Possible Topics
The number and diversity of possible topics for theoretical and practical scholarship is enormous. Below is a non-exhaustive list of topics that fall within the scope of the program:
Biblical Theology
- Theology of Creation (creatio ex nihilo and creatio continua)
- First humans / Adam and Eve
- The Fall and original sin
- The Fall and structure of nature
- Use of the Genesis narrative in the Pauline corpus as it relates to human evolution
- Nature of the Imago Dei
- Human uniqueness (distinct from above)
- Historicity of Genesis
- Evolutionary accounts of sexuality and biblical sexual ethics
- The theological implications of an ancient universe
- Development of new interpretive frameworks and hermeneutical models
Philosophical Theology and Biology
- Evolution and natural evil
- Design arguments / natural theology
- Trinitarian Theology and evolution
- Divine purpose and evolutionary history
- Divine action and evolutionary mechanisms
- Evolution and eschatology
- Evolution and love (e.g. parental attachment and conflict, social attachment, altruism)
- Disentangling evolution from scientism/naturalism/materialism/reductionism
- Evolution and epistemology
- Evolutionary debunking arguments:
- Evolution and moral realism
- Evolutionary accounts of religion and the question of warranted belief
Ecclesiological Issues
- Identifying tradition-specific theological barriers to accepting evolution
- Identifying concerns specific to church leaders related to evolution
- Identifying ways in which evolution enriches worship
- Communicating evolution to youth groups and/or children
- Preparing pastors to become better equipped to communicate the richness of evolutionary creation
- Preparing pastors for communicating with parishioners who seem hostile to evolution
- Seminary training about evolution
- Overcoming communication barriers
- Encouraging the Church to engage the life of the mind (in this case, specifically the science of evolution)
History and Sociology
- History of pro- and anti-evolution movements within Evangelicalism
- Reviewing different positions within the evolutionary creation umbrella and how they relate to other views (e.g. Intelligent Design)
- Anti-evolution as a social phenomenon
- Impact of evolution on the faith of science students
- Christian critique of sociobiology
Psychology and Neuroscience
- Various topics related to evolutionary psychology and behavior