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Engaging Science in the Life of Your Congregation

Engaging Science in the Life of Your Congregation

With so many issues to discuss, Christians can easily get the feeling that science is always attacking the faith. It is essential to balance such conversations with positive responses to God’s creation. After all, the primary response to the natural world in the Bible is to praise the God who made it.
May 14, 2013 
Deborah Haarsma 
Education, Worship & Arts
9
<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
Evolution Basics: Darwin’s Early Observations on Biogeography

Evolution Basics: Darwin’s Early Observations on Biogeography

For Darwin, both of these observations (that oceanic islands lacked terrestrial mammals, and that endemic species on islands were most similar to a species on the closest mainland) had the same explanation: his hypothesis that endemic, oceanic species were the modified descendants of a colonizing species from the nearest continent.
Mar 07, 2013 
Dennis Venema 
History of Life, Evolution - Evidence, Evolution - How It Works
13
<strong>Series:</strong> God and Creation

Series: God and Creation

In this four part series, David Opderbeck explores the interesting relationship between God and his creation. He first looks at his transcendence over the material world. In one respect, God is completely distinct from all creation, yet he is also immanent, or present within all creation. Another aspect of God reflected in creation is his Triune nature. Just as love, fellowship, and delight exist within the Trinity, so these characteristics are present in the world, and experienced by humans. He completes his thoughts with a discussion about God’s interaction with humans.
Mar 01, 2013 
David Opderbeck 
Divine Action & Purpose, Human Origins
Evolution and Christian Faith Grantees Announced

Evolution and Christian Faith Grantees Announced

Congratulations to the 37 winners of the Evolution & Christian Faith (ECF) grants competition! ECF is a new BioLogos program designed to support projects and network-building among scholars, church leaders, and parachurch organizations.
Feb 13, 2013 
Kathryn Applegate 
Science & Worldviews, Biblical Interpretation, Creation & Origins, Education, Evolution - Evidence, BioLogos
4
Where are the Transitional Fossils?

Where are the Transitional Fossils?

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 this podcast, we address a common misconception about what transitional fossils actually are.
Feb 01, 2013 
Kelsey Luoma 
History of Life, Evolution - Evidence, Fossils
166
Psalm for the January Thaw

Psalm for the January Thaw

God shows himself not just in the orderliness of nature, but powerfully, joyously and always surprisingly in its beautiful "non-order" as well.
Jan 18, 2013 
Luci Shaw 
Worship & Arts
9
Frenetic Sequence

Frenetic Sequence

We tend to think of creativity in terms of flashes of insight and brilliance, of novelty, and especially of unexpected things bursting upon the scene. But creativity is no less creative and no less remarkable when it proceeds step by step, according to discipline, according to rule.
Oct 27, 2012 
Mark Sprinkle 
Worship & Arts
0
<strong>Series:</strong> Decoding ENCODE

Series: Decoding ENCODE

The BioLogos Foundation explains to the findings of the Encyclopedia of DNA Elements (ENCODE) project and responds to the claims that its discoveries challenge the theory of evolution, especially regarding so-called "junk DNA".
Sep 26, 2012 
Stephen Mapes, Dennis Venema 
Genetics, Evolution - Evidence, ID Movement
Stumble On

Stumble On

The song is built around the image of a river flowing through a canyon it has sculpted—an image that can easily be played out as a picture of the way that the Lord has been at work preparing a path for us in the material world, complete with signposts to his former and present activity.
Sep 16, 2012 
Mark Sprinkle 
Worship & Arts
4
Denisovans, Humans and the Chromosome 2 Fusion

Denisovans, Humans and the Chromosome 2 Fusion

The Denisovans, an extinct hominid group that interbred with modern humans, made the news again lately with the publication of a more detailed study of their genome. One of the many interesting findings was that the Denisovans share the same chromosome 2 fusion that modern humans have.
Sep 06, 2012 
Dennis Venema 
Genetics, Human Origins, Evolution - Evidence
52
Did David Hume

Did David Hume "Banish" Miracles?

“I flatter myself,” Hume triumphantly proclaimed, “that I have discovered an argument . . . which, if just, will, with the wise and learned, be an everlasting check to all kinds of superstitious delusion, and consequently, will be useful as long as the world endures.”
Sep 05, 2012 
Rick Kennedy 
Divine Action & Purpose, Miracles
22
<strong>Series:</strong> Divine Action in the World

Series: Divine Action in the World

In this talk, Professor Plantinga addresses the fact that many contemporary thinkers—including many theologians—believe that God cannot perform miracles, providentially guide history, or interact in the lives of people, as these activities would be contrary to science. Plantinga, on the other hand, makes the case that this popular view is mistaken; excluding divine action in the world is not a central feature of natural science itself, but a philosophical or theological preference that has been added on to science (and can just as readily be removed). Plantinga concludes that it is completely logical to accept the miracles of the Bible and support contemporary science.
Sep 04, 2012 
Alvin Plantinga 
Divine Action & Purpose, Miracles, Atheism & Scientism
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
David Lack and Darwin’s Finches

David Lack and Darwin’s Finches

Considering the immense popularity of "Darwin's finches", it is quite surprising to learn that Charles Darwin himself had very little to say about them. In fact, it was actually David Lack, one century later, who conducted the critical research that immortalized the finches in biology textbooks and popular lore.
Aug 01, 2012 
Thomas Burnett 
Christianity & Science - Then and Now, Evolution - Evidence
48
<strong>Series:</strong> The Human Fossil Record

Series: The Human Fossil Record

In this series, James Kidder provides an intriguing study on transitional fossils and the evolutionary history of modern humans. He begins by discussing the fossil record, explaining how new forms are classified. He then explains the physically distinguishing trait of humankind—bipedalism. From the discovery of Ardipithecus, the earliest known hominin, to the australopithecines, the most prolific hominin, Kidder focuses on the discovery, the anatomy, and the interpretation of these ancestral remains.
Jul 29, 2012 
James Kidder 
Human Origins, Evolution - Evidence, Fossils
<strong>Series:</strong> Beauty, Science and Theology

Series: Beauty, Science and Theology

It doesn't take a scientist to appreciate the beauty with which God has arrayed his creation. But scientists do have the opportunity (and training) to appreciate different kinds of beauty than do most non-scientists, whether they are ordinarily "hidden" in the extremes of scale, the elegant processes of an experiment, or in the abstraction of mathematics. Indeed the appreciation of various kinds of beauty has always played a critical role in motivating scientists to investigate the world, and in helping them decipher its workings. In the three-part essay, Ruth Bancewicz explores some of the ways beauty, science and theology intertwine.
Jul 25, 2012 
Ruth Bancewicz 
Worship & Arts
The Fossil Record

The Fossil Record

There are two opposite errors which need to be countered about the fossil record: 1) that it is so incomplete as to be of no value in interpreting patterns and trends in the history of life, and 2) that it is so good that we should expect a relatively complete record of the details of evolutionary transitions within all or most lineages.
Jul 13, 2012 
Keith Miller 
History of Life, Fossils, Evolution - Evidence
8
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
<strong>Series:</strong> The God Who Acts: Robert John Russell on Divine Intervention and Divine Action

Series: The God Who Acts: Robert John Russell on Divine Intervention and Divine Action

Does God need to supernaturally "intervene" in order to bring about the diversity of life that we observe today? Is that kind of action different from God’s ordinary action? We begin our three-part series with Robert John Russell’s description of how views of divine action have changed throughout history, excerpted from his book Cosmology: From Alpha to Omega. Part 2 addresses why “intervention” in the natural world is a problem philosophically, theologically, and scientifically; and Part 3 explains Russell’s own theory of divine action in the natural world.
May 25, 2012 
Robert John Russell, Thomas Burnett 
Divine Action & Purpose, Miracles
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