Creationism and Evolutionism: A Theological, Scientific and Philosophical Discourse (original) (raw)
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Between Evolution and Creation: A Forgotten Lesson
2008
Heated debates stemming from the confrontation of scientific knowledge with the biblical picture of the creation of man, which had followed the publication of Darwin's theory of evolution, became far less prominent in the second half of the 20th century. This was due to two factors: first, the theory of evolution was partly accepted in theological circles and at the same time biologists showed a growing awareness of the limited epistemological scope of the competence of the natural sciences. This lesson from the history, however, seems to have been forgotten by many who now and again return to controversies which more often than not are caused by ideological quarrels over religion, with true scholarship being too easily lost from sight. The paper reminds some of the history of the controversy in question and suggests that at least some of the current problems regarding evolution˗and˗creation controversy may have already found their solutions. In part 1, “The Theory of Evolution and the Creation of the Human” it deals with the general issue of human origins. In part 2, “Monogenism and Original Sin” it explores the notion of the ‘first human’ as it is employed in biology and in theology, and shows its completely different meaning in these two realms of knowledge which helps to resolve the recurrent controversy over monogenism.
Evolution, Theology, and Method - Part 1: Outline and Limits of Scientific Methodology
Andrews University Seminary Studies, 2003
During the last 150 years, evolutionary theory has become the standard theoretical explanation for the origins of life and the center of a new cosmology that other sciences dogmatically assume when developing research methods and interpretations of reality. Christian theology, as a scientific enterprise, is no exception to this rule. Evolution dismisses divine creation as nonscientific myth. To avoid this charge, theologians have proposed various versions of theistic evolution and harmonization. Thus, the challenge theologians must contend with is whether the only choices available to them are mythological faith or scientific truth. Further, it is necessary to consider whether a belief in creation necessarily entails a sacrifice of the intellect. The creation-evolution debate, including the theological attempt at harmonization, generally takes place at the level of conclusion without taking into account the nature of the processes through which theologians and scientists arrive at t...
2015
Evolutionary creation offers a conservative Christian approach to evolution. It explores biblical faith and evolutionary science through a Two Divine Books model and proposes a complementary relationship between Scripture and science. The Book of God’s Words discloses the spiritual character of the world, while the Book of God’s Works reveals the divine creative process. This view of origins recognizes that the Bible features an ancient conceptualization of nature, and consequently rejects concordism (or scientific concordism). It understands bibli-cal revelation in the light of the Incarnation and suggests that Scripture was ac-commodated for an ancient Near Eastern mindset. Evolutionary creation holds a traditional notion of natural revelation. The reflection of intelligent design extends to the process of evolution, rejecting the God-of-the-gaps creative method, and declaring the faithfulness of the Creator’s evolutionary mechanisms. Evolutionary creation claims that the Father, ...
Creation and Evolution: A Case in Christian Anthropology
Tangaza University College, 2005
This essay is an attempt to understand the scientific evidence that organic evolution is a fact as pointed out by Pope John Paul II in his recent statement in (1996). It is an opportunity for me to see how religious thought about creation and evolution is presently conceived; given the past traditional understanding that species were created and fixed once and for all in God’s creative activity, which presupposed that evolution could not take place. In the past organic evolution had made very little impression upon many areas of human knowledge, and more so in theology. But presently there is attention of many theologians from different religious faiths that has increased considerably on the question of the origins of the universe and its dynamism to the future. The fact of organic evolution is apparently becoming clearer with the evidence varying from one discipline of knowledge to the other. The organic evolution embraces a principle of novelty at work, which integrates its past into the present, and is directed to the future. Following this awareness, then, there is a profound link and unity between creation as a reality and evolution as a reality, that both are open to the future dimensions of beings. And this is the link and unity I focus on in this essay. In chapter one therefore, I start by defining the essential terms ‘Creation’ and ‘Creationism’ that will carry us throughout in this work, as we look how creation is envisioned from the Christian theological context. In doing this, I focus first of all on the Old Testament, to see what the biblical narratives on creation say, particularly (Gen 1-2). Then, what follows is the way creation was perceived in the Old Testament Prophetic and Wisdom literature. I conclude this chapter by looking at the Christian understanding of creation particularly in the New Testament, which has handed over a strong biblical traditional inheritance to the present Christian theological vision of creation. My aim in this chapter is not to criticise or interpret anything, but to see how this notion of creation emerged in the general Christian context. In chapter two, my attention goes on the scientific understanding about creation. I start by defining the essential scientific terms of ‘Evolutionism’ and ‘Scientific Creationism’. I then look at the notion of microevolution and macroevolution in which scientific evolutionists argue that evolution takes place or occurs along these lines of change. From that we see how evolution that is quite evidenced in these dimensions of microevolution and macroevolution is becoming part and parcel in the religious/theological circles and faiths. My focus here is on how believers and those who happen to be both believers and scientists, approach this idea of creation as God’s exclusive activity. Because, presently, creation is quite inseparable with the way God’s creative activity is perceived as continuous in evolution. And this brings us to the way the integrity of God’s creation ought to be, as human beings understand it presently, both from religious and scientific points of view. In the last chapter, I look at how human beings, presently, understand themselves as the summit of God’s creation, which is basically from the Christian perspective. This leads us to the contrasting message that is powerfully coming from ecological theology with the argument against human dominance and control in the entire creation of God as experienced in the modern world. That is, the issue of ‘Anthropic Principle’ that finds its support more clearly in the first account of creation narrative (Gen 1:28-30). This entire theological perception is summed up by the general theological outlook of how we can perceive God from both religious/theological and scientific points of view without unnecessary antagonistic relations. Because, our God as a God of mutual relations in the Trinity is our very God in an evolving universe. Finally, I give a short summary and some concluding remarks. This is followed by a bibliographical reference indicating my sources of research on this essay.
Ultimate Reality and Meaning
This is indeed the case; the disagreement is not, strictly speaking, scientific at all. Rather, it is metaphysical. It is about the ultimate constituents of reality. Although many professional philosophers have repudiated metaphysics, in the case of the creationist-evolutionist controversy, metaphysical questions continue to be addressed under the guise of a debate about science. 1.2 Two Radically Different Descriptions of Reality The creationist-evolutionist debate entails more than a disagreement about the existence of an Ultimate Creator. Creationists and evolutionists argue for radically different descriptions of reality. If evolutionists argue that living beings are, in some ultimate sense, the same, creationists argue for a kind of incommensurable diversity. If evolutionists maintain that biological difference is a matter of degree, creationists argue that biological difference is insurmountable. If evolutionists propose a kind of biological monism, creationists defend a vigorous biological pluralism. 'New Creationists' like Phillip Johnson (1993), J. P. Moreland (1994), and Hugh Ross (1993) have recognized in traditional creationism an interesting, alternative account of biological evidence without necessarily subscribing to literal interpretations of scripture. Let us then consider and evaluate the creationist view. As I intend to show, creationists are both right and wrong. If they have their metaphysics right, it follows that one cannot exclude God from the explanatory order. It does not follow, however, that evolution could not have occurred. 2. THE GREAT NATURALIST PROJECT: UNDERSTANDING AND DI_VERSITY Naturalists, like Dawkins, combine a metaphysical naturalism with a belief in the historical and biological fact of evolution. They subscribe to a rationalist, Enlightenment view of science. Science is the premier discipline. It is the paradigm of rationality. It can, on its own, and without any reference to supernatural phenomenon, explain the world in its totality. Naturalists contend that species-differentiation appeared in the course of the earth's history through a purely natural process of gene mutation and natural selection. This means that all living things are, in some inescapable sense, related to one another. They can all be situated within a single category of things. But naturalists go further. With the introduction of abiogeneses, the production of life from inert matter, naturalism bridges the gap between the living and the non-living. This leaves us with a powerful heuristic device. Different kinds of things-human beings, flowers, microbes, viruses, mountains, plants, and galaxies-can be understood in terms of a single explanatory principle. Everything is a manifestation or an epiphenomenon of matter. But one can go still further. One vocal evolutionist, Victor Stenger (1990), insists that theoretical discussions of 'quantum tunneling from nothing' illustrate the physical mechanisms that account for the appearance of matter from non-existence. We are left with a reality made up of nothing but matter. Even non-existence is a kind of material being.