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Does Evolutionary Psychology Explain Why We Believe in God? Part 1

Does Evolutionary Psychology Explain Why We Believe in God? Part 1

When we look across times and cultures and find very similar beliefs concerning the nature of physical, biological, and psychological reality, those similarities cry out for some explanation. Since these different individuals have a very diverse range of experience, something other than common experience alone just might account for the similarities of belief. In some cases we can fairly conclude that there is a common nature – some fundamental similarity in how human cognition works – that underlies broadly shared beliefs.
May 21, 2013 
Michael Murray, Schloss, Jeff 
Brain, Mind & Soul
0
<strong>Series:</strong> Understanding Randomness

Series: Understanding Randomness

In this series, Kathryn Applegate addresses the concern that randomness implies the absence of God's activity and involvement in the natural world. She begins by clearing up some common misconceptions about the concept of "randomness", and later focuses on the mechanisms of the immune system to demonstrate that God works through random processes to preserve life. Far from being an indication of a "godless" universe, one might conclude that randomness is one of God’s favorite mechanisms for creating and sustaining life!
Mar 23, 2013 
Kathryn Applegate 
Divine Action & Purpose, Randomness, Evolution - How It Works
<strong>Series:</strong> Science and the Bible: Intelligent Design

Series: Science and the Bible: Intelligent Design

In this series, Ted Davis identifies the history, core tenets and assumptions about the Intelligent Design view.
Dec 18, 2012 
Ted Davis 
Design, ID Movement
<strong>Series:</strong> Shaping the Human Soul

Series: Shaping the Human Soul

In Washington DC, Church of the Advent teamed up with The Trinity Forum to offer a series of lectures exploring the synergy between modern science and Christian Faith. This presentation by psychiatrist Curt Thompson and philosopher James K.A. Smith addressed the process of Christian discipleship and spiritual formation through the lens of neuroscience.
Oct 04, 2012 
Curt Thompson, James K.A. Smith 
Brain, Mind & Soul
The Randomness Project

The Randomness Project

It is not uncommon to hear voices proclaiming that biology and physics have shown us that—at fundamental levels—nature is random, hence meaningless, purposeless, and without a creator. But how might God work providentially through indeterminate processes? The John Templeton Foundation has provided a generous grant of $1.69 million to support a new research initiative on the theme of Randomness and Divine providence.
Aug 31, 2012 
James Bradley 
Divine Action & Purpose, Randomness
6
Dispatches From the Physicalist Frontier, Part 1

Dispatches From the Physicalist Frontier, Part 1

I’m a physicalist when it comes to human persons. I believe, in other words, that we are wholly physical objects. I don’t believe there are non-physical souls in the natural world. So I don’t believe that we are or have such non-physical souls as parts. I believe we are through-and-through physical.
Aug 20, 2012 
Kevin J. Corcoran 
Brain, Mind & Soul
15
Rediscovering Human Beings, Part 1

Rediscovering Human Beings, Part 1

That we are animals is something we hardly needed Darwin to tell us. It is obvious from the fact that, like other animals, we have stomachs and skin, eyeballs and ears, limbs and teeth, muscles, brains, and other organs. Yet it doesn’t follow that we are mere animals.
Aug 18, 2012 
Edward Feser 
Brain, Mind & Soul
23
Body and Soul, Mind and Brain: Pressing Questions

Body and Soul, Mind and Brain: Pressing Questions

“Bit by experimental bit,” writes philosopher P. Churchland, “neuroscience is morphing our conception of what we are.” For many, this includes dispensing with the “soul” in favor of biologically anchored processes.
Aug 16, 2012 
Joel Green 
Brain, Mind & Soul
16
David Lack: Evolutionary Biologist and Devout Christian

David Lack: Evolutionary Biologist and Devout Christian

Charles Darwin’s personal struggles and ultimate rejection of Christianity are well documented, and people are eager to link his loss of faith to his evolutionary theory. David Lack, on the other hand, began his scientific career as an agnostic, but shortly after publishing his famous book on the evolution of "Darwin's finches", he converted to Christianity.
Aug 07, 2012 
Thomas Burnett 
Lives of Faith, Randomness, Miracles
14
<strong>Series:</strong> Asa Gray and Charles Darwin Discuss Evolution and Design

Series: Asa Gray and Charles Darwin Discuss Evolution and Design

Many Christians believe that they face a painful choice-- either life was designed by God or it is an evolutionary product of natural selection. Charles Darwin himself believed in this dichotomy, and people ever since have felt the need to "choose sides". However, looking back at history, we find that one of Darwin's chief scientific colleagues, Asa Gray, did not share this perspective. In this three-part essay, part 1 charts the relationship of Asa Gray and Charles Darwin. Part 2 describes Darwin's struggle with the problem of natural evil and design in nature, and part 3 explores how Asa Gray was able to embrace evolution without rejecting the idea of design.
Aug 04, 2012 
Sara Joan Miles 
Design, Problem of Evil, ID Movement
Southern Baptist Voices: A Response to John Hammett, Part 1

Southern Baptist Voices: A Response to John Hammett, Part 1

The Scriptures teach that we human beings have been created in God’s image. What does that mean? I am in substantial agreement with Dr. Hammett on this question.
Jun 22, 2012 
Tim O'Connor 
Brain, Mind & Soul
0
Randomness and Evolution: Is There Room for God? (Videocast)

Randomness and Evolution: Is There Room for God? (Videocast)

This BioLogos videocast addresses the idea of randomness as a part of natural selection, and whether it challenges the possibility of God using the evolutionary process as a means of creation.
Jun 15, 2012 
Joy Walters 
Divine Action & Purpose, Randomness
10
Fine-tuning and the “Fruitful Universe”

Fine-tuning and the “Fruitful Universe”

I ask the question, “Why is the universe so special?” Now scientists don’t like things to be special; we like things to be general, and our natural anticipation would have been that the universe is just a common specimen of what a universe might be like.
Jun 01, 2012 
John Polkinghorne 
Design, Astronomy & Physics, ID Movement
15
<strong>Series:</strong> Randomness and God’s Governance

Series: Randomness and God’s Governance

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 explains what scientists and mathematicians mean when they speak of something being “random”. He also addresses God's use of apparent randomness in creation as a part of his sovereign rule.
May 21, 2012 
Randall Pruim 
Divine Action & Purpose, Randomness
Caution! Design Arguments Ahead

Caution! Design Arguments Ahead

Design arguments have been around forever and expressed in various ways. Most of them fall into what we call natural theology, which is the process of inferring something about the existence and nature of God by the inspection of nature.
May 15, 2012 
Karl Giberson 
Design, Astronomy & Physics
11
Chance Creation

Chance Creation

It should not be surprising that John Cage asked the stuff he used to make paintings to take part in the process—to contribute its own identity to the intentional, purposeful, and determined work of creating “based on chance.”
May 13, 2012 
Mark Sprinkle 
Divine Action & Purpose, Randomness
0
Understanding Evolution: The Evolutionary Origins of Irreducible Complexity, Part 1

Understanding Evolution: The Evolutionary Origins of Irreducible Complexity, Part 1

I will take some time to clarify exactly how Michael Behe, the biochemist and Intelligent Design (ID) proponent who has most extensively developed the "irreducible complexity" argument, uses the term.
Apr 19, 2012 
Dennis Venema 
Design, ID Movement
13
Fearful Symmetries

Fearful Symmetries

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.”
Mar 15, 2012 
Stephen Barr 
Science & Worldviews, Randomness
58
<strong>Series:</strong> He Who Has Ears

Series: He Who Has Ears

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. He also explores the recent trend of attempting to explain music via neuroscience. Finally, he looks into the reasons why music continues to play such a critical role in the worshiping life of the Church.
Jan 22, 2012 
Jeff R. Warren 
Brain, Mind & Soul, Neuroscience & Psychology
Beginning with the End in Mind

Beginning with the End in Mind

In today's video, Oxford physicist Ard Louis discusses the famous debate between renowned evolutionary biologists Stephen Jay Gould and Simon Conway Morris over the idea of evolutionary convergence.
Dec 15, 2011 
Ard Louis 
Design, Evolution - How It Works, Randomness, Fossils
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