Evolution, the Enlightenment, and Worldviews

January 16, 2010
Related topics: Theology |

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Today’s entry is part of our Video Blog series. For similar resources, visit our audio/video section, or our full "Conversations" collection. Please note the views expressed here are those of the author, not necessarily of The BioLogos Foundation. For more on what BioLogos believes, click here.

Today's entry was written by N.T. Wright. N.T. Wright is a writer, theologian, broadcaster and the Bishop of Durham in the Church of England. He taught New Testament studies for 20 years at Cambridge, McGill and Oxford Universities and was Dean of Lichfield and Canon Theologian of Westminster Abbey. Wright is widely regarded as one of the most notable experts on the historical Jesus and the writings and theology of St. Paul. Wright is the author of over 50 books.

In the video above, N.T. Wright discusses how the Enlightenment worldview -- which clearly separates God from the world -- has impacted our view of Scripture, and why cleaning the "spectacles" through which we view the world can help us see both Scripture and the world more clearly. In contrast to the Englightenment, most other worldviews present a more fluid and messy interrelationship between God and the world. According to Wright, we need to learn how to navigate this fluid, messy relationship in order to learn how to read the Bible.

Wright makes an especially interesting point between 1:40 and 2:20. As a challenge for this weekend, let’s see if we can get to the heart of what he is saying. Regardless of whether you agree with him, see if you can summarize Wright's ideas for us. If we get what we think is a really good summary, then we’ll likely put it up as a main post sometime soon and give everyone a chance to respond to it. Your task for now though, is to summarize it in 1,250 characters.

Blessings, Darrel.