BioLogos Voices speaker Ben McFarland will present “The Chemical Logic of Evolution” at Hillsdale College on April 19, 2021. This event is free and open to the public.

“Over the past 13.7 billion years, the periodic table has expanded from two elements to more than a hundred. For most of this time, only about two dozen of these elements were available to life on Earth, and only in particular forms. Environmental availability changed as the Earth oxidized over time, resulting in a narrative chemical sequence that shaped biochemistry and evolution. The periodic table therefore encodes a chemical story that constrained the possible paths for life, following a biochemical logic revealed by experiment.

Chemistry helps make sense of the origin of life, the selection of elements for simple and complex life forms, and the co-evolution of the geochemical environment and biological ecosystems. This interdisciplinary story of “big history” can now be told from a chemical perspective, with chemistry as the thread connecting geological and biological evolution. Nature is open to chance events while maintaining a certain scientific consistency and integrity, so that it can be understood and even predicted by the human mind. This is compatible with theological statements (from Augustine and Dante to the poet John Davies) that God is light, and does not compete with God’s own creation, but is actively completing it without violence or needless complexity.”

This event is hosted by Hillsdale College.