneth Keathley

Kenneth Keathley is Professor of Theology and Senior Vice President for Academic Administration of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina.

Series by Keathley

Southern Baptist Voices: Kenneth Keathely (2 Parts)

The first entry in the Southern Baptist Voices series presents a unique ongoing dialogue between Kenneth Keathely, a significant voice for the Southern Baptist churches, and several BioLogos scholars. Carried out in a respectful and humble manner, Keathely simply expresses six areas in which he does not agree with the BioLogos approach to Genesis 1-3. Darrel Falk, Kathryn Applegate and Deborah Haarsma then thoughtfully respond to each point in order to clarify the BioLogos’ view on each issue and, hopefully, remove any stumbling blocks.

Posts by Keathley

Essays by Keathley

The BioLogos Forum: Dr. William E. Carroll

William E. Carroll is the Thomas Aquinas Fellow in Theology and Science at Blackfriars Hall, Oxford and member of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Oxford. He is the author of Creation and Science; Galileo: Science and Faith; La Creación y las Ciencias Naturales: Actualidad de Santo Tomás de Aquino; and co-author with Steven Baldner of Aquinas on Creation. A longer version of this essay will be published in the April 2012 issue of Science & Christian Belief, and Carroll’s recent lecture on the topic for the Faraday Institute for Science and Religion may be viewed here.

Posts by Carroll

Creation, Cosmology, and the Insights of Thomas Aquinas

February 21, 2012

Whether we speak of explanations of the Big Bang itself (such as quantum tunnelling from nothing) or of some version of a multiverse hypothesis, or of self-organizing principles in biological change (including, at times, appeals to randomness and chance as ultimate explanations), the conclusion which seems inescapable to many is that there is no need to appeal to a creator.
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Essays by Carroll

The BioLogos Forum: Heather Whitney

Heather Whitney is Assistant Professor of Physics at Wheaton College in Wheaton, IL. She holds a Ph.D. in physics as well as masters degrees in physics and medical physics from Vanderbilt University, and her research interests are in magnetic resonance imaging and nuclear magnetic relaxation in polymer gel dosimeters. Whitney is also engaged in physics education research – from theory to implementation and practical hints for helping even non-scientists understand and engage with the beauty of physics.

Posts by Whitney

Oscillators for Singers

February 12, 2012

Dr. Heather Whitney’s double major in physics and performing and visual arts from King College in Tennessee suggests that she lives—as well as understands—the connections between subjective and objective ways of engaging the creation. The article below shows that she is committed to communicating the joy of that interweaving with her students, too.
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Essays by Whitney

The BioLogos Forum: Andy Crouch

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.

Series by Crouch

What I Wish My Pastor Knew About... The Life of a Scientist (3 Parts)

Andy Crouch examines the life of a scientist based on his experience of walking alongside his wife Catherine, an experimental physicist. That relationship has shown him that a life in science is a journey “into a set of virtues,” of cultivating a specific character suited to the particular demands of research and investigation. Crouch's hope is to persuade pastors and others in the church to prayerfully support the scientific endeavor as a reflection of God’s image in humankind as well as offers some suggestions for ministering to their needs.

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Essays by Crouch

The BioLogos Forum: Rick Kennedy

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).

Series by Kennedy

Jesus, History, and Mount Darwin (14 Parts)

Written in the genre of Henry David Thoreau’s travel-thinking essays, Rick Kennedy's Jesus, History, and Mount Darwin: An Academic Excursion is the story of a three-day climb into the Evolution Range of the High Sierra Mountains of California. Mount Darwin stands among other near-14,000-foot-high mountains that are named after promoters of religious versions of evolutionary thinking. Using the trek as its framing narrative, the book explores the complex and, at times, even murky spaces at the intersection of Christian faith, ancient and natural history, and observational science.

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Essays by Kennedy

The BioLogos Forum: Thomas Burnett

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.

Posts by Burnett

Creation? Which Creation?

November 15, 2011

Professor William P Brown of Columbia Theological Seminary has taken an intriguing approach in his book The Seven Pillars of Creation: The Bible, Science, and the Ecology of Wonder. He puts the scientifically-informed reader at ease by revealing his understanding of modern science and his fascination with its discoveries. Then he proceeds to share a deep knowledge of ancient history to make sense of highly contentious passages in scripture.
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Essays by Burnett

The BioLogos Forum: Mark H. Mann

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.

Series by Mann

Let's Not Surrender Science to the Secular World (6 Parts)

In this series, Mark H. Mann rejects the distinction between science and faith, claiming that this separation actually causes elements of Gnosticism to rise up among Christian fundamentalists. In reality, secular knowledge is never purely objective, but has and continues to be influenced by particular world views. He calls Christians to reclaim the scientific endeavor as a means for revealing the “Book of Creation,” which ultimately will enable us to read God’s Word more accurately. He concludes with a discussion about the true nature of science and offers his understanding of Genesis 1 in light of scientific evidence.

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Essays by Mann

The BioLogos Forum: James Hannam

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.

Posts by Hannam

Rediscovering the Science of the Middle Ages

October 4, 2011

Most people still assume that the Middle Ages were a period entirely benighted by violence, superstition and stagnation. Indeed, the triumphs of Greek reason and mathematics had allegedly been snuffed out by Christians once the Roman Empire abandoned paganism in the fourth century AD. Echoing the enlightenment historian Edward Gibbon, some commentators today even blame Christianity for causing the "Dark Ages".
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Essays by Hannam

The BioLogos Forum: Ruth Bancewicz

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.

Posts by Bancewicz

Worshipping God with Science: The Test of FAITH US Tour

September 26, 2011

This summer I gave a series of talks at several youth festivals on the subject of ‘Why a Christian should be a scientist’. As someone who spends every day interacting with Christians working in science, I have no shortage of material to present on the topic, and it’s exciting to see the reactions of these young people when they are encouraged that science is a great career for a Christian
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Essays by Bancewicz

The BioLogos Forum: Michael Horton

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.

Series by Horton

The Truthfulness of Scripture: Inerrancy (2 Parts)

This is a two-part series is taken from an article by Michael Horton which appeared in the March/April 2010 issue of Modern Reformation. Horton begins by pointing out that the concept of inerrancy goes back to the ancient Church, but was most clearly developed by Princeton theologians A.A. Hodge and B.B. Warfield in their 1881 book, Inspiration. These men emphasized that the Holy Spirit worked through limited human authors in a centuries-long process to produce the Bible. Warfield and Hodge affirm the importance of historical criticism, face textual problems and errors head-on, and caution against thinking of the authors of Scripture as being omniscient or infallible. Horton explains that Hodge and Warfield define inerrancy not as the absence of technical errors but as the truthfulness in what the biblical writers were affirming.

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Essays by Horton

The BioLogos Forum: Stephen Matheson

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.

Series by Matheson

New Limbs from Old Fins (6 Parts)

Stephen Matheson presents common descent by evolution as the best explanation for the universal pattern found in tetrapod limbs. He discusses initially the evolution and development of limbs in specifically vertebrate tetrapods. He looks at the question of origins and further digs into amazing fossil discoveries. He then gives evidence of evolution from fish to tetrapods by discussing the similarities in the anatomy, development, and genetic systems associated with this amazingly common pattern in vertebrate appendages.

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Essays by Matheson

The BioLogos Forum: John Polkinghorne

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.

Series by Polkinghorne

John Polkinghorne on Natural Theology (4 Parts)

Polkinghorne discusses the origins and aims of natural theology in this four part series. It does not offer truth, but rather a “best explanation” for the world, answering primarily meta-questions. Two such questions asked by Polkinghorne are, “Why is science possible at all?” and “What makes the universe so special?” To explore the answers, hhe looks at the ability of human minds to penetrate mysteries of the natural world as well as the fine-tuning of the universe necessary to produce the fruitfulness of life. He strongly suggests that the greatest justification for brilliant minds and perfect natural laws is a divine Creator who purposed it all.

Posts by Polkinghorne

John Polkinghorne in a Nutshell

December 7, 2011

I suppose everybody would like certainty, but it isn't available to us in that absolutely black and white way. We have reasons for our beliefs. I commit myself to my Christian belief for reasons that are sufficient enough for me to bet my life upon it. But we don't have absolute certainty in the 2+2=4 sense. And that is true of everybody. Everybody has to make a commitment beyond what they know for certain to be true.
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Essays by Polkinghorne

The BioLogos Forum: Matthew Blackston

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.

Posts by Blackston

God’s Use of Time

August 19, 2011

I can still recall the first time I encountered a man performing as a living statue. His costume, body paint, and utter stillness made him very convincing. I also recall the eerie feeling I experienced upon first seeing him move. Ordinary statues are, of course, static, but if you hang around a living statue long enough you’re bound to see it move, if only to blink its eyes.
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Essays by Blackston

The BioLogos Forum: Stephen Rodeheaver

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.

Series by Rodeheaver

Genesis Two Rewrites (2 Parts)

In this series, Professor Rodeheaver addresses the question of what God meant when he acknowledged that by eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, Adam and Eve would become “like God.” In Part I of this two part series, he suggests that humankind began to set up its own moral order, one which pushed God to the side. He goes on to say that Scripture shows that this has immediate ramifications for a Christian view of marriage.

Posts by Rodeheaver

Essays by Rodeheaver

The BioLogos Forum: Sørina Higgins

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 (Finishing Line Press) and has a full-length collection entitled Caduceus due out from WordTech Communications/David Roberts Books in February 2012. She is the Book Review Editor of Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal, a staff writer for Curator, and blogs about the arts and faith at http://iambicadmonit.blogspot.com. She holds an M.A. from Middlebury College's Bread Loaf School of English. Sørina and her husband live in Kutztown, PA, in a home they built themselves.

Posts by Higgins

Form and Content

June 19, 2011

A theological belief can grow in our minds unobserved for years, the results of many imperceptible influences, until the full flower bursts into conscious thought. Just so, the idea that our bodies are saved as well as our souls had taken root in my approach to the arts, worship, literature, and fashion long before I articulated it in conscious thought or language.
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Essays by Higgins

The BioLogos Forum: Jon Garvey

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.

Posts by Garvey

Authority in an Interdisciplinary Setting

June 9, 2011

I have described my professional experience as a rather extended analogy to the BioLogos project. By its very nature, BioLogos is interdisciplinary, intended to bring together at least two fields, science and religious faith, often considered to be entirely incompatible. In academic terms this separation is clearly true.
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Essays by Garvey

The BioLogos Forum: Matt J. Rossano

Matt J. Rossano is Professor of Psychology at Southeastern Louisiana University and author of Supernatural Selection: How Religion Evolved.

Posts by Rossano

Evolution: Is God Just Playing Dice?

May 12, 2012

Gould was a talented science writer, but he overplayed evolution's whimsy. Increasingly, science is showing that the evolutionary process has many built in constraints which limit its possibilities and bias its pathways. Take, for example, the ubiquitous phenomenon of convergence - the tendency for highly diverse species to independently evolve similar adaptive (analogous, not homologous) traits.
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Evolution: Is God Just Playing Dice?

October 11, 2011

Gould was a talented science writer, but he overplayed evolution's whimsy. Increasingly, science is showing that the evolutionary process has many built in constraints which limit its possibilities and bias its pathways. Take, for example, the ubiquitous phenomenon of convergence - the tendency for highly diverse species to independently evolve similar adaptive (analogous, not homologous) traits.
Comments (154)

The Galileo Affair: Emblematic or Exceptional?

September 1, 2011

On the morning of June 22, 1633 in the hall of the convent of Santa Maria sopra Minvera in Rome, Galileo Galilei knelt before the Lord-Cardinal Inquisitors-General and publicly abjured his false opinion that the sun was the motionless center of the universe. Thus ended Galileo's personal trials; but the "Galileo affair" was just commencing.
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Thomas Aquinas: Saint of Evolutionary Psychologists?

July 18, 2011

Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) was the foremost Christian scholar of the High Middle Ages and is today regarded as a "doctor" of the Catholic Church. Working six centuries before Darwin, he obviously was not an evolutionist. Aquinas had no doubt that humans were specially created by God. However, he was also convinced that they were created out of the same basic materials used for all creatures and were therefore connected to all of nature.
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Are Infinities More Scientific Than God?

July 8, 2011

So from where does the deepest order originate? From a naturalistic standpoint, we don't know because we have yet to uncover nature's deepest laws. However, even if we reveal these laws, the question of why they give rise to such profound order will still remain a puzzle. The pervasive order of our universe appears to go beyond necessity into the gratuitous.
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The Christian Revolution

July 4, 2011

That the messenger is not a dispassionate observer should not immediately or necessarily discredit the message. It was Christianity, he contends, that bequeathed to humanity an entirely new vision of the human person. That vision, he worries, lies prostrate upon modernity's chopping block in its haste to excise all things illiberal. So what was this new vision of humanity?
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Does Resurrection Contradict Science?

June 10, 2011

So what then does Resurrection mean? For Benedict it represents a new dimension of reality breaking through into human experience. It is not a violation of the old; it is the manifestation of something new.
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The (Lack Of) Conflict Between Science and Religion in College Students

June 3, 2011

Media-hungry atheist, creationist and religious fundamentalist provocateurs have successfully dominated the science and religion narrative for the past decade or so. In doing so, they have created the false impression of an ongoing unavoidable war between the two camps. A recently published large-scale survey of college students, however, finds that the call to arms has fallen on deaf ears.
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Essays by Rossano

The BioLogos Forum: Rusty Pritchard

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.

Posts by Pritchard

Science and Religion: Mixed Results

December 14, 2011

Science and religion are at war. Or, at least that’s the impression you might get from bloggers who watch the spectacle of Republican primary candidate debates. Some want to lay the blame for the Republican Party’s anti-science lurch at the feet of evangelical religion, using the statements of Republican candidates as a sign of attitudes in conservative churches. But evidence indicates that the picture is a lot more complicated.
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Scientific Conspiracy Theories: A Veneer for Irrational Beliefs

May 31, 2011

Denialism (a word first used in connection with conspiracy theorists who tried to cast doubt on the historicity of the German genocides of WWII) tries to veneer over its irrationality with a paradoxical appeal to science, but without doing the hard work of convincing scientists of an argument. Conspiracy theorists and denialists short-cut the scientific process by relying on anecdote, and by cherry-picking the small number of contrarian scientists and dissenting scientific articles.
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Essays by Pritchard

The BioLogos Forum: Jennifer Wiseman

Dr. Wiseman is an astronomer, author, and speaker. She holds a B.S. in physics from MIT and a Ph.D. in astronomy from Harvard. Active in science and faith dialogue, she enjoys giving talks to congregations, youth groups, civic groups, and science enthusiasts on the excitement of science

Series by Wiseman

Science as an Instrument of Worship (3 Parts)

In this brief series (take from a 2009 paper), Jennifer Wiseman first uses an excerpt from the famous hymn “How Great Thou Art,” to explain why the study of God’s creation is powerful to lead Christ’s followers into meaningful worship and overcome the obstacles which impede true praise. Creation as encountered through our senses is pondered by our minds, which flows into wonder-filled songs from the soul. She further explains how knowledge of creation will help Christians to address the moral dilemmas of science and she encourages all to see the process of scientific inquiry as a means to discover God’s truth.

Posts by Wiseman

Essays by Wiseman

The BioLogos Forum: Tim Keller

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.

Series by Keller

Creation, Evolution, and Christian Laypeople (6 Parts)

The six-part series by Dr. Keller considers three main clusters of questions lay people raise with their pastors when introduced to the teaching that biological evolution and biblical orthodoxy can be compatible. As a pastor and evangelist, Keller takes these concerns seriously and offers suggestions for addressing them without requiring believers to adopt a particular view or accept a definitive answer.

Posts by Keller

Saturday Sermon: The Failure of Religion

November 19, 2011

In the last verses of Romans 2, the Apostle Paul relates the “failure of religion because of the terrible beauty of the Law” to the need for a regenerate heart. This is only possible through the circumcision of the heart in Christ by the Holy Spirit.
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Saturday Sermon: Heart of Darkness

September 24, 2011

In the Garden of Eden, Eve is tempted to put her own desires ahead of God’s call for her life. The serpent tells her that if she eats of the fruit she can become like God: she, in essence, can become the master of her own fate. Similarly, as the New Testament begins, Satan comes to Jesus and tempts him in three different ways to become centered in self, rather than centered in the Father. Finally, Paul begins his great treatise, his letter to the Christians in Rome, with the same thought.
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Saturday Sermon: The Power of the Gospel

September 17, 2011

BioLogos has been following a sermon series by Pastor Tim Keller entitled The Bible: The Whole Story-Redemption and Restoration.” It comes in three parts. The first consisted of a nine part series on Genesis, which basically addresses the question of “What’s wrong with the Human Race,” (Genesis 1-4) and we have posted excerpts from all nine. The book of Romans masterfully addresses the solution to the issues raised in Genesis. We feature the first today.
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Weekend Sermon: A Tale of Two Cities

September 11, 2011

This sermon is a clear reminder that we each have a choice. We can work to build cities that celebrate God’s love for us (the lineage of Seth), or we can live in the destructive lineage of Cain. May the spirit of prayer, humility, and love characterize the world’s cities on this the tenth anniversary of America’s most stark example of “The Tale of Two Cities.”
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Saturday Sermon: The History of the World in a Nutshell

August 27, 2011

In tracing the fluid storyline of the Bible, Dr. Keller has first focused on the early chapters of Genesis, emphasizing both the ordained purpose of creation and the great Fall of humanity. The latter addresses the pressing question: what is wrong with the world? Scripture explains that Sin is responsible for the seen destruction and chaos.
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Saturday Sermon: Paradise Lost

August 20, 2011

In order to understand the very nature of humanity, one needs a firm grasp on the doctrine of original Sin. Dr. Keller makes several important points concerning Genesis 3: 8-24 as he looks at the response of God as well as Adam and Eve to the great act of disobedience. The aftermath of the Fall reveals sin’s heart, breadth, depth, and end.
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Saturday Sermon: “Paradise in Crisis”

July 30, 2011

Selfishness and violence, corruption and greed, wars and atrocities—for all time, this one question has been pondered: what went wrong in humanity? Through his sermon on Genesis 3:1-7, Dr. Keller sheds light on this mystery. With careful examination, four critical points concerning the Fall are uncovered in this text. In this event, there was a sneer, a lie, a tree, and a call.
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Saturday Sermon: The First Wedding Day

July 16, 2011

The ordained and blessed tradition of marriage as between one man and one woman is established in Genesis 2: 18-25. This passage communicates important ideas, Dr. Keller affirms, about both marriage seeking and marriage executing. When considered, these concepts will allow one to be successful in both areas.
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Saturday Sermons: The Garden of God

June 18, 2011

Genesis 2:2-17 places an interesting emphasis on work—not only does God work to bring about all creation, but also, man is called to the task of caring for God’s world. Dr. Keller believes this passage provides an important assumption, a purposeful direction, a resulting burden, and a necessary provision concerning the work.
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Saturday Sermons: In the Image of God

June 11, 2011

Dr. Keller explains several crucial implications that result from the radical idea that humans have been made in the image of God. First, the Bible affirms that all people reflect God; there is an “irreducible glory and significance” inherent in each person, regardless of who they are or what they have done.
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Saturday Sermons: The First Word

June 4, 2011

Throughout the last 150 years or so, the interpretation of the creation account in Genesis 1 has been a point of contention within the Christian as well as the scientific community. Some say it is a poem or a song meant to be read in symbolic terms. Genesis 1 contains much repetition and many refrains in the text, literary devices that they strongly believe characterize poetic pieces. Others stand firm in their conviction that the text is quite literal in its description of the creative process.
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Saturday Sermon: Before the Beginning

May 28, 2011

Dr. Timothy Keller beautifully unravels the first three verses of Genesis 1 in his sermon titled, “Before the Beginning.” From these first verses, three fundamental truths are established. Before the beginning of God’s marvelous works, there was God, there was love, and there was darkness.
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Essays by Keller

The BioLogos Forum: Michael L. Peterson

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.

Series by Peterson

C.S. Lewis on Evolution and Intelligent Design (7 Parts)

This in-depth series by Michael L. Peterson surveys author and apologist C.S. Lewis, reflecting on his arguments for the existence of God as well as his views on Intelligent Design and evolution. Peterson first explains the classical lines of rationale and then discusses Lewis’ Transcendent Intelligence argument. He clearly distinguishes Lewis’ view, however, from other design arguments. As he concludes, he relates Lewis’ thoughts on the firmly grounded theory of evolution, presenting his grand Trinitarian worldview which included this scientific view of the universe.

Deep Resonance Series (6 Parts)

In this six part series, Michael L. Peterson delves into the theological compatibility of the Christian faith with the theory of evolution. It is evident that America is deeply divided over the issue of evolution and its implications. In the Church, many are coming to accept the cosmic evolution of the universe, but they have a difficult time making sense of the evolution of life on earth in light of Scripture. Thus, Peterson seeks to identify and explore the deepest of historic Christian theology in order to engage evolutionary science in a meaningful way. To accomplish this task, he discusses several big-picture themes—the Trinity, God’s kenotic nature, the doctrine of creation, etc.— within the Christian faith as established by the early Christian Fathers. He then presents some of the major themes—chance, inter-connectivity, the fine-tuning of the universe, etc.—that emerge from the various disciplines of contemporary science.

Posts by Peterson

Essays by Peterson

The BioLogos Forum: Marty Ostrow

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.

Posts by Ostrow

A Season of RENEWAL

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.
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Essays by Ostrow

The BioLogos Forum: John Leax

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.

Posts by Leax

Boomerang Salamanders and Hummingbird Bugs

March 20, 2011

Near noon, I persuaded him we had enough captives and suggested he draw them before returning them to the stream. He settled down with his sketch pad and markers on the step of my writing shack, and I leaned back against a tree with my book. Unlike Ryan, however, I didn’t settle down. My book aggravated me.
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Essays by Leax

The BioLogos Forum: Oliver R. Barclay

Dr. Oliver Barclay is a retired zoologist, who was the founding secretary of Christians in Science and the first editor of Science & Christian Belief.

Series by Barclay

Design in Nature (3 Parts)

In this series, Oliver R. Barclay examines the idea of God as Designer. He concludes that God did indeed design creation, and that the “state of the world is evidence not only for the existence and power of God but for his kindness and care for his creation.” Barclay then goes on to investigate the arguments for Intelligent Design which attempt to prove that certain examples of design necessarily imply direct intervention by a Great Designer. He points the flaws of such an argument and discusses its implications.

Posts by Barclay

Essays by Barclay

The BioLogos Forum: Jeff R. Warren

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.

Series by Warren

He Who Has Ears (3 Parts)

Scholar and musician Jeff Warren addresses the questions of how music is meaningful and where that meaning resides by looking at the popular ideas that musical meaning is entirely subjective to the listener and that the meaning of music can be universal. Warren also explores the recent trend of attempting to explain music via neuroscience. Warren points out that treating music creation and reception primarily as functions of the individual brain fails to do justice to the complexities of what happens when we make and listen to music. Such oversimplification limits the depth of our understanding of the roles music may have played in the evolution of human culture. Finally, he looks into the reasons why music continues to play such a critical role in the worshiping life of the Church.

Posts by Warren

Playing Nature’s Songs

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.”
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Essays by Warren

The BioLogos Forum: Arie Leegwater

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.

Posts by Leegwater

A Hard Lesson: Interpretation, Genomic Data, and the Scriptures

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.
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Essays by Leegwater

The BioLogos Forum: Marcio Antonio Campos

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.

Posts by Campos

Did “Peace and Love” Reign in the World Before the Original Sin?

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.
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Essays by Campos

The BioLogos Forum: Ian Hutchinson

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.

Series by Hutchinson

Hutchinson on Atheism (1 Parts)

In this five part series, Ian Hutchinson seeks to draw a sharp line between science and scientism. Scientism holds that all truth emerges from scientific study and explanation. Hutchinson, however, disagrees as he points to science’s inability to establish truth about, for example, the events that have occurred in humanity’s history on earth. He specifically engages Richard Dawkins assertions (as put forth in his book The God Delusion) that God is a scientific hypothesis that has been essentially disproved by science and that evolution explains religion as nothing more than a natural phenomenon, offering excellent critiques of both arguments.

Monopolizing Knowledge (6 Parts)

Ian Hutchinson’s series centers on his new book Monopolizing Knowledge in which he critiques the world-view he calls “scientism”: “the belief that science, modeled on the natural sciences, is the only source of real knowledge.” In Hutchinson’s eyes, this erroneous world-view is at least indirectly responsible for the apparent friction between science and religion that many see today. Hutchinson will attempt to both explain and dismantle “scientism” by examining both what we mean when we say “science”, and how the “scientistic” worldview oversteps this definition and becomes a philosophical and metaphysical framework.

Posts by Hutchinson

Monopolizing Knowledge, Part 1

September 12, 2011

Science is increasingly portrayed as identical to a philosophical doctrine that I call "scientism". Scientism is the belief that all valid knowledge is science. Scientism says, or at least implicitly assumes, that rational knowledge is scientific, and everything else that claims the status of knowledge is just superstition, irrationality, emotion, or nonsense.
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Essays by Hutchinson

The BioLogos Forum: Dean Nelson

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.

Series by Nelson

Quantum Leap (6 Parts)

Dean Nelson and Karl Giberson address the warfare mentality present at the intersection of science and Christian faith through the story of John Polkinghorne: one man who dared to cross the boundary from physics into priesthood. Through a series of extensive interviews with Polkinghorne himself, Nelson and Giberson are able to examine the deeper questions of “how do we know Truth?” and “how does a leading scientist think about the more mysterious aspects of faith -- prayer, miracles, life after death, resurrection?” The series enriches the discussion about science and religion through the voice of this generation’s most significant thinker on this topic.

Posts by Nelson

An Afternoon with John Polkinghorne

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.
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Essays by Nelson

The BioLogos Forum: Noah Efron

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.

Posts by Efron

The Meeting of Science and Religion in Real Life

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.
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Essays by Efron

The BioLogos Forum: Rev. Scott Hoezee

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.

Posts by Hoezee

When Appearances Are Deceiving

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).
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Essays by Hoezee

The BioLogos Forum: Robert C. Bishop

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.

Series by Bishop

Reviewing "Why Evolution is True" (5 Parts)

Robert C. Bishop provides a helpful review for Evangelicals of the book Why Evolution is True by Jerry Coyne in this five part series. He first debunks many outdated ideas and myths about the theory of evolution and its implications. He then goes on to critique Coyne’s conclusions about God as a “bad designer.” He further addresses how Christianity and science overlap as well as how to have a meaningful discussion between two individuals with radically different views. In the final posts, Bishop responds to a defensive Coyne who disagrees with aspects of Bishop’s review of his book.

Recovering the Doctrine of Creation: A Theological View of Science (5 Parts)

In this six part series, Robert C. Bishop explains that many believe two things about creation: that the universe was created out of nothing by God and that he accomplished this in six days. This overly simplistic view does not do the robust Doctrine of Creation (DoC) justice, and it unnecessarily hinders much of the dialogue between evolution and Christianity. Bishop “recovers” the DoC by exploring its various aspects. He highlights elements such as the limitations of creation, God’s sovereignty in the process, God’s Trinitarian activity and ongoing purpose for his creatures, and the salvation of creation in space and time. He then interprets the theory of evolution using the DoC as his lens.

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Essays by Bishop

The BioLogos Forum: Ross Hastings

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.

Series by Hastings

Ephesians 4:7-16: Moving the Science/Faith Discussion Forward (4 Parts)

In this series, Dr. Ross Hastings discusses “front edge” issues at the intersection of Christianity and science. He begins with a study on Ephesians 4:7-16, which calls Christ’s body to unity in the midst of diversity. This is a unity, he explains, that will mature as truth is spoken in love by individuals who respect other’s strengths and gifts. From this posture, he addresses nine areas that are necessary if the conversation of science and faith is to progress in a productive and Christian manner.

Ephesians 4:1-6: A Call of Christian Unity (5 Parts)

This series discusses the importance of unity among Christ’s believers. Ross Hastings, an expert in the areas of both chemistry and pastoral theology, is eager to see the church seek out unity rather than divisions in this science/faith interface. Unpacking Ephesians 4:1-6, he explains that unity in Christ through the Holy Spirit is the primary concern of both Jesus as seen in John 17 and Paul in Ephesians 4, making this matter pressing. He urges all believers to be in agreement that God indeed created, yet to be in dialogue over how that creative process occurred. On this basis, he articulates several theological doctrines about creation and, finally, goes on to affirm the compatibility of the pursuit of science with a “Trinitarian, incarnational worldview.”

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Essays by Hastings

The BioLogos Forum: Amy Carleton

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.

Posts by Carleton

In the Middle of Things

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.
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Essays by Carleton

The BioLogos Forum: Loren Wilkinson

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.

Series by Wilkinson

One World: Science and Christianity in Respectful Dialogue (2 Parts)

In this short series, Loren Wilkinson respectfully disagrees with Denis Alexander’s proposition of a Homo divinus model of Adam and Eve, while maintaining that it is not futile to seek a model that integrates a Biblical and scientific worldview as Coyne and MacDonald suggest. This idea, he believes, improperly portrays these two areas as incompatible and “at war,” when in reality, they share “one world.”

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Essays by Wilkinson

The BioLogos Forum: James Bradley

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.

Series by Bradley

Why Dembski’s Design Inference Doesn’t Work (2 Parts)

In this two part series, James Bradley exposes a argument made in the book Design Inference , which was written by Intelligent Design proponent William Dembski. To accomplish this, he carefully examines Dembski’s “explanatory filter” that predicts whether an event occurred by regularity, chance, or design, and exposes its “fatal flaws.”

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Essays by Bradley

The BioLogos Forum: Philip Yancey

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.

Posts by Yancey

Philip Yancey on his New Book, “What Good is God?”

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.
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Essays by Yancey

The BioLogos Forum: Sy Garte

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.

Posts by Garte

Stochastic Grace

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”.
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Essays by Garte

The BioLogos Forum: Makoto Fujimura

Makoto Fujimura is an artist, writer, and speaker recognized worldwide 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. He is the author of Refractions: A Journey of Faith, Art and Culture, a collection of essays on culture, art, and humanity, drawing upon images from science and the natural world. In 2001 he illuminated The Four Holy Gospels, an exquisitely designed and produced edition of the four canonical Gospels in the English Standard Version, published in commemoration of the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible in 1611. See more at www.makotofujimura.com.

Posts by Fujimura

Jefferson’s Bible and the Tears of Christ

March 31, 2012

Predictably, "Jesus Wept" did not make into the Jefferson Bible. John 11 was cut out entirely, falling onto the floor of his Monticello home and discarded, along with Martha's confession. Jefferson's rationalism allowed only a distant deity that made sense in reference to objective ‘scientific’ calibrations, not ephemeral marks of compassion. Yet, when this attitude is actually applied to the sciences, they also become, like Jefferson's Bible, a “cut and paste” product, based on a limited viewpoint.
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Charis-Kairos—The Tears of Christ

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.
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Essays by Fujimura

The BioLogos Forum: Keith Miller

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.

Series by Miller

Cambrian Series (1 Parts)

Many evolutionary critics have identified the Cambrian Explosion as a stumbling block to the theory of evolution, arguing that the “expected transitions between major invertebrate phyla are absent, and that the suddenness of their appearance in the fossil record demonstrates that evolutionary explanations are not viable.” In this six part series, Keith Miller argues that the Cambrian Explosion is not so problematic as these opponents claim after all as he discusses the geological time frame, the pre-Cambrian period, the effects of modern classification, the unrealistic expectations of the fossil record, and the viable hypotheses for the “sudden” burst of life.

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Essays by Miller

The BioLogos Forum: Mark Sargent

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.

Posts by Sargent

Thanksgiving, Mediterranean Style

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.
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Essays by Sargent

The BioLogos Forum: Rev. Kerry L. Bender

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.

Series by Bender

The Weapon of Science, the Sword of the Spirit, and a Call to Prayer (2 Parts)

Written by Rev. Kerry L. Bender, this two part series expresses concerns that science has been viewed as a weapon rather than a tool on both sides of the so-called war. Atheistic scientists and devout believers alike have abused science in its true form. Unfortunately, evangelicals have gone a step further and have often misused the Sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, as well. Amidst it all, he calls all Christians to be prayerful.

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Essays by Bender

The BioLogos Forum: Michael Lipford

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.

Posts by Lipford

Being Fruitful

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."
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Essays by Lipford

The BioLogos Forum: Susanne Antonetta

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.

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A Difficult Worship

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.
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Essays by Antonetta

The BioLogos Forum: Kelsey Luoma

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.

Posts by Luoma

Speciation and Macroevolution

February 23, 2012

In our final installment of this three part series, we move on to the question of speciation and macroevolution. A common challenge to evolutionary theory is that while life does indeed change over time (what is known as microevolution), no one has ever seen one species evolve into another species (what is known as macroevolution).
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Where is the Genetic Evidence for Evolution?

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.
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Where are the Transitional Fossils?

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.
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“Ninety Minutes Well Spent”: A Student’s Review of RENEWAL

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”.
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A Student’s Review of Behe’s “Two Binding Site Rule”

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).
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Essays by Luoma

The BioLogos Forum: George Murphy

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.

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Scientists Tell Their Stories: George Murphy

April 29, 2012

During his seminary education, Dr. Murphy also gained a deeper understanding of Luther’s theology of the cross, and he realized that it’s really the best way to approach the science and theology dialogue. The theology of the cross helps us deal not only with an issue like evolution, and but more generally with the whole question of how God acts in the world and how we know God.
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Reconciliation of a World Gone Wrong

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.
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Evolution, Sin, and Death

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.
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Cross, Creation, and Evolution

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.
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Essays by Murphy

The BioLogos Forum: David Ussery

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.

Series by Ussery

The Skeptical Biochemist (6 Parts)

In this six part series, David Ussery carefully critiques the arguments made by Michael Behe in The Edge of Evolution. Ussery begins with the statement that this series is for those who have read or who are going to read Behe’s book, and that it is detailed in nature. Then, he gives a short synopsis of his background, both personal and philosophical. He proceeds to comb through all nine chapters of the book, pointing out the strengths and weaknesses of various arguments made in each.

Posts by Ussery

The Edge of Evolution: A Note from Dr. Ussery

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.
Comments (195)

Essays by Ussery

The BioLogos Forum: Brandon Withrow

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.

Series by Withrow

Origen on our Species and Divine Baby Talk (2 Parts)

Brandon Withrow discusses Origen, an ancient Christian interpreter of Scripture, and his reading of the Genesis 1 text. Origen believed that God’s inspired Word was a form of “baby talk for an infant human race.” Therefore, he looked for deeper spiritual meanings rather than simplistic literal readings. Withrow looks at Origen’s struggles with interpretation as well as the Platonic worldview that permeated his understanding of reality.

Augustine, Genesis and “Removing the Mystical Veil” (2 Parts)

Brandon Withrow discusses St. Augustine’s interpretations of Genesis 1. He first gives a brief introduction of St. Augustine, portraying both his faith journey and understanding of the world. Withrow concludes by relating Augustine’s views on the days of creation and the firmament, effectively showing how his understanding of the world influenced his reading of Scripture.

Copernicus, Interrupted (2 Parts)

In this short series, Brandon Withrow compares the historical clash between heliocentrism and Protestantism to the current conflict between evolution and Evangelicalism. He examines three main ideas held by ancient Christians that led to the initial rejection of Copernicus’ sun-centered system as well as traces the major events that led to its gradual acceptance. Based on the outcomes of this past event between science and faith, Withrow predicts that it will be a long time before evolution is assumed to be correct.

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Essays by Withrow

The BioLogos Forum: Randy Isaac

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.

Series by Isaac

Science and the Question of God (5 Parts)

Randy Isaac explores whether science can provide insight into the existence of God in this five part post, looking specifically through the lenses of evolution, creationism, and intelligent design. He provides background of each view and a brief history of how people have responded to it. Then, he explains why they each fail “to provide a persuasive answer from science to the question of God.” He concludes with the two-book model in which both science and theology point to God, but do not overlap.

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Essays by Isaac

The BioLogos Forum: Peter Doumit

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.

Posts by Doumit

The Science and Religion Relationship

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.
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Essays by Doumit

The BioLogos Forum: John Hawthorne

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.

Posts by Hawthorne

The Slippery Concept of Slippery Slopes

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.
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Essays by Hawthorne

The BioLogos Forum: Denis Lamoureux

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).

Series by Lamoureux

Was Adam a Real Person? (3 Parts)

In this three part series, the historicity of Adam and the creation account are examined by Denis Lamoureux. He first unpacks the ancient near east scientific views of the time. Then, offering theological meanings of Genesis 1 and 2 as well as Romans 5, he demonstrates that these texts are embedded with deeper spiritual significances.

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Essays by Lamoureux

The BioLogos Forum: Stephen Mapes

Stephen Mapes is a web developer and editorial coordinator for The BioLogos Foundation and Science & the Sacred.

Posts by Mapes

Dead Bones with a Living Message

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.
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Introducing: The Topics Section

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.
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Lesson from an Empty Kansas Road

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.”
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Essays by Mapes