Get Involved

Receive the Newsletter

Enjoying our resources? Receive our monthly newsletter and more from BioLogos, tailored to your interests!

Join Now

Donate to BioLogos!

Help us equip Christians to explore and proclaim a passionate faith in today’s scientific age!

Give Now


BioLogos Voices is a speakers bureau featuring top scholars and communicators in the BioLogos community. Book a speaker for your next event!

Learn More
See All Events


Join the online community! We welcome you to be a part of the growing group of people who are seeing science as the study of God’s creation while upholding the authority of the Bible!

Join Now
About BioLogos

About Us

Our Mission
Our History
What We Believe
Annual Reports
Endorsements


What We Do

BioLogos Conferences
Resource Centers
Events
BioLogos Voices (Speaker’s Bureau)
Language of God Podcast
INTEGRATE Curriculum


Our Team

Staff
Board of Directors
Advisory Council
Francis Collins
Careers

ForumsGive
https://biologos.org/resources/what-happens-to-christian-theology-if-evolution-is-true/
Browse Common Questions

Biblical Interpretation

How should we interpret the Genesis flood account?

How long are the days of Genesis 1?

How should we interpret the Bible?

See All
Christianity & Science

What is Evolutionary Creation?

Should Christians get vaccinated?

Should We Trust Science?

Are science and Christianity at war?

See All
Scientific Evidence

What does the fossil record show?

What is the genetic evidence for human evolution?

Does the Cambrian Explosion pose a challenge to evolution?

See All
God's Relationship to Creation

Why should Christians care for creation?

What do “fine-tuning” and the “multiverse” say about God?

What created God?

See All
Human Origins

Did death occur before the Fall?

How could humans have evolved and still be in the “Image of God”?

Were Adam and Eve historical figures?

See All
Browse Resources

Get Started

Use the links below to browse content carefully curated for BioLogos beginners.

Common Questions
Resource Centers
BioLogos Basics Videos
BioLogos Podcast
Impact Stories
Recommended Books


Featured Authors
Francis CollinsFrancis Collins
Deborah HaarsmaDeborah Haarsma
N.T. WrightN.T. Wright
Praveen SethupathyPraveen Sethupathy

BioLogos Resource Centers

K-12 Educators Resource Center
Pastors Resource Center
Youth Ministry Resource Center
Campus Ministry Resource Center
Small Groups Resource Center


By Type

Common Questions
Articles
Series
Videos
Podcast Episodes
Audio
Books
Impact Stories

What are you looking for?

  • Forums
  • Give

 
Video

What Happens to Christian Theology if Evolution is True?

Published on December 02, 2015
  • Biblical Interpretation
  • Evolutionary Creation

This is the ninth video in a series of short videos to help introduce topics for those new to the Christianity and science conversation. See entire series.

Watch in Theater Mode

What happens to Christian theology if evolution is true? Perhaps the best way of exploring this question is keeping in mind that God is the author of both Scripture and the natural world, and so, ultimately, these can’t contradict each other.  Of course in our human attempts to do theology and to do science, sometimes we get things wrong. That’s why we need a healthy conversation between the two, to help correct human error made along the way and so understand both Books better.

God’s book of Nature contains substantial evidence that the universe is old, that life developed over billions of years, and that humans are related to other life on earth though a common ancestor.

These discoveries have caused Christians to rethink how they understand some theological doctrines.  But it is important to remember that the core doctrines of our faith are not at stake here. But discoveries in genetics do show that today’s human beings, did not descend from a single original couple, but rather from a group of early humans.  Adam and Eve could still be real historical people, perhaps a pair chosen by God who represented the whole group in a first act of disobedience. Or perhaps the Adam and Eve account tells the story of all of us falling into sin.  Either way, we know that every human has rebelled against God and is in need of reconciliation with God.

Evolution raises other difficult questions like,  “why was there so much death and suffering in the world prior to human sin?”  Some people point to Romans 5 and claim that there could not have been any death before human sin, and therefore evolution is wrong.  But that passage is clearly speaking of human death.  The more difficult question is why God would choose to create through a lengthy process that involves so much animal death and suffering.  At one level, we suspect that like Job we’ll never fully understand the secret ways of God.

But keep in mind that while evolution raises some theological questions, in other ways it fits well with what we know of God’s character from the Bible:

  • God rarely acts swiftly, but seems to savor the process of creating over long periods of time.  
  • God partners with creation in bringing about his goals, rather than doing everything directly himself.  
  • God designed a process that favors cooperation and fosters moral development, such as greater parental care and altruism.

Of course this doesn’t clear up everything.  There is a lot of hard work involved in theology’s conversation with evolution.  At BioLogos, we’re committed to this work, sponsoring this important conversation.  


Related Videos

Francis Collins, founder of BioLogos
1. What is BioLogos?
2. Is God the Creator?
3. What about the Bible?
4. How did God create the ingredients for life?
5. How Old is the Earth?
What is evolution?
6. How Evolution Works, Part 1
What is evolution?
7. How Evolution Works, Part 2
8. What is Genetics?
10. What's the Point?
See all videos 

01/06

Related Resources

If you enjoyed this resource, we recommend you check out one of the following:

All Resources
  • silhouette of person standing on rock in water looking at sunset
    Podcast Episode
    Featuring guest Denis Lamoureux 

    Denis Lamoureux | God Meets Us Where We Are

    Denis tells the story of atheism to young earth creationism to evolutionary creationism and how it was the bible that led him there.

  • yellow bird on branch singing
    Podcast Episode
    Featuring guest David Lahti 

    David Lahti | Nature, Culture & Evolution

    Jim and David talk about cultural evolution and how the ideas interplay with the current landscape of faith and science in the United States.

  • old bible
    Podcast Episode
    Featuring guest Tim Mackie 

    Tim Mackie | What is the Bible?

    Tim’s transformation from West-coast skateboarder, to Bible student, to video producer may seem surprising, but his unorthodox journey to faith has given him a unique perspective and passion for the Bible.

  • hand holding two coins
    Article
    By Mario A. Russo 

    Two Sides of the Coin? Faith at the Neanderthal Museum

    Mario visits the Neanderthal Museum, and it surprised him. He reflects on the conflict narrative perpetuated by Christians and non-Christians alike.

  • young boy reading a bible
    Podcast Episode
    Featuring guest Esau McCaulley 

    Esau McCaulley | Justice & the Bible

    McCaulley’s new book, “Reading While Black” lays out a biblical perspective for racial justice, which guides our conversation and helps us to understand how a biblical reading can call us to be advocates for justice in our world.

  • trash piling up next to a water dam
    Article
    By Steven Bouma-Prediger 

    End Times and the Environment

    What we think about the future influences what we do in the present. What happens when the theology we’ve been taught hinders our desire to care for the planet?

  • silhouette of person standing on rock in water looking at sunset
    Podcast Episode
    Featuring guest Denis Lamoureux 

    Denis Lamoureux | God Meets Us Where We Are

    Denis tells the story of atheism to young earth creationism to evolutionary creationism and how it was the bible that led him there.

  • yellow bird on branch singing
    Podcast Episode
    Featuring guest David Lahti 

    David Lahti | Nature, Culture & Evolution

    Jim and David talk about cultural evolution and how the ideas interplay with the current landscape of faith and science in the United States.

  • old bible
    Podcast Episode
    Featuring guest Tim Mackie 

    Tim Mackie | What is the Bible?

    Tim’s transformation from West-coast skateboarder, to Bible student, to video producer may seem surprising, but his unorthodox journey to faith has given him a unique perspective and passion for the Bible.

  • hand holding two coins
    Article
    By Mario A. Russo 

    Two Sides of the Coin? Faith at the Neanderthal Museum

    Mario visits the Neanderthal Museum, and it surprised him. He reflects on the conflict narrative perpetuated by Christians and non-Christians alike.

  • young boy reading a bible
    Podcast Episode
    Featuring guest Esau McCaulley 

    Esau McCaulley | Justice & the Bible

    McCaulley’s new book, “Reading While Black” lays out a biblical perspective for racial justice, which guides our conversation and helps us to understand how a biblical reading can call us to be advocates for justice in our world.

  • trash piling up next to a water dam
    Article
    By Steven Bouma-Prediger 

    End Times and the Environment

    What we think about the future influences what we do in the present. What happens when the theology we’ve been taught hinders our desire to care for the planet?

  • silhouette of person standing on rock in water looking at sunset
    Podcast Episode
    Featuring guest Denis Lamoureux 

    Denis Lamoureux | God Meets Us Where We Are

    Denis tells the story of atheism to young earth creationism to evolutionary creationism and how it was the bible that led him there.

  • yellow bird on branch singing
    Podcast Episode
    Featuring guest David Lahti 

    David Lahti | Nature, Culture & Evolution

    Jim and David talk about cultural evolution and how the ideas interplay with the current landscape of faith and science in the United States.

  • old bible
    Podcast Episode
    Featuring guest Tim Mackie 

    Tim Mackie | What is the Bible?

    Tim’s transformation from West-coast skateboarder, to Bible student, to video producer may seem surprising, but his unorthodox journey to faith has given him a unique perspective and passion for the Bible.

  • Common Questions

    Resources

    Christianity and Science
    Scientific Evidence
    Biblical Interpretation
    God’s Relationship to Creation
    Human Origins

    Getting Started
    Common Questions
    Resource Centers
    BioLogos Basics Videos
    Language of God Podcast
    Impact Stories
    Recommended Books

    By Type
    Common Questions
    Articles
    Series
    Videos
    Podcast Episodes
    Audio
    Books
    Impact Stories

    By Topic
    Bible
    Science
    Theology & Philosophy
    Church & Culture
    The Creation Conversation

    Resources by Audience
    Pastors
    K-12 Educators
    Small Groups
    Youth Ministry
    Campus Ministry

    Get BioLogos Resources


    © BioLogos 2019  Terms of Use   Privacy   Contact Us   RSS

    About Us

    Our Mission
    Our History
    What We Believe
    Annual Reports
    Endorsements

    Get Involved

    Open Forum
    Homeschool Forum
    Attend an Event
    Donate

    What We Do

    BioLogos Conferences
    Resource Centers
    Events
    BioLogos Voices (Speaker’s Bureau)
    Language of God Podcast
    INTEGRATE Curriculum

    Social Media

    BioLogos on Instagram BioLogos on YouTube BioLogos on Twitter BioLogos on Facebook

    It looks like your cart is empty!

    Subtotal: $0.00

    Sign up or log in to continue checkoutBrowse All Units